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When is a bass "vintage"?

How old does it need to be to be vintage?

  • 10+ years

    Votes: 3 1.4%

  • 20+ years

    Votes: 54 24.4%

  • 30+ years

    Votes: 90 40.7%

  • 40+ years

    Votes: 52 23.5%

  • Older than me atleast

    Votes: 22 10.0%
  • Total voters
    221
#101
2cooltoolz said:
I have a 79 Les Paul. I don't think of it as vintage. I don't think its age actually adds any value. It's just an older used Les Paul.
Sorry. I'm in the 50s and 60s camp.
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Late 70s Les Paul guitars are selling for between $3,000 and $7,000 (depending on model and condition) on Reverb right now. Take care of that guitar. Even if YOU don't call it vintage, you should treat it as such. It seems the MARKET calls it vintage.
 
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#102
Dragan said:
As usual, lots of anal theorist, (wine/wikipedia) and so on.. in early 2000s we called 70s vintage so why we shouldn't, 20 yrs after, call 90s instruments vintage?
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That's been my whole point all along. But boomers can't help themselves. A car, or guitar/bass, or album that didn't come out when THEY were young is garbage. If you don't believe me, just ask them. :roflmao:
 
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#103
deff said:
This does make some sense as most radio stations in the 80's were using the term classic rock to describe music that was currently being created. In fact the rock music from the 50's was being called oldies. I always thought of "classic" rock as being a descriptor of rock music made from like 67-83 or so. After that things became more fractured into subgenres. Frankly I barely understand how the term came about but it is a confusing one as no one is going to mistake Lou Reed for Bad Company. How they both carry the same description of classic rock is beyond me.
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Never mind that in 1985, classic rock stations were playing VanHalen and Bad Co that wasn't even TEN years old in some cases! But these days, THIRTY year old Pearl Jam, that sounds a LOT like rock from the 70s, is NOT classic rock?????

Gimme a break.
 
#104
two fingers said:
Never mind that in 1985, classic rock stations were playing VanHalen and Bad Co that wasn't even TEN years old in some cases! But these days, THIRTY year old Pearl Jam, that sounds a LOT like rock from the 70s, is NOT classic rock?????

Gimme a break.
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Is classic rock even a time period? Seems more like the same 30-40 songs played over and over again.
 
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#106
H K said:
Me: "Is this bass old enough to be called vintage?"
TalkBass: "PEARL JAM IS CLASSICAL ROCK!!" "PORTWINE HAS TO AGE 5 YEARS TO BE VINTAGE" "TIME IS FLEETING AND NOTHING MATTERS, SELL IT WHILE YOU CAN"
Click to expand...

argue.jpg
 
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#107
H K said:
Me: "Is this bass old enough to be called vintage?"
TalkBass: "PEARL JAM IS CLASSICAL ROCK!!" "PORTWINE HAS TO AGE 5 YEARS TO BE VINTAGE" "TIME IS FLEETING AND NOTHING MATTERS, SELL IT WHILE YOU CAN"
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Oh we're just having fun. How boring would this place he if everyone just clicked on a poll answer and moved on?

(Answer: Not fun)


But, hey, I hear Fender came out with a 1963 1/2 reissue of the Fender P bass in burst with tort! We can talk about that! (But, apparently the hootnanny button is chrome instead of nickel so it ain't right.)
 
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#108
two fingers said:
Never mind that in 1985, classic rock stations were playing VanHalen and Bad Co that wasn't even TEN years old in some cases! But these days, THIRTY year old Pearl Jam, that sounds a LOT like rock from the 70s, is NOT classic rock?????

Gimme a break.
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Actually. Pearl Jam is “alternative”, not “classic rock.” Or it was differentiated like that before COVID. They used to debate if U2 was classic rock, or something else. So there’s that.

I looked into basses from the 80s since I was a teenager then, and they are about the same prices as current basses, and it was apparent that current basses are the best deal. Maybe get one a couple years old. We really have it good lately.

I wouldn’t pay a premium for vintage except possibly for some 50s and 60s instruments. I have a 1969 EB-0 I bought a few years ago, it was the last of the famous 60s basses to get inflated prices, probably due to its bad reputation. I’m still trying to get it to work how I like, almost there!
 
#112
Vintage can be a noun or an adjective. There are crappy old cars and there are vintage cars, which have aged well and are sought after. Same for basses. Some old basses are just…old. Maybe, @two fingers Led Zeppelin isn’t Classic Rock, it’s Vintage Rock!
 
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#114
Doug4321 said:
Actually. Pearl Jam is “alternative”, not “classic rock.” Or it was differentiated like that before COVID. They used to debate if U2 was classic rock, or something else. So there’s that.

I looked into basses from the 80s since I was a teenager then, and they are about the same prices as current basses, and it was apparent that current basses are the best deal. Maybe get one a couple years old. We really have it good lately.

I wouldn’t pay a premium for vintage except possibly for some 50s and 60s instruments. I have a 1969 EB-0 I bought a few years ago, it was the last of the famous 60s basses to get inflated prices, probably due to its bad reputation. I’m still trying to get it to work how I like, almost there!
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It was only "alternative" for a little while. It was the "alternative" to the glam, slick, overproduced rock of the 70s and 80s. (Not knocking 70s and 80s rock. I'm a fan.)

Since then, about a zillion other alternatives have popped up. Thus, 90s grunge is no longer alternative.

Never mind that I haven't heard that term in years.
 
#116
H K said:
As I'm selling off some of my older basses, I started to wonder if I should call them vintage or not. Looking around the web I found several answers, but for different items.
Some antique dealers say vintage furniture for example, is 20-99 years old, some say 40+.
I've always considered it to be around 20+ years, but what do you guys think?
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Well, since there are no basses older than me except for stand ups, I can't choose that one. So I chose 40-years. I personally think of basses from 1965 and earlier as vintage. I had a 1965 Jazz Bass that I bought in 1966 and was stolen in 1976. Even thought at was technically not "pre-CBS" because they'd already bought Fender, they didn't mess with any major part of the design until 1966 when they came out with that ghastly deep U-shaped neck. Bass looked great because it had white binding on the neck and it was the first year for the bar markers on the fret, but when they pulled it off the wall for me to try that neck was terrible. I thanked them for letting me try it out and as I walked out of the music store I thanked God that I had a '65 with its 60's slim C-shape neck on a 7.25" radius. I have since at least seen pics of '66 Jazz that had the same neck I had on my '65, but man that U-shaped neck was a disaster to play.

I would say 50-years, but that's not an option.
 
#117
Australian classic car clubs use the following five categories.

Veteran: manufactured before 1918.
Vintage: manufactured 1919 - 1930.
Post Vintage: manufactured 1931 - 1949.
Classic: manufactured 1950 - 1969.
Modern Classic: manufactured 1970 - 1989.

I think we'd be able to put together an equivalent timetable something like...
Veteran is pre Fender's mass production (let's say before 1950)
Vintage is pre CBS (1950 - 1965)
Post vintage is pre Musicman (1965 - 1975)
Classic is then 1975 - 1985
and modern classic 1985 - 1995
 
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#118
H K said:
As I'm selling off some of my older basses, I started to wonder if I should call them vintage or not. Looking around the web I found several answers, but for different items.
Some antique dealers say vintage furniture for example, is 20-99 years old, some say 40+.
I've always considered it to be around 20+ years, but what do you guys think?
Click to expand...
An instrument is "vintage" when it's original line.

Other than that, it's just old.

A "vintage" Pepsi can would have the original label and ingredients, manufactured in 1965 or close to it. Not a Pepsi from the 90s. That would just be an old soda from the 90s.

"Retro", would be a brand new Pepsi, made to look and taste like the original. "Throwback" or "Re-Issue" would be other terms for that.

If it's not original, it's not vintage.
 
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#119
"Vintage" when used alone, outside of the wine industry, is a nebulous term, and should be avoided.

It is supposed to be attached to something that specifies its meaning, usually an exact year, or a time period.

There are two main ways to use it "properly."

In the first, it can be thought of as meaning, "Made in the year..." A vintage 1980 P Bass, for example.

In the second, it can be thought of as meaning, "...year of manufacture." A 1980 vintage P Bass, for example.

The way it is used by most people nowadays is a perversion of the language, that has removed any solid meaning from the term. Therefore, it's practically useless.

It was originally used (and still is) in reference to a manner of wine making, in which all of the grapes used to make the wine were harvested in a single year – as opposed to a non-vintage wine, which is a blend of various vintages.

In no proper usage is there ever a certain age attached to it. You can have a brand new P Bass, made this year, and if you are using the word properly, call it a 2022 vintage P Bass.
 
#120
two fingers said:
It was only "alternative" for a little while. It was the "alternative" to the glam, slick, overproduced rock of the 70s and 80s. (Not knocking 70s and 80s rock. I'm a fan.)

Since then, about a zillion other alternatives have popped up. Thus, 90s grunge is no longer alternative.

Never mind that I haven't heard that term in years.
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I still hear that term. Alternative. For grunge and related genres. Some radio stations etc. It always seemed a little puzzling though to be defined by what it’s not. Alternative to what? Pop music or happy music in general I guess.

So anyways, that just proves the point about the definition of “vintage bass.”
 

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