What basses will be worh $$$$ 30+ years from now?

[Gaolee]

Pianos have been mass produced. They are not terribly valuable, either, judging from the number of pianos you can have for free if you would only haul them away. People still play 'em, so new ones keep getting built and sold. Same with violins and all that.

So, there will still be guitars, bass guitars, upright basses, and the like. But, the most valuable of them all in 30 years will be a vintage Grainiax. It will be even more valuable if it has the rare Guardiax upgrade.

 

[P Town]

Maybe all those goofy pointy metal basses will appreciate.

 

[6stringpanda]

Acoustic basses after the EMP makes electric ones obsolete!!

 

[ewe2]

G&L's are going to keep appreciating. I agree too about Squiers, they're going to be "rediscovered"

 

[pacojas]

30 + years ? None in my opinion. Music will have moved on.

-1,... to this post and others claiming such!

stringed instruments are as old as anything man-made and will always be available. that said, i think the obscure custom built basses shall be highly sought after.

 

[nukes_da_bass]

Musical instruments will hold no value in the future- humans will have mind implants and compose and play music with thought commands which other people can hear through their own brain implants within the matrix.

 

[Handyman]

IMO, none. The strange pricing of old Fender's seems to be driven much more by baby boomer 'reliving the past' (i.e., those instruments are iconic from the start of rock and roll all the way through the 70's). Once the baby boomers get too old to care (and we are getting close to that),the whole 'collector thing' will most likely disappear.

I have the same suspicion. Once the children of the 60s are gone, who's going to care about collectibles driven by 1960's nostalgia?

 

[M.R. Ogle]

I wouldn't bet on ANY currently-made basses appreciating. I'd bet the "boom" days of vintage basses is on the downhill side of the curve, and what DOES become valuable will only be a specific few basses to a specific few collectors.... maybe a VERY few collectors.
The high-end classic pieces will always have their Japanese industrialist or wealthy orthodontist collectors niche market, but they will be looking for PRISTINE examples, no brass-nut 1975's with DiMarzios, thank you.

I HAVE a few vintage instruments. I do expect them (because of rarity) to retain or slightly gain in value in the upcoming years, but I'd be surprised if that value much outpaces normal inflation.
Anybody want to guess the price of a gallon of gas in thirty years?

 

[zxcvbs]

Hi, i dont think they will appreciate in value, but with that money you will get a lot more that if you just save the amount on dollars, by inflation.

Is there any construction+material improvement in entry level basses/guitar from today compared to 15 years ago?

My apreciation is that current instruments just point to amateur musicians, people only think on working, paying debts, taxes, etc. There is no time for a musician mindset neither the social space. They target hobbysts, mass production for mass mindset. Being a musician, takes really much scarce time.

A luthier instrument/ custom instrument, will cost what it sells now used, example: 3k warwick basses, are sold for 1300-2200, price, that price will be the stock price, x years from now, in function of its value.
In the case of small luthier firms, they will aprecciate if the maker goes out of business, in other case the same for W will be true.

What really changes tone is pickup and amp technology. I dont see a 80s revival tone, neither on bass shapes, the same will be true for today. 60/70 had other mystic.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

The basses that were owned by major professionals and used to record the hits of our generation... so I guess I should start stocking up on bass synths....

 

[georgiagoodie]

Stock Wishbasses.....

 

[Stingray5]

If I had to speculate, I'd say any well respected basses hand made by the luthier himself, such as a Carl Thompson or Mike Tobias. Once the man is gone, no more will ever be made. That's gotta equate to an increase in value at some point.

 

[mansjasont]

Obviously the answer to this question is the bass that is best for metal. It is so rare, that everyone on this forum is asking what it is. Once someone discovers this bass, it will for sure go down as the most valuable bass, and because of its rarity, it will only get more valuable. This is an interesting topic but you may as well be asking for the best bass for metal.

 

[zxcvbs]

Obviously the answer to this question is the bass that is best for metal. It is so rare, that everyone on this forum is asking what it is. Once someone discovers this bass, it will for sure go down as the most valuable bass, and because of its rarity, it will only get more valuable. This is an interesting topic but you may as well be asking for the best bass for metal.

of course it will be the bass that is well suited for metal core. Some rare axe with 9 strings, and fanned frets.

 

[jeff7bass]

If Carvin stopped making the SB4000 and SB5000, IMO the prices for used ones would go up dramatically.

 

[bass12]

If I had to speculate, I'd say any well respected basses hand made by the luthier himself, such as a Carl Thompson or Mike Tobias. Once the man is gone, no more will ever be made. That's gotta equate to an increase in value at some point.

I think there's a good chance that Mike Tobias' son, Daniel, will continue making basses under the MTD name.

 

[wmheilma]

It occurs to me that the wood used on some instruments may increase their value in the future. Just look at the prices for exotic hard wood now!

 

[TravisJ]

Once the children of the 60s are gone, who's going to care about collectibles driven by 1960's nostalgia?

Same with children of the early 1700s? Once they are gone who will care about a Stradivarius violin?

 

[wolffire99]

G&L's are going to keep appreciating.

Right now G&L's have hit bottom in the used market but in another 10-15 years I agree, the quality is there.

I could easily see Squier VM's having a cult following when and if they get discontinued.

 

[stix_clgi]

I tend to agree with custom instruments from some of the more well known luthiers to be our "holy-grail" instruments years from now.

I think of it like paintings. Depending on the artists, the value of the pieces skyrocket after the artist has passed. I believe a similar phenomena will happen in our world.

There are just too many production instruments for them to be worth anything.

Same with cars....In 30 years, nobody is going to want a mint 2013 Toyota Camry lol...they made like 60 billion of them, give or take a few mill.......