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Vintage basses: Exchange Value vs. Use Value

#121
To the OP. I wouldn't buy any bass that I thought was 'limited' and I wouldn't buy one if I wasn't going to play it.
Vintage basses have limited appeal.. I might check what prices the market is at but thats the extent of it.
 
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#123
JimmyM said:
I see lots of younger folks who love vintage stuff.
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For the same reasons they love vinyl, buying 50 year old stereo equipment and dressing like The Band.

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#125
Iridescentone said:
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...
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Yeah my experience with my pre-CBS Fenders is their QC is on par with my modern Fender CS basses so whatever they had back then was clearly more than adequate enough for the task.
 
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#126
Iridescentone said:
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.
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I want to use that name myself! I'm not a boomer...I was born in 61 :D
 
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#129
txhawaii said:
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.
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“Survived the skip” = didn’t get thrown away, put in the trash.
 
#131
The deaths of the Boomers have been greatly exaggerated. My early boomer parents are still alive and consuming like it's 1989. If my dad had been affected even remotely by the 1960s, he'd have a wicked guitar collection; instead he got into the audiophile side of things and still has stereos I'm not allowed to touch. I'm 49.
 
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#132
Honestly, though, I think we can go a little deeper into the appeal of, as one contributor hilariously put it, buying 50-year-old stereo equipment and dressing like the Band. Can anyone blame young people for wanting to pretend the digital revolution hasn't happened yet? I don't think much of Friends--I didn't in the 90s and don't today--but I can see the appeal to younger adults of immersion in a world where people talked face to face, knowledge required effort, permanent jobs still existed, and we didn't know/care how badly global warming would accelerate. Many of my students--I teach university English--feel a sense of hopelessness in the future and have little trust in public institutions of any kind. They know how much easier it was to find long-term employment, the kind that gave people a life-long sense of purpose, then compared to now. Nostalgia for a time before they were born? I get it.
 
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#134
Green Knight said:
Honestly, though, I think we can go a little deeper into the appeal of, as one contributor hilariously put it, buying 50-year-old stereo equipment and dressing like the Band. Can anyone blame young people for wanting to pretend the digital revolution hasn't happened yet? I don't think much of Friends--I didn't in the 90s and don't today--but I can see the appeal to younger adults of immersion in a world where people talked face to face, knowledge required effort, permanent jobs still existed, and we didn't know/care how badly global warming would accelerate. Many of my students--I teach university English--feel a sense of hopelessness in the future and have little trust in public institutions of any kind. They know how much easier it was to find long-term employment, the kind that gave people a life-long sense of purpose, then compared to now. Nostalgia for a time before they were born? I get it.
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Friends was full of banal jokes, vapid characters, and unrealistic lifestyles in 90's NY. Seinfeld wasn't much better but nevertheless...Monica, Chandler, Jerry, or Elaine never stared endlessly into their smartphones and couldn't access information instantly. I have several friends 15 years younger or more who love the aforementioned shows because there is something appealing for those days.
 
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#135
txhawaii said:
Friends was full of banal jokes, vapid characters, and unrealistic lifestyles in 90's NY. Seinfeld wasn't much better but nevertheless...Monica, Chandler, Jerry, or Elaine never stared endlessly into their smartphones and couldn't access information instantly. I have several friends 15 years younger or more who love the aforementioned shows because there is something appealing for those days.
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The homophobia of some of those jokes is surprising by todays standards.
 
#138
I think whether or not a bass speaks to me, makes me want to play it, has nothing to do with age, who made it, or where it was made. I often think there's a certain fallacy floating around that 'vintage is automatically better', like some sort of talisman. I've never found it to be the case for me.

I'm only a 'vintage guy' in that my interest would be for something older that simply hasn't be re-issued or produced ever again since its original day in the sun. I might be a 'vintage guy' for a MIJ 80's BB Yamaha or OG Ibanez Musician, a Fender Roscoe Beck Five or Jazz 24 or PBass Lyte, these sorts of things. But I've tried too many great Fender re-issues to buy the same PBass or Jazz from the 60's or 70's, I can't feel or hear any difference commensurate with the jump in spend. But that's me.

I just buy solid axes that talk to me. Not much more necessary after that for me.
 
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#139
Some vintage basses ARE truly unique. People like to say the Gibson Triumph has one usable tone, but that tone is thunder and sounds unlike any new bass out there. Steinberger L2 et al also come to mind. That’s different from the debate over whether a 65 jazz is better than a 2022 Jazz.
 
#140
Green Knight said:
Sure but good riddance to some of it … but let us fall silent on this matter lest we be misconstrued as having a political debate.
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oh how we fear our overlords! all i want is a coffee from central perks, that's all...

i did meet jennifer aniston once. she was actually quite beautiful in person...much more so that on television. she was stunning.
 
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