Just popped into Bass Direct.

[bubinga5]

I just popped into Bass Direct. I played 2 Modern Vintage 4 strings. .One a 60s one a 70s.. I played a 76 Fender jazz. The Modern Vintage basses totally blew it away. Played through an EBS amp..The MV just felt tighter more responsive. The 76 was nearly 4 grand. The MV £1500. I will never ever get the vintage Fender thing. Maybe it was just that bass.  But ive played others that were not good. 

[EBS_freak]

In 20 years time, try selling the two and see the price difference.

 

Heritage counts for a lot.

[TheGreek]

True - look at 70s Fenders. When they came out of the factory many were unplayable because of the abysmal quality control. Now they change hands for £3k plus.

[Woodinblack]

46 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

In 20 years time, try selling the two and see the price difference.

 

Indeed - if you just want a bass get the one that plays well. If you want something collectable get the 76 (god knows why one that new is worth that now). Or use the 2.5k difference to invest in some stocks, you will probably get the money quicker.

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

True - look at 70s Fenders. When they came out of the factory many were unplayable because of the abysmal quality control. Now they change hands for £3k plus.

Yes but many have been fettled into decent shape since 

[Reggaebass]

Two totally different instruments at different price points imo, and the 76 is overpriced at 4K 🙂

[bloke_zero]

There is a 74 jazz bass in the studio. Everyone hates it. There is also a 74 p bass - everyone loves that - regularly wins in the blind listening shoot out against all sorts of other basses (not all - it lost out against a new squire jazz the other week). I think modern quality control is often much better than it used to be. 4K is crazy money!

[Waddo Soqable]

I had a few 70s fenders back in the day (early 80s) that played and sounded rubbish, the worst was a white Jazz, followed closely by a P, in sunburst /tort/rw that people would have fits over these days. 

Back then they were just a second hand bass... 

[Buddster]

Is it not purely dependant on the instrument? As said, Feders QC wasn't that good so there's bound to be a variation in what's left. 

I have a 76 Jazz and it's a dream to play. The tone is perfect. I also have a 2018 Delux Jazz that's just lovely, but the 76 just has a feel to it. I also have a Squire Jazz that doesn't get a look in any more. 

But I'd agree that the money they go for just because they're vintage (regardless of quality) is silly. 

[EBS_freak]

4 minutes ago, Buddster said:

But I'd agree that the money they go for just because they're vintage (regardless of quality) is silly. 

Not really - it's the rarity aspect, the wanting of a birth year bass, a slice of history etc...

 

Going by your logic, nobody would buy or want vintage cars, or classic Ferraris (or other marques). Most modern cars can out perform the classics in every aspect... but these run of the mill modern cars will never have the same appeal or price tag of their classic cousins. 

[mr4stringz]

4 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Two totally different instruments at different price points imo, and the 76 is overpriced at 4K 🙂

 

Well, I’m also a ‘76 vintage and I’m not worth 4K either. Sob.

[Skybone]

One cannot just "pop" into Bass Direct and come away empty handed surely?  

[NancyJohnson]

There's this allusion that old basses (or moreover old Fender basses) are the monkey's b*ll*cks, but from personal experience I find them ponky tonally and in the case of the 70s ones, heavy too.  It's no surprise a new instrument will play/sound better*.

 

*Subjective.

[Lozz196]

I had three 70s Precisions, a 77 with rosewood fretboard and two 78s with maple. One of the maple ones was seriously the most aggressive bass I’ve ever played, I named it Ian Paisley after the politician as it barked just like he used to. The other two were decent enough basses but IP, well for punk it was pretty awesome.

[LowB_FTW]

6 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

… the most aggressive bass I’ve ever played, I named it Ian Paisley after the politician as it barked just like he used to. 

This genuinely had me laughing out loud!

 

Mark

[tauzero]

5 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I named it Ian Paisley after the politician as it barked just like he used to.

 

But did it go "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"?

 

When I decided (due to it being the Thing To Do) to buy a Fender, a long long time ago, I went to Musical Exchanges in Brum and tried the three second-hand Precisions they had. The most playable of them was (fortunately) also the cheapest, probably because it was also the most battered. There was a huge variation between them despite all of them being 70s vintage (this was around 1985).

[jazzyvee]

11 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

There's this allusion that old basses (or moreover old Fender basses) are the monkey's b*ll*cks, but from personal experience I find them ponky tonally and in the case of the 70s ones, heavy too.  It's no surprise a new instrument will play/sound better*.

 

*Subjective.

Is there a quantative difference between basses that are the monkey's b*ll*cks an the dog's b*ll*cks?😂🤪🎶

[police squad]

when I bought my '73 with rosewood board back in 1990, I already had a '62. I had some gear to trade and traded it and 50 quid. Little did I know that '73 would still be with me 33 years later. It was a better sounding and playing bass than my '62, so that got sold (550 quid, would you believe it)

I haven't played a better P bass since. I have a bitsa that sounds awesome but doesnt play like my old one

[BigRedX]

I've posted this before, but in context of the OP it bears repeating. 

 

In 1979 before going to university I had a part-time job working at my local musical instrument retailer that was then in the process as repositioning itself from being mostly a seller of home organs to becoming a seller of typical rock band instruments and in the process getting some more and better guitars and basses than just the few Grant and Columbus copies that had previously graced their walls.

 

As a result one of the eagerly awaited deliveries was about 30 Fender guitars and basses. Unfortunately when they arrived it was a major disappointment. Not only were the majority in rather nasty colours - predominantly stinky poo brown and a horrible slightly see-through white that looked like the sprayers had finished early for the weekend rather than a deliberate colour choice, every single instrument exhibited some degree of poor construction. The three-bolt neck models were the worst with all having far to much play in the neck pocket, such that one of the outer strings was no longer over the neck at the top end. The only person who looked even remotely happy was the freelance guitar tech who could see hours of additional paid work coming his way trying to make these instruments playable. If it had been up to me I'd have packed them up and sent them back, but I believe they'd been acquired in some "dodgy deal" that had by-passed the UK Fender distribution service in order to get a more competitive price. I certainly looked as though we had received all the instruments that no one else wanted. The manager seemed to think that having the Fender name on the headstock would be sufficient to make the sales, but they turned out to be rather slow moving and a significant quantity were still there looking very sorry when I bought my first bass from them 2 years later (unsurprisingly it wasn't a Fender).

 

Compared with the Ibanez and Aria guitars and bass that arrived around the same time, and were perfect in every way and most even in tune when taken out of the box, these poor Fender instruments did little to enhance the brand name. It's hardly surprising that they had been surpassed by the copy makers in early 80s...

[thodrik]

Vintage Fenders can be incredibly varied in terms of quality and set up. 

My personal opinion is that a lot of it has to do with the set up, or lack thereof. A bass which has been poorly set up for a period of 40 years (after being delivered in a poorly set up condition and after being poorly put together) is going to be an absolute dog to play if you pick it up. When I started playing (late 90s), a seventies US Fender was seen as an alternative to buying a brand new American Standard Fender, as the prices were not that different. I went on a visit to Denmark Street in about 2000 and all of the 'vintage' shops had the late seventies Fender instruments in the £700-£1000 because they frankly weren't considered to be a good era. 

My first proper bass was  late seventies Precision which I got for less than £400. The jack socket needed fixing and the neck was misaligned which was caused the bridge saddles to constantly collapse. Fair enough for a £400 bass and once the issues were sorted (which took literally years) it has been an absolutely cracking. However if I was buying the same bass now it would cost me the best part of £1800-£2000.

There is no way I would buy a seventies Jazz for £3,000+. I would probably just buy a new Fender Professional model, as it would eventually become 'vintage' after thirty years and would probably be a bass that I would enjoy playing more for the next 30 odd years.
 

[TheGreek]

So where have all these vintage basses gone? I would hazard that very few have been destroyed - 90% are still out there somewhere - like old golf clubs sitting in the back of a cupboard, the loft or garage. Not ideal locations but it isn't as if they've fallen off the planet. 

 

The rarity aspect doesn't cut it with me - they'll turn up at some point with a seller who has great expectations for an instrument that hasn't been looked after for many years.

[TeresaFR]

16 hours ago, Skybone said:

One cannot just "pop" into Bass Direct and come away empty handed surely?  

Honestly, though they surely have some excellent basses, none of the lefty stock on their website really hits all the points I'd want for an upgrade on my Schecters; though I'd love fanned-frets. 

[Ander87]

22 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Or use the 2.5k difference to invest in some stocks, you will probably get the money quicker.

 

I gotta love this - sharp and solid point! We often wind ourselves in with the 'investment value' of basses we (I?) end up selling months later and won't accrue to the full value potential... and even in that case, low-mid risk investing would return more money than that eventually anyway!

 

Ander.

[ped]

2 minutes ago, Ander87 said:

 

I gotta love this - sharp and solid point! We often wind ourselves in with the 'investment value' of basses we (I?) end up selling months later and won't accrue to the full value potential... and even in that case, low-mid risk investing would return more money than that eventually anyway!

 

Ander.

 

But you can't play a cash investment!

 

Yes I agree, if you have the funds to 'park' in a vintage instrument, chances are that you won't love or perhaps gain £ when you come to sell. That can't be said for most new instruments, rightly or wrongly. So the real cost is much less for a vintage bass. You can afford to buy/sell your way through several in search of one that works best for you before you write them off entirely, because the good ones hung around. 

[Ander87]

3 minutes ago, ped said:

 

But you can't play a cash investment!

 

Yes I agree, if you have the funds to 'park' in a vintage instrument, chances are that you won't love or perhaps gain £ when you come to sell. That can't be said for most new instruments, rightly or wrongly. So the real cost is much less for a vintage bass. You can afford to buy/sell your way through several in search of one that works best for you before you write them off entirely, because the good ones hung around. 

 

Touchè! haha you're not wrong mate - having said that I'm just trying to diversify portfolio hahahaha I gave myself the luxury of keeping the Stingray Special and 'going sensible' on the other bits (more a high end bass discussion rather than vintage vs. new)

 

As I'm shying away from GAS I am looking to my other passions, watches and motorbikes... At least the first one can hold value or increase a bit; we'll see how a classic motorcycle will hold up post 2030 when ICE sales end...

 

In any case, it seems that if we end up with the good vintage bass / bike / watch we'll end up feeling emotionally attached to it and should hence end up being a family heirloom to pass down to our kids one day... These are crimes of passion after all!