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What are great basses with a really low resale value?

#81
jmbjandfam said:
It could be just me but I've found that ANY bass that I am trying to sell is pretty much worthless AND any bass I am trying to buy is suddenly rare and quite valuable and won't last very long if I don't buy it NOW! AND furthermore once having bought the rare and valuable bass, it is now suddenly worthless! :help:
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^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^
 
#82
Guilds used to be THE deal. Got me a all-original 60s Starfire I on ebay for about $450 in 2004 or thereabouts. It sold 6 years later in a retail environment (with a $125 binding repair) for $2K.

Still would suggest a Pilot as a great deal. And Carvins of all generations sell quite cheap too compared to their build quality.
 
#83
Tupac said:
Used bass prices are not created equal. Fenders for example, have a high resale value. Now what are some great basses (or companies) with a really low resale value that you can make a huge saving by buying used?
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I'll second Carvin and G&L, but throw unlined fretless in and you've got some truly worthless, unsellable instruments.

My 2 Bunnies and my L2K are all unlined FL so I don't think I could give them away. But they're probably among the best basses money can buy.

The G&L is the real sleeper. It's the tactical thermonuclear weapon of basses - it's Leo Fender's finest design and there's no other Fender available that's as good. But it's also the cheapest on the used market.

Unfortunately for me, the unlined FL models are more rare on the used market so if I ever had to replace mine or get another one, I'd have to look around for a while or go new.

LS
 
#84
tminus10 said:
I'd say Alembic. Alot of them, like the Essence for example, have a retail price of over $7000 but sell used for around $2000 give or take. Thats a pretty big difference.
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That depends.....Bought mine in 2000 for just under $6,500 (list approached $12K.)

12 years and several new instrument price increases later, I've seen lesser Alembics sell for $6K. My bass on the current Quote Generator would list at $19,600.

So if you base what mine could sell for today vs what a new one would list for today (nobody pays list), let's call it $6,000 vs $19,600. Not good resale.

But if you compare what I could sell it for today with what I paid for it 12 years ago, $6,000 vs @ $6,500, I'd say that's pretty solid resale.

KickAssBarJune82011-b.jpg
 
#86
Generally speaking, any instrument sucks for resale. If I'm looking at a used instrument, I expect to pay no more than 60% of the new price if it's within 5 years old. If new US Fender P-basses are going for 1100, I might go 700 for a reasonably recent used one in near mint condition.

The more relevant question is - which instruments are likely to appreciate over time and at least get back to their original sale price... I suppose US Fender's and probably Gibson's fare reasonably well in that regard, as the well known quintessential US guitar makers. Has little to do with the quality of the instruments... Anything else, who knows...
 
#88
jmbjandfam said:
It could be just me but I've found that ANY bass that I am trying to sell is pretty much worthless AND any bass I am trying to buy is suddenly rare and quite valuable and won't last very long if I don't buy it NOW! AND furthermore once having bought the rare and valuable bass, it is now suddenly worthless! :help:
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Oh, how I feel your pain...

grendle said:
Warmoth, Carvin,Peavey, pretty much anything Custom made as well.
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That's the thing about "custom" anything. By definition, it's designed for the original owner. This pretty much eliminates it's target demographic in the resale market.
 
#90
I've owned a US and Tribute G&L and both were fantastic instruments. I also own a US Peavey and can't for the life of me figure out why they aren't more popular. They are fantastic.

Another bass I own is a MIJ Fender. It's a really nice feeling and sounding bass and I got it for next to nothing. Just because it's not a MIA Fender doesn't mean it's bad. The Japanese made ones are very nice.
 
#91
tminus10 said:
I'd say Alembic. Alot of them, like the Essence for example, have a retail price of over $7000 but sell used for around $2000 give or take. Thats a pretty big difference.
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+1 Alembics are worth like 30% of the cost on a resale value. I bought a Stanley Clarke Standard for $1900 7 years ago, luckily for me I found a buyer this year for $3800 but the list of the bass had risen substantially in the last few years.
 
#92
troy mcclure said:
+1 Alembics are worth like 30% of the cost on a resale value. I bought a Stanley Clarke Standard for $1900 7 years ago, luckily for me I found a buyer this year for $3800 but the list of the bass had risen substantially in the last few years.
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isn't that exactly the opposite of poor resale? Any bass will sell for significantly less in the same timeframe (trying to resell a 2010 bass in 2011) but the ability of a bass to have its USED value tied to the cost of a NEW product many years later is how they maintain value. I doubt I would ever have to sell my 2000 Alembic for less than I paid for it as a new custom order in 2000.

I've had 6 Alembics. I've sold or traded 4 of them for as much as I paid for them or more. The other two are keepers.
 
#94
There's a lot of apples to oranges going in this discussion, which is to be expected.

Generally speaking, IME any instrument does not suck at resale value. There are what should be obvious reasons why some things suck and others don't. The most obvious is demand. If there's little demand top dollar is probably not heading your way. Another is the timeframe in which the sale needs to take place. I've beent he beneficiary of an absolutely ridiculous amount of high end gear that I've picked up so below market it's probably unbelievable. I've probably done that at least ten times this year alone (hint: a bad economy is the seller's enemy and the buyers best friend).

Can bad resale value be avoided? Yes... an informed consumer can easily beat that on average by buying the right way. Close-outs, NOS (new old stock), end of year, impatient or uninformed seller, etc.

I purchased a NOS Alembic Series II (IIRC) bass; like new with case, power supply, etc. from a GC a few years back for $5700 off of retail. Cost me $2200. Now the first thing some folks will think is that's what the bass was worth... and they'd be wrong. That's just what the seller wanted to quickly move the bass for. Lesson: Don't get purchase price and value confused.

I came on TB and offered it up for what I paid for it. Just passing the bass on since I knew I couldn't use it. Zero bites and I can imagine it could've been for the same reason I got my BMW for peanuts: the price was so low people just knew there had to be a catch. In both cases there was no catch... the prices were just ridiculously low. Lesson: despite the edict that if something seems to be too good to be true, it probably isn't... sometimes it is. It's happened dozens of times for me. It just happened again on Monday:D

Anyway, I returned the Alembic to GC, it turned up on a well known website shortly after at twice what I paid for it and sold immediately. Lesson: I should've just asked for what it was worth;)

If you don't have to sell, resale doesn't matter all that much. But if you're like most people and have a butt that life can bite you in unexpectedly, it pays to know the market and the worth of your gear should you need to sell.

The safest bets are lower priced instruments. More than once I've bought basses that were well over $3k less than they had sold for new. Without some real talent, it's tough to lose $3k on a $300 bass.
:D
 
#100
It's way too common to lose sight of value when thinking about price.

Value is determined by all of these factors:
1)How badly you want it
2)How much you will use it
3)How long you'll own it
4)Lastly (!) how much you paid for it.

For instance:
In 1986 I bought a 1976 4000 for $750, and played gigs with it as my main bass for at least 12 years, when it became my main backup bass (which it still is).

It's new price was probably equal or less than what I paid, yet it's actual value was (and still is) immensely higher.
So far it cost me $30 per year. Pretty reasonable, I think.

But generally, any of the 'second tier' brands (Peavey, Yamaha, Ibanez, Carvin, etc.) offer crazy-good value when bought used, and often even still good value when purchased new.
I would add G&L, but around here they're very few and sell for prices closer to their MSRP when they are available at all.
Every one I've seen has had exceptional build quality, I must say.

I'd say that SX holds it's value best. Most are sold for very close to the new price, and mods seem to be preferred rather than shunned.

It's just our perception that keeps price from matching actual value, but that's how marketing works!
 

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