Vintage gear

[Nicko]

I just don't get why people pay such a premium for it. Is it really that much different from a good new example? You can buy a brand new USA precision standard for about £1200, a 58 reissue (new) for £1600 or visit Andy Baxters and grab yourself an original 1959 for, ahem, £12500.

Educate me fellow BCers

[bassbiscuits]

Depends what you're after.

A lot of people swear by older instruments - a good one will have a really comfortable played in feel, the wood will have mellowed and aged nicely, the pickups may well be from a legendary period of production (i.e. PAFs in Les Pauls etc) any repairs or restoration will have been done professionally and the overall vibe and little details may well be exactly what someone wants, such as particular neck radius, body material etc.

Then again, not all vintage instruments are great examples, and in that instance something like a custom shop or good accurate reissue will tick most boxes as reliable, well-made vintage replica. Something isn't automatically good just because it was made in 1968 for example. If it was a dog in 1968 it'll still be one now.

I do think that new basses do feel and sound very different alongside vintage ones generally - older ones are often warmer, mellower sounding, tho each is different. Again it depends how important that is to you.

And of course that £12,500 vintage bass is going to keep its value a lot better than a brand new £1,200 one.

Horses for courses at the end of the day - an investment, an accurate reissue or just a good, standard, working instrument. There's a place for each of them.

Edited August 5, 2015 by bassbiscuits

[Rich]

The only vintage instrument i'm really keen on getting is a good '65 Jazz. This is because a} I like Jazzes, b} it'd be my YOB bass, and c} it'd be a good investment. I doubt very much that it'd get many, if any, gigs.

[Skol303]

You can say the same about any vintage or antique item... be it a chest of drawers, a motorbike, a book or indeed, a bass guitar.

Some old stuff just has an inherent value to some people. It might be because it comes from a time when the item in question was made to a high standard; or because the item is no longer in production; or because it has a lot of 'heritage' (or mojo); etc.

It doesn't follow that old instruments are by default [i]better[/i] than new ones. In a lot of cases the opposite is probably true.

I'm no antique hunter myself but I do like old stuff, simply because it's old

Edited August 5, 2015 by Skol303

[Lozz196]

For me, the advantage of older instruments is that for one they`ve been worn in nicely, and secondly, being older, probably not in show-room condition so an extra knock won`t hurt. Though of course re that 59, well that would never leave the house.

[police squad]

my number one bass is a Fender P from between '73-'75. It's fantastic and it sounded miles better than my '62 which I sold because the newer one was better. I built a maple boarded fretless P last year and it sounds epic. Sometimes they just work and if an old one worked when it was new, it should be even better now. The woods dry out and just sound better
IMO

Edited August 5, 2015 by police squad

[scalpy]

The guitarist in our function band is a vintage valve amp collector and his argument for paying a premium is that there's something special about the fact the gear is often hand made to a large degree, done in smaller numbers and gives you therefore a more tangible link to the music that he enjoys and fired his passion for those artists. There is an argument that they sound better and as ever that is subjective and the law of diminishing returns applies, but the fact the object was there at the cutting edge of that time is rather special.

[Cameronj279]

I played a (I believe) 59' P-bass once and quite honestly I would rate it as the worst bass I've ever played in every possible way BUT to some people the things that they love in a bass are the things I hate. Personally don't see the appeal and for the price mentioned in the original post I'd be going for 4/5 ACG's!

"Horses for courses" and all that.

[mrtcat]

A good bass is a good bass irrespective of age. Likewise a bad bass is bad old or new.

[LayDownThaFunk]

Strictly speaking, today's (standard) MIM Fenders are most similar to vintage Fenders, only difference being the wood is newer. How many vintage Fenders have graphite rods, lightweight tuners, high mass bridges, big output pups etc.

[skankdelvar]

Why do people buy old paintings when they could buy a perfectly good printed copy of the Mona Lisa and it would cost less money than the original. And be bigger too.

In fact, why does anybody attribute different values to different things? Because they can.

As for the relative [i]utility[/i] of old vs new, there's usually not much in it, afaics.

[Roger2611]

From my understanding the wood used years ago was naturally dried out for far longer than it is today, again prime tone woods are now in short supply and are reserved for custom shop instruments but were freely available back then. A lot of people will also say an instrument gets better with age, and finally there is a finite amount of 59 Precisions, they are not making anymore, but the number of people who will want to own one will only go up.....so to counter my arguments a lot of people now view today's instruments as built to tolerances that manufacturers in the 50 / 60 / 70's could only dream of, many experts reckon that a good instrument built now will be better in 50 years time than these vintage examples around today...except those vintage ones from today will be another 50 years older!

I played a 63 Precision some years back, it was stunning, simply the nicest Precision I have ever played, I also played a genuine 57 Precision a couple of years before than and hated it, find a good vintage guitar / bass and you will understand what the fuss is about, find a bad one and no doubt it will just add another owner to a never ending list of sales on it

[4 Strings]

The £12500 is almost nothing to do with how 'good' the bass is, it's more to do with it becoming a 'collectable'. The thorn in the side of affluent society.

It could easily be argued that equivalent new basses are almost all better than the old ones. More stable necks, better production and quality control etc.

Rather like cars, which are much better designs, better made and last way longer than the old ones, but how nice to see a Morris 1000 or a DB5 driving along!

Edited August 5, 2015 by 4 Strings