Vintage bass collectors, have a good cry with me.

[Steve Browning]

I was clearing out some space the other day and came across the bills for the old basses I used to own. Have none of them now (which is not a regret from a playing perspective, the 66 is a far superior instrument as it happens).

Still, we all make mistakes eh?

The '53 is the one in the Haynes manual and the Steve on the certificate shown with the bass is me!

Edited April 4, 2017 by Steve Browning

[Dood]

"Goodness me!" is the 'safe for Basschat' response that just fell out of my mouth!

[Happy Jack]

I see you needed to take out a mortgage to buy the first ex-Entwistle Precision ...

[Muzz]

And I've been stinging about selling my Jetglo 4001 for £200 in the late 80s...I feel a bit better now...

[yorick]

I was thumbing through an old copy of Guitarist magazine from '89 and came across an ad for Musical exchanges... 70's Fender basses from £250 and a '68 Precision for £400!!!!

[Happy Jack]

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Other%20music%20related/Selmer%20Catalogue%201963/scan0006-1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Other%20music%20related/Selmer%20Catalogue%201963/scan0006-1.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Happy Jack]

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Other%20music%20related/Melody%20Maker%2011%20March%201967/MM%20670311%20p19_zpsxnf9bakc.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Other%20music%20related/Melody%20Maker%2011%20March%201967/MM%20670311%20p19_zpsxnf9bakc.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[mrn1989]

WOW!

Edited April 4, 2017 by mrn1989

[RhysP]

I paid £200 each for my secondhand Rickenbacker 4001's in 1980/81, one of them was a checkerbound/horseshoe/toaster pickup model. In the mid 80s I nearly bought a mint condition used Wal twin neck with case in a music shop in Birmingham for £399.
That's what the prices were back then, comparing them to what the same things sell for now is just masochistic.

[bassjim]

Still sobbing...sniff...

[Sonic_Groove]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1491302702' post='3271913']
I paid £200 each for my secondhand Rickenbacker 4001's in 1980/81, one of them was a checkerbound/horseshoe/toaster pickup model. In the mid 80s I nearly bought a mint condition used Wal twin neck with case in a music shop in Birmingham for £399.
That's what the prices were back then, comparing them to what the same things sell for now is just masochistic.
[/quote]

To put things in perspective though we bought (mortgaged) a new 3 bed house in 1981 for 11 grand!!

Nice nostalgia though Steve -- Bass Centre was cool back then!?

Edited April 4, 2017 by Sonic_Groove

[Steve Browning]

It certainly was. My wonderful 66 Precision cost me £260 in Tiger Music in Brighton (I got the money by selling my 78 Stingray, to the guy who put the bass in Tiger Music as it turned out). It was just the price back then.

[paul_5]

When I was at music college I almost bought a Wal fretless for £700.

Ah well...

[Rich]

My Wal cost me £330 in 1986. Thankfully I still have it.

[radiophonic]

I let an immaculate Wal go for £350 ca 1990. I paid £400 for it on a commission sale, so I guess the original owner probably saw about 350 too. It was only when I joined this site that I realised how much they'd appreciated. I still have a photo to weep over. For comparison, the EBMM Stingray I bought new at around the same time was £699.

OTOH I have lovely 1968 Baldwin 712 Thinline (12 String Guitar) that was valued at £80 in 1986. Some you win / some you lose.

Edited April 4, 2017 by radiophonic

[njr911]

I almost bought a 59 Les Paul for just over £20k in the early 90's.

Still, not as bad as if I'd SOLD a burst for £20k

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='Steve Browning' timestamp='1491298059' post='3271855']
I was clearing out some space the other day and came across the bills for the old basses I used to own. Have none of them now
[/quote]

Holy crap - you poor, poor man!

[Steve Browning]

I gues I would like to still have the slab bass. It was a great bassto record but th others weren't that great. The 53 was a bit of a pig to play, the E string on the 61 was almost dead and th 62 was an ok bass but nothing compared to the later one.

It did teach me that the pre-CBS thing is utter cobblers and I do smirk to myself when the purists drone on about it.

[NJE]

In 2002 I was in a pawn shop in Cardiff and there were two early seventies precisions on the wall, fretted and fretless. They were marked as sold but were originally £450 and £500 I think.

I asked the guy running the shop what situation was and he told me that someone was coming in and paying about £5 a week for them.

I offered him £1000 cash for both if he called the guy up and said they weren't for sale and refunded him. He said he couldn't do it with a very gutted look on his face.

[Sibob]

Yeah, whilst it's really interesting to see these old receipts.....I think it was me.....I'd prefer to carry on not remembering them haha.

Amazing, though, wonder what those basses are upto now

Si

[Rothko]

[quote name='Steve Browning' timestamp='1491313715' post='3272041']
It certainly was. My wonderful 66 Precision cost me £260 in Tiger Music in Brighton (I got the money by selling my 78 Stingray, to the guy who put the bass in Tiger Music as it turned out). It was just the price back then.
[/quote]

Tiger Music! That was a good shop, that was. But vintage prices had pretty doubled by the time I was visiting the Bass Centre in the late '80s/early '90s.

[GuyR]

At least you can console yourself that they weren't particularly good examples. As you say, those were the prices back then. It makes the £220 I paid new for my JV Squier Jazz Bass in 1984 look a not very good buy. Hope you spent the money on something worthwhile.

[Rick's Fine '52]

Interesting stuff, good to have the serial numbers stated too, as you can probably track them down, particularly the '53 and '66 Slab, and see where they ended up. I'm sure lots of us have similar tales, but it's all relative isn't it, everything has it's value at any given moment in time. At least you can say you owned these significant pieces, although from what you say, they weren't the best examples anyway, so if you got decent price at the time, probably a good thing.

I agree with you that not all pre-CBS instruments are great, which is why the good ones command so much, because they are extremely special.

Great bit of nostalgia there, and glad you shared it.

[NancyJohnson]

I know I'm stating the obvious, but back in 1986 (or whenever), these probably weren't looked upon as being vintage in any respect and the market was somewhat different; Fender (at the time) wasn't particularly a vogue brand to be playing (I just seem to remember every shop I visited just seemed to carry limited stocks of Musicman, Jackson and Charvel).

[squire5]

[url="http://personal.inet.fi/surf/lorse/bellcatalogue/bellcatalogue.html"]http://personal.inet...lcatalogue.html[/url]

Little something I came across recently.Have a look at the bass prices! (No.29) from the mid 60s.Anyone else remember Bells Catalogue?

Edited April 5, 2017 by squire5