Why are older basses "coveted"???

[Major Seven]

For the same reasons old Mustangs and Ferraris are coveted, was the thought that sprang to mind.

Classic Ferrari Sells for $70 Million

Embedded in a thread was a discussion about expensive collector cars. The high bar was just reset. $70 Million dollars! Wow! The collector, David MacNeil, is the founder and CEO of WeatherTech, the floor mat company.

community.cartalk.com

 

[AlleghenyBlend]

I drive old cars because of simplicity. Like a P bass. I have no need for complexity.

Except that metaphor doesn't apply here. In fact, a Pbass made in the last decade can be more simple than a Pbass made in the 1960s.

 

[porkynuggets]

I'm waiting for them to install "lane assist" on my fretless.

I know a few guitarists that could use help staying in their lane

 

[porkynuggets]

Except that metaphor doesn't apply here. In fact, a Pbass made in the last decade can be more simple than a Pbass made in the 1960s.

It's a lot simpler if I stop putting new info in my brain at whatever year my bass is

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

I've wondered this as well. It seems whenever a professional musician is on some YouTube channel talking about gear, the date of the Fender P or J bass is always mentioned, like that makes it better or makes them better players. It's a status symbol and makes you look more professional or talented if you play a 64 Precision rather than a 2026 American Professional II Precision.

 

[ad9000]

I'm not a vintage diehard, but out of the 15 or so basses I own, three of the oldest ones are in the top five that I use the most: '62 P-bass, '71 Mustang Bass and '77 Jazz Bass. They all play great and sound great. I've played a good number of 60's and 70's basses that are dogs, but I suppose you could say that these are examples of the "good ones." I was fortunate to have bought the P and the Mustang Bass when they went for a fraction of what they are selling for now, and the '77 Jazz was a relative steal acquired fairly recently in a multi-bass trade.

The '77 Jazz in particular just sounds amazing and plays effortlessly - kind of astounding as Fender in the late '70's was probably at their lowest point in terms of quality. I originally thought I'd resell it, but after applying some TLC there was no question it was a keeper.

 

[BassicJazzy]

I've wondered this as well. It seems whenever a professional musician is on some YouTube channel talking about gear, the date of the Fender P or J bass is always mentioned, like that makes it better or makes them better players. It's a status symbol and makes you look more professional or talented if you play a 64 Precision rather than a 2026 American Professional II Precision.

Well, some years were really different, like the '90 Jazz Plus, which had Kubicki guts, and a smaller body.

 

[Gopherbassist]

Captain Pedantic wants to point out that, absent impact or stress, plastic doesn’t “disintegrate” appreciably over the lifetime of most electric guitars/basses. It may crack, warp, and/or discolor, but unless it is subject to abuse it will be hundreds of years before it begins to decompose.

Plastics do photodegrade. Kept out of light, most of them won't deteriorate for a long, long, long time. That is, unless something evolves that can consume them.

That said, some plastics can become brittle over time, especially older ones. Things like heat expansion and contraction, absorption and loss of water from the atmosphere, and, like you said, impacts, can mechanically break them down.

I've seen some pictures of old plastics secreting an oily slime. I suspect those are very, very old plastics from the 1940s and earlier which contained biological ingredients, but I'm not certain.

 

[BassicJazzy]

Plastics do photodegrade. Kept out of light, most of them won't deteriorate for a long, long, long time. That is, unless something evolves that can consume them.

That said, some plastics can become brittle over time, especially older ones. Things like heat expansion and contraction, absorption and loss of water from the atmosphere, and, like you said, impacts, can mechanically break them down.

I've seen some pictures of old plastics secreting an oily slime. I suspect those are very, very old plastics from the 1940s and earlier which contained biological ingredients, but I'm not certain.

Ever see the conglomerates that form from plastics that have been dumped in the ocean, where they break down into pellets and fuse together to form new materials? That would make a cool body for a bass, if you could get a big enough lump to work with, saw out a cross section.

 

[BassicJazzy]

It's a lot simpler if I stop putting new info in my brain at whatever year my bass is

Main reason I started playing again after 25 year hiatus was to start putting new info into my brain. For every brain cell that dies, I form a new one to take its place, load it up with bass stuff.

Oops, looks like I parked my car in the refrigerator, again. Are you my grandson? Is the elevator boy part of your family, too?

 

[MultiScaleMale]

There are various reasons, but it's mostly fueled by the obvious fact that they aren't making any new 60's Fender basses. These were the basses used for most albums in the 60's, 70's, etc and probably still today. Now they're a connection to the owner's past. Something along the lines of - I can't drop 80 lbs and grow a full head of hair, but I can own this '65 Jazz bass. (If you own a '65 Jazz bass, don't jump on me. I said there is a variety of reasons.)

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

Lots of reasons mentioned.
Some legit.

I subscribe to the concept of the wood being as stabilized as it will ever get.
Also, the whole theory that if it was ever going to have to have a major issue, it's already happened or not by now.
Then there is the hard to define mojo.

 

[Swamp_Ronin]

It's not the wood, or the pickups or the "build quality". Nostalgia is close, but that's not quite it either.

It's because they are cool. This cannot be explained through a materialistic/rationalist/economic lens.

Old dentists or hedge fund managers want to be cool, but they never will be. They have a '62 fender in their bLOozE bAnD and they want to feel cool (there's nothing wrong with that).

I'm a comic book artist, and collectors are routinely paying $200k for single pieces of comic book art. They all had dreams of drawing spider-man when they were kids, but became software engineers because they lacked the talent or the insane courage it takes to be a professional creative. They will never be cool, so they try to buy cool.

 

[sugarsand]

I have friend that has a 60's p bass he loans to me for recording. It way better than anything you could buy, very alive, harmonic richness you can't explain, that's either there (or not if you've never heard it, then you would never know what you're missing), it's deep sounding in the right way, thick sounding, grand piano sustain. I have a fretless 74 p bass it's pretty good, somewhere in the area of his bass just not quite there. Both these basses have rosewood boards. I like roto heavy swings on a fretted bass. Even those old steel heavy fender flats, super tight not supple, brutal to play, they sound good, I'm starting to like them.

 

[Paul New]

Because we “like” them?

 

[Mastermold]

Lots of grumpy TBers on this thread.

Hey nothing wrong with buying authentic original instruments for those who appreciate and can afford them. Those that don’t and can’t, carry on.

 

[vindibona1]

Pricing is due to Supply and Demand.

Why is the Demand high for vintage instruments? For the past 50 years or so “vintage” instruments have been sought by BOTH players and collectors. The collector part of that demand has been high going back to the mid-80’s.

This can certainly be frustrating for players. The good news for players is that the player makes the instrument, not the other way around. The key aspect for a player is NOT TO GET CONFUSED between player value and collector value.

But, Fender continues to produce eminently great bass guitars at current pricing levels; and the used market has real values. You just have to play a bunch of them, know what to look for in terms of issues, and be ok with making a mistake or two.



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I think you make a point differentiating between collectors and players. Unlike acoustic instruments, solid body instruments require amplification (electronics) which IMO makes it more difficult to believe that there is that much difference in the SOUND of a vintage instrument, at least if it is constructed with vintage style electronics and within similar parameters and selection of wood species for resonance.

But the idea of "Fender continuing to produce eminently great bass guitars AT CURRENT PRICING LEVELS" leaves me scratching my head in wonderment. I dunno. There are a lot of bass mfrs who produce basses of better quality for a lot less money. There is a lot to be said for price increases of the last few years, mostly based on marketing citing "upgrades" (mostly electronics) that cost pennies more to build over the pre-upgraded stuff. I think QC is a bit iffy these days as well. Two years or so ago I bought a new Fender USA Pro II P bass. After a time with it, I realized that I could not set if up to be as refined as all my other basses (some needed fret leveling and re-setup). I finally gave in and spent the money to have it Plek'd which made a significant difference. But should a $1900 bass require tech work to make it "premium right"?

 

[claudel]

It's like half these people don't know what "mojo" even is!

Who *is* Mojo Jojo?

 

[LowTorque]

The band saw operator is only making rough cuts.
The router operator put it on a jig and is the one that shaped it to the spec of the fixture

The band saw operator is only making rough cuts.
The router operator put it on a jig and is the one that shaped it to the spec of the fixture

But if the rough cut is inaccurate the router needs to work harder, wear prematurely and yiu profit will go down. Plus that also speaks for your conpany culture.

If the bandsaw operator doesn't care, soon others will follow and your quality goes down. That's not happening over night but there is a reason why overall US companies got into trouble in the 80ties.

 

[LowTorque]

When I worked in the bicycle business, one of my bosses told me, “The easiest way to make money is to sell guys in their 50s the things they wanted when they were teenagers.”

We were only talking bikes, but it applies to guitars, cars, you name it.

That is so true.