Your experience is quite different from mine. When I was a kid, you had the choice of a used instrument or a new instrument. "Vintage" didn't really exist. (of course it did, it just didn't factor into realistic buying) What passed for "used" was what would be considered "vintage" now.
I got my first bass, a 1971 Gibson EB-0 for $200 in 1984/5. I paid way too much for it, but I had that money burning a hole in my pocket, and I wanted that badass looking Jack Bruce looking bass. I think the next bass I got was a 1968 Gibson EB-2. That thing was BEAUTIFUL. If it were to be on the market today, it would be described as "mint." I think that cost me $500 back in 1987. I got my early/mid 70s Rick 4001 in mapleglo in 1988. That was $400.
Here's my setup around 1990.
The Marshall 100w half stack that I got for $500, the EB-2 for $500, the Rick for $400, the EB-0 for $200 and the mid 70s Telecaster Custom that I got for $300.
From 1991 to 1996 I went through 2 1950s Les Paul Specials, a half dozen or so 50s Les Paul Juniors, a half dozen or so 70s Les Paul Deluxes, a Travis Bean, a 74 20th Anniversary Les Paul Custom, an 81 Les Paul Standard and a host of other guitars... Most cost around $500, the Custom cost $700 and a really cherry 1960 LP Jr cost me $900.
In 1996 I got my 1965 Jazz Bass. It's a refin (poorly done) and I paid $1000 for it, and I overpaid.
What are now considered "vintage" guitars were "used" guitars back then. It didn't take too much of a brain surgeon to figure out that a $500 50s Jr was a generally better playing and better feeling guitar than a $500 LP Deluxe or a $600 70s Standard, and certainly a way better deal than a $1300 new model. However, at the end of the 90s- the prices of Juniors soared- with the advent of the intArwebs, every armchair guitarist fancied themselves a "collector" and the player pieces became "collectable."
I don't think the Custom Shop recreations of instruments catch that same feel as the older instruments. I think there was a lot better sourcing of wood, I think the environmental restrictions on wood sourcing affected what wood was available, I think the environmental restrictions on emissions affected the finishes, I think the fact that both Gibson and Fender were bought out to become cash cows for their parent companies (Norlin for Gibson and CBS for Fender) changed the focus from making instruments to making more money for less cost.
I don't look at 70s instruments as being "vintage." I look at the "vintage" value placed upon them mainly as a result of age and relative rarity, not because the features of the instruments are considered desirable.
Attributing todays "cache" of "vintage mystique" to yesterday's market is wrong. Although I'm not dismissing your experience with "vintage" instruments, what I read above is "I played a bunch of 70s stuff and a couple of pre-CBS instruments that I can't afford, they all sucked and all 'vintage' stuff is hooey." And I don't think that's representative of a decent sampling of decent instruments.
