Vintage basses....who needs them?

[discreet]

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1461501950' post='3035166']
[url="https://flic.kr/p/eRcqCM"][/url]
[/quote]

Phwooar, that's more like it, let's get the porn on the go!!

Edited April 24, 2016 by discreet

[Highfox]

This thread need photo's
Not that vintage but 70
[url="https://flic.kr/p/eRcqCM"][/url]

[discreet]

Wait, how did that happen?? These bloody time-travelling raisins are going to/have been making my life difficult.

[Highfox]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1461502148' post='3035174']
Wait, how did that happen?? These bloody time-travelling raisins are going to/have been making my life difficult.
[/quote]
It was me sorry

[Grangur]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1461502148' post='3035174']
Wait, how did that happen?? These bloody time-travelling raisins are going to/have been making my life difficult.
[/quote] Both posts were at 1:47, so the computer knows no difference.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1461500906' post='3035148']
That's what a fetish is, though - an obsession; or 'an idea or thought that continually preoccupies a person's mind'. I think about vintage Fenders much more often than I need to - in fact, probably more than is mentally healthy - but I'm quite sure there are far worse things to be hung up on. And luckily I can't afford to buy one, so it's harmless really. Isn't it..?
[/quote]

Do you wake up thinking about the wood?

Edited April 24, 2016 by EssentialTension

[Kiwi]

Almost bought a '65 Jazz but wouldn't have played it live and looking at it would have just reminded me of what else the money could have been spent on. Felt very nice to play though.

Having said that, I do enjoy owning a beaten up 78 Stingray...not sure if that counts as vintage compared to preCBS Fenders but it snarls very nicely.

[EssentialTension]

I've got a vintage Pre-Ernie Ball Music Man leather strap. It's just the correct length unlike some of these modern straps. Mind you it's not the full original length because someone has trimmed the end. I think it may have been me in 1980.

[chris_b]

Leo Fender made some turkeys and CBS Fender made some classics. Generalizations are misleading as most of the basses made by both companies were fine and fit for purpose and even on a bad day the worst of them was preferable to the competition.

I doubt if many people could tell a Leo bass from a CBS bass on a record. Most of the popular music recorded since the mid 60s has been on CBS basses. I find it hard to believe that they would have sounded any better on a Leo bass. I have a vintage P bass and my Lull sounds much better.

I saw some of what went on in the studios and, unless you were either "a name", paying the bill or brave enough to face everyone down and lucky enough to win, (back in the day "problem" band members were regularly replaced by "session" players) your fantastic bass was mostly going to end up compressed to buggery and sounding just like the producer wanted anyway.

[JTUK]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1461495799' post='3035083']
Yep, US Standard Mark, made in 2015. The ones with the Custom Shop Pickup. Deep chunky neck, deep chunky sound, everything about it says old-school, but it just plays so well and although still just over 9lbs feels so much less cumbersome than older instruments.
[/quote]

I've got noiseless pickups in a bass but I can't decide what to swap out first...those or the pre.
I 'believe' there is a drop in volume which is why I can't take just this one bass to the gig...but since the bass isn't active/passive
I'm not sure where to start..
The sound is ok... but I feel the pre is a bit agriculural..and I'm used to East's. so I'm looking at possibly a pcikup and pre swap
I'd want passive option... and I do like the pickup blend of the Fender pre on the bass and I know the East offers that as well but I like the mid sweep. I'm think the original Fender pre 2 band is a bit basic..?? and it doesn't seem regaeded either.
I'm looking at other pre and pickup combinations but a minefield atm...

I'd have a vintage bass but since I play only 5's... not going to happen.... so it is just as well, I can't afford a 60's..
I can get those sort of sounds anyway...
One thing...and apologies for the Active/Passive thing, but no one can seriously run an active flat-out surely..!!!

Edited April 24, 2016 by JTUK

[RandomBass]

My favourite Vintage bass is the V4.
Oh.

[discreet]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1461507109' post='3035224']
Do you wake up thinking about the wood?
[/quote]

No, but I do sometimes wake up [i]with [/i]wood.

[Owen]

I have 2 vintage Fenders. I never play them and should probably flog them. But I am sentimenal and they are nice to have around.

Edited April 25, 2016 by owen

[luckman67]

I have a 1964 Hofner violin bass that I have owned since 1988, and like owen above I hardly play it but it has a lot of sentimental value to me.For me the "vintage thing" could be called the "history thing" owning a Fender from '51-'65 when Leo owned the company. And where & who owned it originally before it made it's way to the UK to eventually you being the next owner / custodian.

[uncle psychosis]

If all you're interested in is a fantastic instrument, playing/sound wise, then buy a modern instrument. They tend to be cheaper and there's more choice.

If you want to own a piece of history, then vintage basses are just inherently cool. Some of them have the added benefit of also being fantastic instruments.

[uk_lefty]

Because of the awful rate of interest from banks I have toyed with the idea of buying (even a right handed) limited edition Fender or Gibson and just locking it in its case for twenty years to sell on in future or pass on to my kids if I have any... Bit of a gamble, the vintage guitar market may be dead in twenty years, or I may need to "relic" it to make it sellable. Not the worst financial idea...

[Jebo1]

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1461659365' post='3036443']
Because of the awful rate of interest from banks I have toyed with the idea of buying (even a right handed) limited edition Fender or Gibson and just locking it in its case for twenty years to sell on in future or pass on to my kids if I have any... Bit of a gamble, the vintage guitar market may be dead in twenty years, or I may need to "relic" it to make it sellable. Not the worst financial idea...
[/quote]

I'd suggest buying a genuine vintage instrument, not a limited edition reissue. Personally, I have about the same amount of money in my instrument collection as I do in my personal pension (work one is slightly different).

[LayDownThaFunk]

The thing with vintage instruments is most people listen with their eyes and not their ears...

[PlungerModerno]

[quote name='Jebo1' timestamp='1461662536' post='3036473']
I'd suggest buying a genuine vintage instrument, not a limited edition reissue. Personally, I have about the same amount of money in my instrument collection as I do in my personal pension (work one is slightly different).
[/quote]

+1 - buy a vintage instrument, all original if possible, and get the paperwork to back it up (including pictures of all stamps and serials and emails etc. with someone who can authenticate the overall instrument and the components).

[quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1461708406' post='3037090']
The thing with vintage instruments is most people listen with their eyes and not their ears...
[/quote]

So true. I'd say a guitar or bass will be worth more with an attractive grain pattern in the wood or a really well aged paint job than one with perfect playabiltiy or a set of "perfect" pickups or electronics but with less lovely looking woods or badly preserved finish. For an example think an old alembic with noisy but functional electronics vs. one of a similar vintage with great electronics but much less exquisite wood facings.

[discreet]

[quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1461708406' post='3037090']
The thing with vintage instruments is most people listen with their eyes and not their ears...
[/quote]

Well yes... the look of the thing is obviously very important. Some of them even play well and sound good, too.

[uk_lefty]

[quote name='Jebo1' timestamp='1461662536' post='3036473']


I'd suggest buying a genuine vintage instrument, not a limited edition reissue. Personally, I have about the same amount of money in my instrument collection as I do in my personal pension (work one is slightly different).
[/quote]

My point was I could buy, for arguments sake, this year's limited run fender or Gibson or other whatever that may be, solely for the purpose of investment and not to consider playing it, just leave it in the case. Agreed a reissue won't have the value of the original, but what of a 2016 original limited run instrument? What would that be worth in mint condition in 20yrs time? It's a gamble but probably better than +1% year on year

[Dave Vader]

I think some of my gear might be vintage now, but when I bought it it was just second hand.

[Skol303]

Interesting discussion… but the same can said about anything old vs. its modern day equivalent.

The entire antiques trade operates on this basis. Some people just like old stuff because it’s old. It’s the reason why people like buying old cars, furniture, books, records, clothes, toys, whatever. Some of them are ‘design classics’, others are out of production… but mostly, people just like them because they’ve been around a long time and have accumulated history, character, mojo, whatever you want to call it.

I used to own a ‘classic car’ in my early 20s - a Triumph Herald. Loved it. But it needed constant repair, continually failed its MOT and was far less cost-efficient than running a ‘modern’ Ford Fiesta, which I subsequently purchased. The Fiesta had no mojo whatsoever, but it was fuel efficient, the heater worked and the body wasn’t in danger of detaching itself form the chasis if I braked too hard. It was all round a better product, albeit lacking in mojo (and sunroof).

Same applies to bass guitars. The modern day equivalents are - in the majority cases - going to be all round better instruments. But what you can’t replicate with modern production is ‘oldness’ (at least not until we invent time machines). And that’s essentially what people are prepared to pay money for - and will continue to do so.

It's no more complicated than that

[uncle psychosis]

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1461752063' post='3037286']


My point was I could buy, for arguments sake, this year's limited run fender or Gibson or other whatever that may be, solely for the purpose of investment and not to consider playing it, just leave it in the case. Agreed a reissue won't have the value of the original, but what of a 2016 original limited run instrument? What would that be worth in mint condition in 20yrs time? It's a gamble but probably better than +1% year on year
[/quote]

I really doubt it, to be honest.

To make money, instruments have to be desirable as well as rare. There's nothing particularly or unusually desirable about a modern Fender or Gibson.

Remember you lose at least 20% of the value in VAT the second you leave the shop. You need a lot of appreciation just to overcome that.

[1970]

I need them, thanks for reading.