"Vintage" Status

Nowadays pre 80's basses IMO

 

I remember being told by someone (I think they worked in the buying / selling musical instrument industry) that any instrument over 20 years old qualifies it to be called 'vintage'.

 

I'm pretty sure its after twenty years that a bass is officially deemed vintage.

 

As soon as the marketers think they can get away with it...

 

I consider vintage to be pre-1985. CBS-era Fender seems vintage to me, and that's when CBS sold Fender to Bill Schultz et al. I might consider late '80s to be vintage... it depends on the item. I wouldn't consider '90s to be vintage yet, even though we're getting close to the 20-year mark on 1990 instruments.

It really does depend on the item, though. I wouldn't consider even a 30-year-old double bass or piano to be vintage. My piano was built in 1921 and I don't really consider that vintage (it looks just like pianos made today).

 

The rule with cars is 25 years. That's how old they have to be to qualify for vintage racing.

 

And here was me thinking this was going to be about Status Graphite basses from the 1980's!

 

I have a Status "Silhouette Series" bass.

My idea is that it was made when Status made Pbass copies before they were a proper pioneering bass company.

 

It's true, Status used to make P and J basses! Fender32 used to have one of their jazz basses with a carbon fibre neck.

This started back when Rob Green started the company out as "GMT" (Green Machine Technology). Also, the first typically "Status" basses were called "Strata" before the designs were rebranded as Status Graphite!

 

IMHO any bass made before 1965.

G

 

+1 (And for cheaper insurance!) I'd say about the same on basses.

 

As stated above, the official "antique" or vintage status for cars and many other antiques is 25 years..... so 1984.

 

Yup, 25 years.

 

I'd say 25 years old, the same as with cars. That would mean that one of my basses is vintage as of this year.
Thankfully it's a few years until I'd be considered "vintage"!

 

Even though it is technically 25 years or more to be vintage, a 80's or 90's model will never really seem vintage to me. Personally, when I think "vintage", I think of anything up to 1979.

 

That makes me double vintage plus... Dang I must be expensive

 

ebay says pre-1980

and ebay is always right

 

I think it depends on your age. 80's basses can't be "vintage" because it seems like only a few years ago (1979) that I was buying my first bass, so if an 80's bass is "vintage", that would make me ... oh well, you get the picture.

Mike

 

As a child of the 80's I don't think of that as vintage, yet!

For me it's pre-70s. The early 70s slot into the twilight zone for me!