My fave may have been the jazz bass special medium scale “duff” bass as some call them now … that was a great bass and a great example of how much difference two years makes when it comes to used value.
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Vintage basses: Exchange Value vs. Use Value
- Thread starter Green Knight
- Start date
I'm assuming you mean those 50s 60s and 70s models that were bypassed because they were made poorly? I would agree wholeheartedly. There are hundreds if not thousands of instruments stuck under a bed, in a closet, or stored away in a locker forgotten about because the action couldn't be tamed, the electronics just not right, or something the musician just couldn't figure out based upon the quality of the instrument. Do you find that in today's market? Sure but corporate factories ensure tolerances between instruments is very small...even if its made overseas.
agreed...as I understand it, the Musicmaster was sold as a student model, or starter instrument marketed mainly towards the non committed who were not frightened off by the entry level pricing. However, I think many of those basses were put together from leftover pieces. I recall my guitar tech telling me in the old days Fender had parts in bins and buckets and would grab pieces with no discerning order to build many of their instruments. I would have a tough time buying a starter instrument at vintage pricing.
Agreed! I knew it was a student instrument when I bought it. I liked the idea of a short scale Fender P. I knew they were basically Strat pickups on there, but figured I could mod it. I did not love the neck as much as I thought I would!
Yeah, the tone ws kind of mellow on the other two Performers I had but I had to work on is considerably punchier since I wired the pickup switch so they are in series instead of parallel when both are on.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
To me, vintage means it has some value as a collectible, more than just as well a musical instrument. For Fenders, that means pre-CBS, and maybe a little for late 60-early 70s. Other than that, it's just used.
Hmm that WOULD be a great mod for that bass. I'd love to hear what that sounds like.
Can that not apply to rare, limited-run basses of more recent vintage, especially those associated with celebrity players?
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Not to me. You don't create "vintage" in the marketing department.
Sure, but vintage is kind of a vague term. Can't the 80s and 90s be vintage in 2022?
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Again, not to me. Those instrument's value comes from their playability. A 1963 Jazz or Precision has collectible value independent of it's value as a player.
With all these young people learning 80's and 90's music I would say yes, maybe, but in another decade or 2 yes. When I was a young player in the 80's nobody considered 70's basses vintage.
I have a small collection (5) of late-70's and early-80's Ibanez basses--so they are all roughly 40 years old. Is that considered vintage? They are of sentimental value for me, because Ibanez guitars and basses were what my buddies and I played when we were teens. But they are also consistently great instruments, and can be had for very reasonable prices. I couldn't justify to myself paying thousands of dollars for a vintage Fender/Gibson/Rickenbacker when I can have so many more instruments of equal (or better) quality for so much less money. There is, of course, a generational aspect to this--if I were a little older, Japanese Ibanez basses would probably not have the appeal to me that they do. And the investment angle is not of interest to me.
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Yes! 80s basses are my weakness because I was born in 1972 and only became conscious of popular culture in a broader sense from the early 80s on. That sleek, futuristic aesthetic speaks to me in a way it wouldn't were I even just ten years older.
Agreed. The notion that "once the boomers go"....is dispelled by the fact that the boomers have been dying off for years already, but vintage prices haven't slowed down one iota. Demand is still increasing while supply is decreasing, the younger generations are filling the empty slots left by dead boomers.
Coming soon...The Dead Boomers. Tickets on sale now.
Funny...I too am a 72 kid but I got caught by the disco sounds just a few years before new wave took over. I recall seeing the village people on some tv show and I never forgot those driving bass lines!
When it comes to old Fenders, that is simply another guitar myth. In the 60's millions of kids bought electric guitars and basses. Most never took up playing seriously, resulting in vast numbers of guitars stored in closets or under beds for decades for that reason, not because those guitars were somehow defective. The idea that the "good ones" got played heavily, while the "duds" sat under a bed is just fuzzy thinking that gets repeated like an echo until folks eventually accept it as fact. As if an "explanation" is needed for why so many guitars weren't played very much at all, when the sheer number of sales over those years is the explanation. The same thing is happening today, millions of guitar sales. Forty years from now will folks be trying to figure out why there are bazillions of minty guitars left over from back then?
But doesn’t this myth make sense if so many people bag on vintage instruments and their lack of modern QC with sentimental value over taking true usefulness?
I don't think that's quite it for the 60's and 50's era guitars, the ones that command the serious money. I think the 'bagging' is mostly about the ridiculous prices they sell for. QC doesn't factor in there because it was more than adequate for the job at hand back then. Today's "closer tolerances" in manufacturing is less important than it gets credit for IMO. Even in the 70's when USA guitar quality was at an all-time low, looser tolerances didn't automatically mean a bad playing/sounding guitar. By the same token, "tight fitting neck pockets" aren't important for playability or sound either, although it's an indication of attention to detail and nicer to look at. So there's that...
well said. nice to have a different view point on this vintage subject.
