My wife calls me Old and Cheap. Glad ya never bought it at Cheap As Chips G-Z loll
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Vintage cheap basses
- Thread starter Reclaimer
- Start date
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Did you mean to say "By actively and regularly engaging your wife in a lively conversation comparing the aesthetic and functional aspects of electric bass design..."?
I thought so.
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Vintage sounds much better than old cheap basses, besides, those of us who own these basses and don’t go for the outrageously priced basses are proud to call them “ vintage cheap” without jacking the prices out the roof.Regardless of how it's used, the word/term vintage relates to the age of something/anything - 50's vintage, 60's vintage, 70's vintage (car, instrument, furniture etc) Sellers of vintage instruments of any quality or actual worth use the word in an attempt to inflate an instruments perceived value. Yugo's are 70's/80's vintage doncha' know?
If I can find a bass that I can get for say $75, and I set it up, restring it, and someone comes along and picks it up,plays it and can’t quit smiling, and I price it at an affordable price. It’s a win win! Because I made enough to start over and this person now has a vintage cheap bass that plays as good and sounds as good as a custom rig ( in their mind) without braking the bank. I also find basses along that I will fix up and give to a young person who wants to learn and a few starter lessons and bless them with a bass. For some kids it’s life changing!
In the absence of an accepted industry standard for the term, I'm guessing that vintage bass falls under " Too old to be considered modern, but not old enough to be considered antique" and can be somewhat subjective.
I wholeheartedly concur that just because something is cheap (like my Onyx), it doesn't naturally follow that it holds no true value.
That particular bass provided me countless hours of enjoyment and was even broken down, packed in my trunk and bought out to provide an escape during downtime on Operational deployments. Hence why it now resides in my home and not in a landfill.
I wholeheartedly concur that just because something is cheap (like my Onyx), it doesn't naturally follow that it holds no true value.
That particular bass provided me countless hours of enjoyment and was even broken down, packed in my trunk and bought out to provide an escape during downtime on Operational deployments. Hence why it now resides in my home and not in a landfill.
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- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
The term "vintage" was originally derived from the dating of a bottle of wine, where the vintage date, or the date the grapes were grown, gives some added information about the value of the wine. If the vintage year was a good one for grapes, it indicates that this wine is of high quality.
But as you point out, the general connotation of "vintage" in collectable markets is aimed at creating allure/worth.
i like (not love) cheapies if they're competent (for me). vintage doesn't ever figure in. just me.
Although no longer with me, my first ever bass was a '60s Teisco Riviera. I sold the only thing I had of value at that time (a Sanyo rockbox) and bought it from a hockshop some time around 1982.
After 30-odd years of abuse at my hands, it sadly became damaged to the point of being unplayable but I enjoyed the hell out of it while it lasted. Since I had previously stripped the finish and added a design incorporating my now ex-wifes name under the new laquer, the arrival of my current wife sealed it's fate and I put it out on the street (and it was already gone 15 minutes later).
When I originally got it, apart from being strung with black nylon-coated strings, it looked pretty much like this one:
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After 30-odd years of abuse at my hands, it sadly became damaged to the point of being unplayable but I enjoyed the hell out of it while it lasted. Since I had previously stripped the finish and added a design incorporating my now ex-wifes name under the new laquer, the arrival of my current wife sealed it's fate and I put it out on the street (and it was already gone 15 minutes later).
When I originally got it, apart from being strung with black nylon-coated strings, it looked pretty much like this one:
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- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Those Teisco singles rock! Love the back story! So R&R!
All I've got is back-stories these days...I need to get out more...
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Certainly has that smell about it from time to time.
Funny I just ran across an article about Teisco Microphones. The full name of the company was Teisco Del Ray. Teisco was founded in Tokyo in 1946. They made guitars, amps, synthesizers, drums and pa equipment. Their products were sold as Silvertone, Kent, Beltone, Duke, Encore, Kingston, Lyle, Sonatone and Kay. In 1967 the company was bought by Kawai Musical Instruments which discontinued the guitar line meant for export. By 1977 they stopped making any guitars at all to focus on Kawai synthesizers which were eventually discontinued too.
I quite like some of the cheap and vintage basses out there, but I sometimes think it can be quite of a risk to buy one (especially bad trussrods and bowed necks). Although, I am a lucky owner of a great playing and sounding late 60's Orfeus Hebros sovjet bass .
. 
Truthfully -- I like the *idea* of cheap vintage basses more than the actuality.
I've owned a few. And of course still miss my first bass -- a Zim Gar that I would take apart and put back together a few times a year.
But these days, the craftsmanship and quality control at overseas factories has advanced so much that there are basses for $100-400 that play *so much better* than anything silvertone or harmony made in the 1960s.
I've owned a few. And of course still miss my first bass -- a Zim Gar that I would take apart and put back together a few times a year.
But these days, the craftsmanship and quality control at overseas factories has advanced so much that there are basses for $100-400 that play *so much better* than anything silvertone or harmony made in the 1960s.
Damn right I love cheap vintage basse, my main bass up to now has been a 1988 Aria ProII SLB rescued from 18 years in an attic, mind you it now has EMG actives in it.
Fretter, if the pickup needs rewinding, I can recommend Sentell Pickups out in Sacramento, Ca, highly. He's done a couple of jobs for me and just completed one for a friend and all came out great. High quality work, very reasonable prices, and a helpful family business to deal with.
Sentell Pickups electric guitar pickups
Greg
P.S. To return to the original subject, the old cheap basses I particularly like have all become old, not-cheap-anymore basses (Harmonys, Kays, Silvertones, Danelectros, Supros, etc.). Luckily I managed to score a few before the prices went completely wacky:
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I love the older ('74-'82) Japanese made Basses that came out of the Matsumoku and Fugigen factories. I was also around when they were made. Ibanez was most prevalent here in the US. The Aria/Washburn stuff was well made but their aesthetic was not to my taste. I have a '76 Ibanez 2353 (copy of approx. '74 TeleBass) and an '80 Greco PB 450 (copy of 70's PBass). They are both rock solid and well made. Almost 40 and 45 years old; the wood grains have tightened and matured. They are Vintage and VERY playable..!! I will continue to collect this era instruments.
