VINTAGE CLASSIC Bass

"Vintage" and "classic" are 2 entirely different things. "Vintage" is linked to age, and "Classic" is an iconic, influential, or enduring design. Anything can be vintage. Only a few certain things can be classic. So, a 1976 Hondo bass is vintage, but definitely not classic. On the other hand, a 2012 Fender American Standard Jazz bass is classic, but not vintage.

I assume when you say "luthier", you mean "company". That is Fender, Gibson, etc?? If so, the brand has nothing to do with an instrument's "classic" status. Fender and Gibson make all kinds of guitars that aren't classic, but they also make some of THE classic designs of all time.


I've never heard of a "classic" preamp, but there are "classic" pickup designs. But the presence of those "classic" pickups in a guitar doesn't make the guitar they're installed in "classic".




As far as the wood questions go, I'd do a search of this site. There are several large threads that address those questions.

 

Well....maybe im missing something here but "vintage" is taken from the french word "vingt" which means 20. So it follows that any instrument over 20 yrs old could fall under vintage. "Classic", i think is something that denotes a highly regarded piece of equipment. Or perhaps the best example of a highly regarded piece of equipment. Or it could just be a trademark name such as Squire's have. You could say something like "A 1964 Fender P bass is a "classic" example of a vintage bass." Instruments made by well known builders such as Dan Smith would make it a classic because it defines an era say or early 80's Made in Japan Fenders would be classics because they also define an era of well made instruments. Sorry if im totally missing something but i think thats an answer.

 

I don't think that Old French derivative is correct. I don't believe it has anything to do with "twenty."

Look online at a few sources, I haven't seen that listed as the root word yet.

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, alteration (influenced by viniter, vintner) of Old French vendange, from Latin vndmia : vnum, grapes + dmere, to take off (d, de- + emere, to obtain; see em- in Indo-European roots).]

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the word vintage originated from wine-making terms actually.