Why is it that older basses are much more desirable?

[Craigster]

I would take a NEW bass over a VINTAGE bass ANY DAY.

Technology has come a long way with today's basses. Active electronics, graphite reinforcements, tuners, bridges, fit and finish, are all better today than they were before Hartley made the first T-40 on a CNC machine.

+1,000,000

 

[chaseman]

I'm no expert on business, but isn't there a little thing called 'supply and demand'? Decline in the number of the vintage instruments means the shop/seller can push up the prices, as they know the buyer will have to meet the price if they want to have that little piece of history.

 

[depalm]

Why people gets all nostalgic for times that they've never lived in?

 

[baileyboy]

I've had a lot of success acquiring great sounding Fenders from the 70's... '73 J, '75 P and a '79 P (also have an amazing, much newer FBB fretless). Looking for that special tone and feel, I've bought and traded away or sold numerous basses, including a mid 70's Ric... these just feel and sound right so I won't part with them.

 

[77PBass]

'80's basses are now considered "Vintage"????

oy vey. I give up.

+1

 

[allexcosta]

'80's basses are now considered "Vintage"????

oy vey. I give up.

Yeah, this is 2011 already...

In most places, you can even put a vintage plate in your car if it was built in 1981.

I know that to some of us the 80's was like yesterday but it's been 30 years already, and 30 years is kind of a magic number to allow you to use the word "vintage".

 

[cassanova]

I wouldn't necessarily get an older bass over a new one. Older/vintage does not mean they are better than new ones.

 

[mongo2]

Why people gets all nostalgic for times that they've never lived in?

I did live them and I even remember them very well. I played vintage instruments when they were new and just cheap used basses. I still have a few of them. There was absolutely nothing special about them then and there is nothing special about them now.

Each era had it's great ones, lousy ones but mostly they were just average and that hasn't changed over time.

Each instrument from every manufacturer, era, and country of origin should be evaluated on it's own merits.

 

[smcd]

Why people gets all nostalgic for times that they've never lived in?

Precisely because they never lived in those times. Everyone thinks they want to be a cowboy, but no one wants to get appendicitis in 1875.

 

[smcd]

'80's basses are now considered "Vintage"????

oy vey. I give up.

Are the 1980's somehow immune from becoming "vintage"? 100 years from now, when someone buys a 1980's couch, will his guests say "That may be 130 years old, but it's not 'vintage'."

 

[schwartzbass]

sometimes they just get it right the first time and can never duplicate it again, like my 78 rd artist bass. It took this massive circuit board just to get an active preamp back then but, I have yet to play an active bass that sounds as good.

 

[Medford Bassman]

Here's my two cents...

I've owned and played '70 Fender basses back in the day. Back then many thought they were junk. Poorly made, poor sounding, heavy chunks of wood.
While I enjoyed my '73 Fretless P-bass, many of my buddies back in the Chicago area played '60s Fenders and wouldn't touch a '70s model with a ten foot pole. '70s era Fenders were thought of as AMF built Harleys. Of course, now on eBay, '70s basses are IMO outrageous. I know some think some '70s model are fantastic, I'm not really debating that just remembering the discussion friends and I used to have back then.

A lot of guys went to modern electronics, neck-thru, and other non Fender designs.

I remember when I purchased my '82 Fender Bullet Bass. It was cheap like $180. I expected it to be cheap. It was made ok but wasn't as nice as my RD Artist bass. I suppose now 29 years later, I wish I kept the darn thing, I see what I can get for it now!!

 

[Execrate]

Cool car & instruments, man

I agree with the Blue Dog. Maybe there is the answer to the OP; what a bunch of eye candy! Car included.

But OTOH, even the guy who fabricated the computer chip can't fix it either! He simply replaces with a new chip.

 

[Nobody]

Why people gets all nostalgic for times that they've never lived in?

I think you can listen to the music from an era and study the era and get nostalgic for that time even though you didn't live through it. I remember when I was a kid in the early 80s watching The Outsiders and it made me want to live in that era and get a '65 Mustang.

 

[Luckie]

I blame hipsters, baby boomers, and indie bands.

 

[depalm]

Precisely because they never lived in those times. Everyone thinks they want to be a cowboy, but no one wants to get appendicitis in 1875.

hahaha! Precisely!

 

[depalm]

I think you can listen to the music from an era and study the era and get nostalgic for that time even though you didn't live through it. I remember when I was a kid in the early 80s watching The Outsiders and it made me want to live in that era and get a '65 Mustang.

I can understand that… I know many young people that would love to live in the 80s, 'cause they think the air was cleaner and life was easier than today. I say: c'mon guys… you have fear of live in the present!

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Don't forget there's a caché factor of having something no other (or very few) player has. Sort of an identity statement.

 

[bikeplate]

HI

I have the opposite opinion.

Rob

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

I can understand that… I know many young people that would love to live in the 80s, 'cause they think the air was cleaner and life was easier than today. I say: c'mon guys… you have fear of live in the present!

I was a working adult & gigging musician in the '80s, and I'm here to tell you things are MUCH better now. In the '80s, clubs were filled with smoke; half the musicians you played with were coked out of their brains; The style at the time was for men to wear poofy hair, leather dusters and copious amounts of makeup while crassly objectifying women; Tapping on guitar was king (Reason enough to heat that era) as was uber-saturated distortion through marshal stacks - and 99% of bassists were just frustrated guitar players with big hair. Oh - and don't forget all that synth-driven pop music.... BLECH.

Bars only served bad beer and well vodka...

Oh - and there was that whole "the world might end at any minute" cold war thing going on . Yeah, the '80s. Good times.

Now, on the plus side, Fender started making decent guitars again, and upstart bass amp companies started appearing that raised the bar for everyone (SWR/Trace/Hartke leap to mind). But that really was the only thing good about that time that I can remember. So yes, embrace how good things are NOW: Fenders are better than ever, there are more choices than ever, bars are mostly smoke-free, the cold war is over AND we are living in the golden-age of beer. I'd *kill* to be in my 20's again right now...