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Vintage basses pricing. Seriously?
- Thread starter Clifford Lee
- Start date
I liked that '77 too. If memory serves me that was an Ash body. I bet that '77 costs a few thousand $, allthough the way it sounds has nothing to do with its price. Eversince i saw that video i wanted to try out an ash body precision. At the moment the only available is the Nate Mendel signature, MIM, with quarter pounds, costing ~$1000.
Its no different to other vintage things eg. old cars. I'm sure there are better , safer, more well built vehicles around today but people still like the vintage stuff. As mojomike said if people are prepared to pay the price, then that is the price.
If you had an old Fender in good condition then you would expect to sell it for a better price than a new model.
If you had an old Fender in good condition then you would expect to sell it for a better price than a new model.
Vintage prices are very high, but those old instruments really do have something special. The custom shop vintage reproductions are a more affordable option. They’re made really well and spec’ed out to the original. Note that I said “more affordable.” They’re still pretty expensive.
For sure. Even a limited supply doesn't necessarily mean anything if the instrument just isn't in demand. I've got a matched Peavey T-40/T-60 set, both pre-production with all zeros serial numbers (of which there were fewer than a dozen made of each), with OHSCs, and both instruments in almost new condition. For both of them together, I still paid a small fraction of what you'd see for a relatively common pre-CBS Fender with a twisted neck that's been beat to hell. It's just a fact of life that most players and collectors wouldn't give the Peaveys a second glance, whereas the Fender would be like the Holy Grail. The prices reflect that reality accordingly.
Stuff costs whatever the owner and potential buyer can negotiate. I'm annoyed that real estate prices are what they are and that Scarlett Johansson won't return my calls, but I accept that's just how things are.
It starts mostly with emotion, then when enough people join the movement, it becomes normal. Plenty of people with affluenza. Jack prices up, happy to pay thousands. $10,000 to them is like $100 to everyone else. Same thing with cars, real estate, etc, etc.
The only way I'd be interested in vintage would be for something that's just not made any more, say some of the 80's Japanese basses for instance. For most of the usual suspects, they're just old, tired guitars. There's nothing in a 60's Fender that would prompt me to pay any thing past 4 or 5 hundred bucks if it was in nice shape. Otherwise I could get a new build Fender where everything isn't 50 years old and just elderly. Bear in mind, they're tools to me, nice ones for sure, but I got over the 'gee-whiz lookit that!' in my late 20's (that's been a while . . . . ).
If I had 10 or 20 grand to spend as toy money, it damn sure wouldn't be on some bass, much less one that's almost as old as me. Nope ! They're just old guitars. But as a Used Car Manager told me once, 'it's only really worth what somebody will pay for it', absolutely true, and there's the market.
I live a few miles from Gruhn's and Carter Vintage, so I can get my reality check any time I like . . . . . I went to one of the first Texas Guitar Shows in DFW in the early 80's. Some cool guitars, but a vendor had an Explorer from the original late 50's batch that looked as if it had spent the last 10 years hanging off a pier on Galveston Bay, and they were asking 5 grand for it, which was just beyond nuts. That's still the feeling I have overall.
If I had 10 or 20 grand to spend as toy money, it damn sure wouldn't be on some bass, much less one that's almost as old as me. Nope ! They're just old guitars. But as a Used Car Manager told me once, 'it's only really worth what somebody will pay for it', absolutely true, and there's the market.
I live a few miles from Gruhn's and Carter Vintage, so I can get my reality check any time I like . . . . . I went to one of the first Texas Guitar Shows in DFW in the early 80's. Some cool guitars, but a vendor had an Explorer from the original late 50's batch that looked as if it had spent the last 10 years hanging off a pier on Galveston Bay, and they were asking 5 grand for it, which was just beyond nuts. That's still the feeling I have overall.
As long as there is a sucker with money to buy them, they will stay at those prices.
With basses, especially Fender, a bass made today is almost the same as a bass made 60 years ago, but with modern improvements.
I see no valid reason to spend so much on vintage. Heck, you could spend much less on a new relic'd Fender!
My head hurts to think what will happen in 40 years when we have vintage relic'd Fenders! How will you know if it's in good condition or not? And everyone who bought a Squier VM Jazz and swapped the pickups will have a vintage modified Vintage Modified!
With basses, especially Fender, a bass made today is almost the same as a bass made 60 years ago, but with modern improvements.
I see no valid reason to spend so much on vintage. Heck, you could spend much less on a new relic'd Fender!
My head hurts to think what will happen in 40 years when we have vintage relic'd Fenders! How will you know if it's in good condition or not? And everyone who bought a Squier VM Jazz and swapped the pickups will have a vintage modified Vintage Modified!
Here's a trippy thought, for 1 day make ANY instrument available to anyone and see what everyone picks and more importantly , hear what everyone sounds like and let's see what happens when you take the freaking money aspect out of music! Just for 24 hrs. Just a thought. 
Simply nostalgia, that's what drives the market. (IMO)
Simply nostalgia, and magical mojo marketing, spread thick. But mostly nostalgia.
I started buying guitars in the mid-70s, and most of my first few 'beloved' Fenders and Gibsons were 1959s (at the time, about 15 years old, not even 'vintage' by today's definition) Still they had crazed lacquer and plenty of play wear, and in the decades to follow I was always sentimental about guitars that were born 1959 to 1969. Still am!
The best of them always seemed to be lighter weight, and my personal 'gold standard' bass guitar for "feel" is still a 1962 Jazz Bass that belongs to a friend of mine in Russia. Light as a feather, and immaculately perfect low action with no buzz. But over here I'm 95% of the way to that same perfection with a 1994 MIM Fender Urge (also featherweight!). Is it because the Urge is actually "vintage" now? I doubt it!! Probably it was always just a finely-wrought random example made of particularly nice lightweight but strong and resonant wood.
If money is no object, why the heck NOT collect your own sentimental favorites - especially if right now they happen to be so popular that they are deemed "investment grade" for the moment? Just remember - if you TRULY BELIEVE in the mojo, it will unfailingly work for you!
But... "old wood"? Forty-five years and 500 guitars later, I'm still not 100% convinced. The oldest electric guitar currently in my possession is a 1979, which despite now being nearly FORTY YEARS OLD is still just as much of a solid maple boat-anchor as the day it was made ( sounds and plays great, so it's a keeper ). Anyway that particular piece of "old wood" certainly has not 'magically aged' to become lighter, stiffer, and more resonant.
I do favor "light and resonant", especially for bass guitars. But the best SOUNDING bass guitar currently in my possession is a "fifteen year old" (circa 2001) that just happens to weigh about a pound less than its identical twin of similar vintage that hangs next to it. And this bass is PERFECTLY "even-sounding", there is virtually zero tonality jump when you go string to string (and it's equipped with very ordinary round wound strings). This particular tonal quality happens to be very near and dear to my heart, garnering this instrument "MAGNIFICENT" status in my books. Not "Old Wood" - but GOOD WOOD! (and lightweight too which is always a bonus...)
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Future proof yourself, go get an American standard Jazz or precision from the 2012 mark up until they changed it to pro and artist series then leave it in a hard case somewhere dry with constant neutral temperature for 40 years, it's an investment for the future lol... seriously tho like people have said, supply and demand, as time goes by more and more of those vintage instruments remain, they get broken, lost, stolen etc.
The build quality for fender instruments especially from the 70s was great and then dropped a bit throughout the following 20-30 years. Instruments are no different from any other thing that could be classed as vintage or antique, when they're thin on the ground and proven to be great instruments that stood the test of time people lust after them, plain and simple, driving the price up.
The build quality for fender instruments especially from the 70s was great and then dropped a bit throughout the following 20-30 years. Instruments are no different from any other thing that could be classed as vintage or antique, when they're thin on the ground and proven to be great instruments that stood the test of time people lust after them, plain and simple, driving the price up.
It's kind of like the playing/listening tests that are occasionally done with 300+ year-old multi-million dollar Stradivarius violins - quality new (and much, much less expensive) violins are often preferred in tone and playability when the individual isn't allowed to know which is which ahead of time.
On a positive note, I was able to buy a T-40 and a T-20 together for significantly less than half of what a new MIA PB is going for. And they both (especially the T-20) see far more playing time than my Fender PB does.
So maybe it’s not all bad for guys like us whose tastes are other than the mainstream’s preferences.
On a positive note, I was able to buy a T-40 and a T-20 together for significantly less than half of what a new MIA PB is going for. And they both (especially the T-20) see far more playing time than my Fender PB does.
So maybe it’s not all bad for guys like us whose tastes are other than the mainstream’s preferences.
That's right, you win in this case.
I have likewise benefitted from following some lesser know artists: tickets are reasonable and the front of the stage easily accessible. Not so with mainstream artists.
wmhill
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- Aug 20, 2012
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I wanted a vintage japan built mustang for a long, long time. Two years ago i found one in absolute mint condition! I had to lay out $800.00 for it as the owner would not budge! I have no intentions of selling it, i do however think i could probably get a thousand or more for it in todays market?
That too. Although my favorite band (Snarky Puppy) has been garnering more and more well-deserved popularity. So the good old days of catching them them in small out of the way venues in NYC and the surrounding area has diminished a lot recently.
So it goes. At least I was fortunate enough to have seen Thomas Dolby’s amazing show last time he was here.
My current philosophy, based on very limited experience, is that actual sound improvement on a bass caps out at a certain point. I don't feel like that price point is above 4 figures. What I have learned is that my $65 P bass sounds very comparable to my Fender American Standard. However, my Fender looks, feels and plays much more nicely. How much that is worth is obviously strictly a personal decision.
