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Vintage basses pricing. Seriously?

#266
Clifford Lee said:
I have been browsing the old Fender's in particular and the prices blow me away. Call me naive, call me ignorant but what makes an instrument that was made in the 60's and the 70's cost anything between $2.000 and more than $8.000? Where the electronics made by superior or advanced components? Were the trees from which the wood came any better than those of today? Did the procedure of building a quality instrument not improve? Or is it simply nostalgia of the teenage years that idolizes everything about that era?
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Clifford Lee said:
I have been browsing the old Fender's in particular and the prices blow me away. Call me naive, call me ignorant but what makes an instrument that was made in the 60's and the 70's cost anything between $2.000 and more than $8.000? Where the electronics made by superior or advanced components? Were the trees from which the wood came any better than those of today? Did the procedure of building a quality instrument not improve? Or is it simply nostalgia of the teenage years that idolizes everything about that era?
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I know it's crazy -- I bought a brand new 1970 precision bass from a little home town dealer in Wichita Ks in July 1971 - asked about the "Fender Summer Sale discount as advertised"... he said, " I can sell you one right off the rack and avoid the official sale; $175 plus sales tax - cash", sunburst, rosewood board, fender case... sold! To be honest, that was the going rate amongst as any dealer in the midwest with Fender's end of year inventory dealer discounts -- then 2 years later, bought a brand new Fender tele bass with the worst factory pickup - the clone gibson humbucker -- about the same price around $200 - maple fretboard, tele style headstock and vanilla finish -- THE WORST BASS ever created by CBS Fender factory - "attempted" to play the horrible made bass - unsuccessful - returned to get full refund -- was so bad -- my how times change
 
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#269
My take on this is: If someone wants to pay a ridiculous price for a bass guitar because it is a particular model made in a certain country in a particular year, more power to them. Because, I can buy a newer example of the same bass at a reasonable price that I can play to my heart's content.
 
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#270
buckangus said:
worse basses ever made by Fender around 1970-1974 - wouldn't give any thing more than a few bucks above average retail for their time - which was around $200 or less - they are crap
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Disagree
I have a few early 70's that are great but I did have to fish through a bunch to find them.
Late 70's - 90's basses are worst for me.
I have a 60' P; they had very few stinkers back then
 
#272
All this talk of the 70's making me exceedingly sentimental...

cice1_31082015_start.jpg
 
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#275
bucephylus said:
Not sure exactly what your point is.

The main thing is a player needs to understand if they are a collector or not. Don’t get stuck in the middle. Be a collector or not. If you are a player and not a collector, then a) there are plenty of perfectly great non-collector pieces that get the job done; and b) you should let the instruments come to you.

Which in the latter aspect doesn’t mean you don’t keep your ear to the ground; just that you don’t push the issue. If you stumble across a nice instrument, then great.

Let the collectors be collectors. None of us can change that anyhow. Work hard on your playing and try to play the best instruments for your needs you find. That’s it.
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This is the thing that gets me... do people really not understand the difference between a collectible item vs. a usable one? Is that not obvious?

Some of this stuff on TB is comical. I've seen people who think that the value of an item should hinge on whether they like it or not.

:D
 
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#276
selowitch said:
Even in that era, though, there have to be individual basses that are good specimens.
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There are. I've owned a couple of nice ones, including a '73 Precision which was by far the lightest Fender P-Bass that I've ever played. My '71 Tele Bass was an excellent instrument as well.

Having said that, buying a '70s Fender of *any* kind sight unseen is not something that I would do nowadays.

My $0.02 only...
 
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#279
Ukiah Bass said:
They say high prices are due to supply and demand.

Does that mean demand (and prices) will drop after the Baby Boomers who grew up in that Old Fender Era and were inspired to play music by those heroes of yesteryear ... die?
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Look at the antique market. Did Louis XIV period items drop in value after 60 years?
 
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