Fender Pricelists 1968-2010

[Chiliwailer]

Geeking out a bit, but if you’ve got an old Fender it might be fun...

https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000746086-Archived-Fender-Price-Lists-1968-2010-

[Reggaebass]

I had just joined my first reggae band and  I can remember going into my local music shop which was called,   Freeman’s , in Leytonstone high road in 1979 when I was 16 and playing a fender jazz bass which was £399 , and dreaming of owning one 😀.  Looking at your price list that 399 must have been the used price .

[Chiliwailer]

28 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

I had just joined my first reggae band and  I can remember going into my local music shop which was called,   Freeman’s , in Leytonstone high road in 1979 when I was 16 and playing a fender jazz bass which was £399 , and dreaming of owning one 😀.  Looking at your price list that 399 must have been the used price .

Or the “it weights a blooming ton, let’s sell it at trade price and buy some lighter Japanese gear”  

[Reggaebass]

5 minutes ago, Chiliwailer said:

Or the “it weights a blooming ton, let’s sell it at trade price and buy some lighter Japanese gear”  

I don’t remember it being overly heavy, but I’m sure it was 😀

[chris_b]

I have a Selmer catalogue from the mid 60's. They were importing Hofner, Futurama, Hagstrom and Fender.

A red Fender Jazz was 155 gns and the Sunburst was 147gns. A red Precision was 128 gns and the Sunburst was 122 gns. The cases were 10 gns.

That was expensive. A Hofner Verithin bass was £59 gns and the Violin bass was 55 gns.

In 1965 my used Framus Star bass cost me £22 10/-. It took me 5 weeks, working on a summer job picking fruit, to pay for that bass and an amp (£34). Then 5 weeks the next year to buy the cab (£73).

I bought a new Fender Precision in Brussels in March 1969 for £90 9/-. The retail price on the Continent was a lot less than the UK anyway, but it was even cheaper because, over there, musicians were allowed to claim the tax back on their "tools of the trade". In the UK photographers and many other professions could claim the tax back but musical instruments were taxed as luxury items and you couldn't claim any tax back!

[zitherman]

Got my jazz in 1976.£290 minus 10%discount for cash.wish they did that now.a point of interest to me is that themaple neck basses appear to be more expensive.if im correct that it would be brazilian rosewood  on the rosewood necks would they be now more valuable.

[gjones]

If those prices are in £, then I can see why I bought a Yamaha back in 1992, rather than a USA Fender Jazz. It set me back about £400.

 

Edit : The other price lists on that page are in $. So I suspect this one is too. In 1992 you could get, almost, two $ to the £. Which means an American Jazz would have been about £400. I wonder why I didn't buy one?

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by gjones

[Chiliwailer]

46 minutes ago, zitherman said:

Got my jazz in 1976.£290 minus 10%discount for cash.wish they did that now.a point of interest to me is that themaple neck basses appear to be more expensive.if im correct that it would be brazilian rosewood  on the rosewood necks would they be now more valuable.

The Brazilian boards were phased out from around 64-66, wonder why the maple necks cost more then? Maybe the use of a skunk stripe for the truss? 

[Chiliwailer]

21 minutes ago, gjones said:

If those prices are in £, then I can see why I bought a Yamaha back in 1992, rather than a USA Fender Jazz. It set me back about £400.

Yeah, I wasn’t expecting the prices to be up there in 92. 

Edit-  ignore that now you edited!!!

Edited January 26, 2019 by Chiliwailer

[Pea Turgh]

They had a 5 string bass in ‘68?

[Chiliwailer]

12 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

They had a 5 string bass in ‘68?

Tuned E-C 

[Pea Turgh]

Crikey!  Quite rare then?

[Reggaebass]

6 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

Crikey!  Quite rare then?

Very,  I’ve never actually seen one in the flesh 🙂

I believe they only made about 200 of them between 65 and 71

Edited January 26, 2019 by Reggaebass

[Chiliwailer]

12 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Very,  I’ve never actually seen one in the flesh 🙂

I believe they only made about 200 of them between 65 and 71

The Fender Golden Age book puts it around 1000 made between 65 and 70.... that 1000 too many in my opinion! I’ve seen a few in the flesh, the excitement wore off pretty quickly the first time round! (And I’m a Fender fan  ) 

Edited January 27, 2019 by Chiliwailer

[Reggaebass]

13 minutes ago, Chiliwailer said:

The Fender Golden Age book puts it around 1000 made between 65 and 70.... that 1000 too many in my opinion! I’ve seen a few in the flesh, the excitement wore off pretty quickly the first time round! (And I’m a Fender fan  ) 

I stand corrected mr chiliwailer , i remember reading it a few years ago on Wikipedia but you’re book is a better source of information 👍

[Chiliwailer]

54 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

I stand corrected mr chiliwailer , i remember reading it a few years ago on Wikipedia but you’re book is a better source of ***GAS*** 👍

Corrected ^^^  

[Dan_Q]

looks like my P was 399 dollars in 1992 if i've read it correctly- glad i got it for less than new! (at todays exchange rate that is)

[Kamiel]

It would be interesting to make some graphs with prices over the years for specific models. Unfortunately I don't have the time, patience or willpower to do that. Not really in the mood to open 50+ pdf's hehe

[bigsmokebass]

You could seriously cry with not buying some of these guitars and prices at the time... If only to stick under your bed for a rainy day and make a pretty penny on today's market prices 😂🙈

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, bigsmokebass said:

You could seriously cry with not buying some of these guitars and prices at the time... If only to stick under your bed for a rainy day and make a pretty penny on today's market prices 😂🙈

I was thinking exactly the opposite, how cheap they are now compared to then, but I only looked at the 1968 prices. A Jazz bass in 68 was around $360 inc case, correct for $->£, calculate for inflation = £3,000.  Mind you, £500 of that is the case - I guess it was harder to make them than the basses!

Then I noticed - 5-string bass $346. I didn't know about that. now I do!

[chris_b]

4 hours ago, bigsmokebass said:

You could seriously cry with not buying some of these guitars and prices at the time... If only to stick under your bed for a rainy day and make a pretty penny on today's market prices 😂🙈

Would you put several £1000 guitars under your bed today? Even the pro's only had one instrument back then. I believe the weekly wage was about £20. Hardly any of that would have been saved.

The 1966 Precision I listed earlier was 147 gns, that would be around £2500 in today's money.

These days, be grateful for CNC machines and very low wages of Far Eastern labour for providing us instruments in the low £100's.

 

edit. . .. snap!

Edited January 28, 2019 by chris_b

[Bigguy2017]

I had a Fender Precision on order from the USA in Buzz Music, Hereford in 1980, price at £350

I got finally tired of waiting and did a deal on a Musicman Stingray for £375.

Awesome bass which I gigged with for several years.

[bigsmokebass]

8 hours ago, chris_b said:

Would you put several £1000 guitars under your bed today? Even the pro's only had one instrument back then. I believe the weekly wage was about £20. Hardly any of that would have been saved.

The 1966 Precision I listed earlier was 147 gns, that would be around £2500 in today's money.

These days, be grateful for CNC machines and very low wages of Far Eastern labour for providing us instruments in the low £100's.

 

edit. . .. snap!

 

8 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I was thinking exactly the opposite, how cheap they are now compared to then, but I only looked at the 1968 prices. A Jazz bass in 68 was around $360 inc case, correct for $->£, calculate for inflation = £3,000.  Mind you, £500 of that is the case - I guess it was harder to make them than the basses!

Then I noticed - 5-string bass $346. I didn't know about that. now I do!

Being totally honest, I didn't go that far back... I was looking at the early 00's when I started playing and seeing how much some of these instruments sell for now, secondhand and in some cases beat up.... Some still selling more than they did almost 20 years ago. 

I guess going back across the decades there was a lot to appreciate, Inc the typical living wage, how these instruments were manufactured, their retail price and even how available they were. I guess there's probably about the same amount of guitar shops open, with top end instruments on the high Street now as there was in the 60's and that's with the internet aside.

Would I own an original 50's/60's/70's Fender? As much as I would love to, probably not, they're fantastic instruments n'all, I'd be too paranoid of damaging or having it stolen for sentimental value but that's just me 😅

[bigsmokebass]

I'm guessing everyone has eyed up their favourite Fender and wondering how to time travel or are they available now at a better rate? More finishes? 

How do they compare for you? 

[Chiliwailer]

9 hours ago, chris_b said:

Would you put several £1000 guitars under your bed today? Even the pro's only had one instrument back then. I believe the weekly wage was about £20. Hardly any of that would have been saved.

The 1966 Precision I listed earlier was 147 gns, that would be around £2500 in today's money.

These days, be grateful for CNC machines and very low wages of Far Eastern labour for providing us instruments in the low £100's.

 

edit. . .. snap!

Chris, if it’s convenient would you mind posting a photo of the Precision page in the 66 price list? I’ve got a 66 and quite fancy the geek factor. 

Cheers