The Fate Of Basses

[cytania]

Just bouncing off my own ill-thought out thread on the Rickenbacker stripe (seems that by some fluke all the Rick's I've seen in the flesh had a 'skunk stripe' when actually it's not that common at all).

Got me thinking about all the Ricks I see for resale. Ricks seem to hold their value and pass from careful owner to careful owner. Why aren't there similar markets of elderly Fenders or Burns Bisons out there? Are there legions of bands doing a Simonon on their instruments at every performance?

More likely the super-collectors out there are hoovering up vast swathes of instruments. Or does every bed in the nation have a tweed case under it? Have you ever binned an instrument? Set fire to one? Cut one in half with a chainsaw?

[Shaggy]

Modded several basses to death in my early years, but out of a creative urge (albeit ham-fisted), not a destructive one .

But it's true what you say about the super-collectors; they now drive the vintage market and I think some of the prices we now regard as crazy will seem like bargains fairly soon.

Re Ricks; being hand-built and having uniquely managed to maintain rights to their "image" they've kept their value better than some other brands who are massively copied at both low and high ends of the market, and have perceived QA issues at various points of their history. True vintage Fenders are still pricey though and will get more so; true vintage Ricks are like hen's teeth, and the second-hand prices of their recent vintage reissues and signature series show how highly their build quality is regarded.

[stingrayPete1977]

I gave my pre EB Stingray a right plectrum thrashing last saturday Its treasured and used at the same time ,Its mint at the moment and I dont want to damage it for no reason obviously but if I use it for the next 30 years and its mojo'd to pieces so be it thats what I bought it for.