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Are Stingrays the new Warwicks, price wise?


stingrayPete1977
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Loads of crazy cheap Rays about now I have noticed, any more reductions will see a few USA ones in the £500-£600 bracket which I have never seen before, there are some in the FS section right now for £625-700. A corking flamed neck early 90's went unsold on ebay for £800 a few days ago which a year ago would of been £900+ in our for sale section with no ebay fees!
Someone bagged a Ray 5 for £532 on ebay a few days ago!

Is this just a sign of the times and only a few weeks until christmas or will all the Warwick jokes be coming to the EBMM owners soon?

Pre EB's have either held the same or even gone up if people both on here and ebay are acheiving even close (within £300) of the asking prices and appear to be following the trend of pre CBS Fenders and even 70's Fenders gathering pace although you would struggle to do a straight trade for a late 70's P or J for a pre EB of the same condition it looks to me?

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If you can bag one before they go back up you could do well there, I do quite like a bit of GB gear! the cabs live in the kitchen :D

If the prices were like they are now I would not of bought the Blue Pearl 5 new, whats list price on that now £1900? If I tried to sell it £850?

Just googled and GAK do a blue pearl posted for £1499!

Edited by stingrayPete1977
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[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1354624857' post='1888233']
If you can bag one before they go back up you could do well there, I do quite like a bit of GB gear! the cabs live in the kitchen :D

If the prices were like they are now I would not of bought the Blue Pearl 5 new, whats list price on that now £1900? If I tried to sell it £850?

Just googled and GAK do a blue pearl posted for £1499!
[/quote]

That sucks how prices have fluctuated.
I'm skint atm after picking up a 4003. Still got the hots for a Ray in natural tho

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Not in my house. Just picked up a Ray Classic after moving on my P bass. What an incredible instrument! The neck profile and preamp work EXTREMELY well for me.

i played `rays for years and sold my mid nineties one about 7 years ago. Always missed it, they sound and feel so good. Very happy to be back to playing a Ray now...and a Rickenbacker...hur hur hur...

I loathe Warwicks though. Really hate them...

Edited by Cairobill
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I think Rays fluctuate a fair bit, no idea why - I picked up a lovely black and maple one from EBay BIN £550 a couple of years ago, which was a good deal but not a million miles away from what they were going for generally, then the s/h prices rose sharply, and they're settling back again, despite the RRPs going up and up.

Warwicks, however, have been in the doldrums for years secondhand, with no sign of prices picking up (other than possibly Thumbs) and their RRPs are just mad now. Like them or not (and they are a marmite bass) the quality of instrument for the secondhand price is unbeatable.

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'stingrayPete1977'
Gratuitous Ray shot just for fun :lol:
[IMG]http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag21/stingrayPete1977/rays1.jpg[/IMG]

MB1.
Hey Pete!
Think you'll need to get the duster out there's some right muck lurking In the top corner! Ha ha
(In this house,we don't use the"F" word!)

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I don't think that it's unique to Stingrays - I think a load of the more mainstream brands, e.g. Fender, Gibson, Rickenbackers are prone to this pricing. I still think it's worse with Warwick - some of those 3k+ Streamers still have difficultly fetching much above a grand on the used market.

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[quote name='MB1' timestamp='1354630983' post='1888382']
'stingrayPete1977'
Gratuitous Ray shot just for fun :lol:


MB1.
Hey Pete!
Think you'll need to get the duster out there's some right muck lurking In the top corner! Ha ha
(In this house,we don't use the"F" word!)
[/quote]

Well its not a real one if that counts :lol:

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No.

Warwick went from a boutique handbuilding company making a few bass to a massive company churning them out. The fact they tell you how much the "new" warwicks are improved suggests even they know that, (wenge necks back in 2013)
Musicman as far as I know have never had a massive drop or gain in percieved quality. Though I guess they go in and out of fashion.

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I picked up a fairly mint Ray here a couple of years ago for about £600.

Sold it for whatever I actually paid and it was sold again a while later for more or less the same price.

I think it's been fairly easy to pick up recent'ish Rays for around the £600 mark for a while really.

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It's a simple case of supply matching ( if not neccesarily outstripping ) demand . A new Stingray purchased and then promptly put up for sale is going to fetch far , far less than the retail price because their are loads of similar basses on the market for sale cheaper , many of which at asking prices that reflect what they cost a few years ago . If you wanted to invest in EBMM basses you would be wisest to buy secondhand or else to buy the rarer more esoteric models that are not saturating the market i.e the Reflex / 25TH Anniversary ect . Even then , the relatively new Big Al hasn't exactly set the world on fire , as is reflected in the relatively modest secondhand prices they can be had for , probably because of the inherent quirkiness of that design . The fact that EBMM quality is so consistant also , ironically enough , counts against the secondhand value of Stingrays in so much as any era of EBMM bass is a good one , so all the secondhand ones on the market are potentially worth owning if they are in decent condition . The market in EBMM basses has always been a double -edged sword in so much as they will always be popular and sought after , but as a result of this they are relatively commonplace and will never command a premium for rarity or novelty value . To return a good secondhand price a bass must have a combination of desirability and exclusivity , and too many EBMM basses fall down on one or both of these criteria .

Edited by Dingus
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[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1354631857' post='1888393']
No matter what the current prices second hand, id never sell mine for daft prices. My old mint 2000 ish Ray H fetched £870 ish.

Best to sell them on the EBMM forum if you want to move one on.
[/quote]

I wouldn't worry too much about the secondhand prices if I were you . If you compare EBMM basses to a lot of other prestige makes they are relatively inexpensive , and although they may suffer a disproportionately high depreciation from the retail price that depreciation is not a lot of money in the scheme of things compared to a lot of other expensive depreciating assets . If you lose a few hundred quid on a bass you have had years of use out of so what ? This , on the whole , is not a business for investors . If you really want a sound investment in basses you either have to buy vintage ( potentially tricky ) or ( more tricky ) new boutique basses that are esoteric but so desirable that people will want to buy them secondhand for very close to what you have paid for them , or thereabouts . Wal , Fodera , USA Lakland and NYC Sadowsky are good examples of this .

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I've seen a couple of PreEB rays go for 700 quid in NZ. Simply due to a lack of demand. My mate bagged one. There was a Kubicki Ex Factor for sale for $1100 last week. If I wasn't having to cough up for tradespeople, I'd be stockpiling...

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[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1354688110' post='1889095']
I've seen a couple of PreEB rays go for 700 quid in NZ. Simply due to a lack of demand. My mate bagged one. There was a Kubicki Ex Factor for sale for $1100 last week. If I wasn't having to cough up for tradespeople, I'd be stockpiling...
[/quote]
How much is shipping from NZ? :D

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1354671677' post='1889074']

Pete...I'll give you £500 for your natural Pre EB :) It's a really nice bass
[/quote]
I will drop it off Paul :lol:

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Sold my 1990 Fretless 'Ray 5 for £800. Fine by me. Paid £1k for it ages ago. It was still mint.
I [i]really[/i] didn't get on with it. Swapped it from BEADG to EADGC, which was better, but still annoying.#
Bought a '97 Warwick Fortress Masterman 5 (fretted)
That's better. More Stingray than a Stingray! (And cheaper still!)

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[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1354688110' post='1889095'] I've seen a couple of PreEB rays go for 700 quid in NZ. Simply due to a lack of demand. My mate bagged one. There was a Kubicki Ex Factor for sale for $1100 last week. If I wasn't having to cough up for tradespeople, I'd be stockpiling... [/quote]

I couldn't buy a bass called 'Ex-Factor'

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