Basses that keep their value?

[Rick's Fine '52]

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1347145844' post='1797495']
but equally if I had £x thousand to pay and had to choose between an instrument sat in a hard case for 20 years in a loft, or one of yours sat in your house and played everyso often I know your one would be looked after and playable.

Mind you when you get above a certain point playability isn't the point is it? you wouldn't buy a '50's fender to gig regularly (baring in mind for the last few years i've been carrying my bass in a gig bag while cycling.....


[/quote]

Exactly, but it would appear to some, that i should be playing my £20k P down the Frog & Fiddler, otherwise I'm offending the bass community, kept me amused for 5 mins anyway Luke!

Oh, and you tearing down the road on a pushbike, with your JV in a bag on your back, still concerns me, you should let me keep it safe for you!!

Edited September 8, 2012 by Rick's Fine '52

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1347146081' post='1797498']
Exactly, but it would appear to some, that i should be playing my £20k P down the Frog & Fiddler, otherwise I'm offending the bass community, kept me amused for 5 mins anyway Luke!

Oh, and you tearing down the road on a pushbike, with your JV in a bag on your back, still concerns me, you should let me keep it safe for you!!
[/quote]

I've stopped since you pointed out how daft it was for me! Not getting played as much now though, well thinking about it that may also have something to do with moving to a new city and not being in any bands.

anyway, you're moving your JV's on. mine would feel left out!

[Rick's Fine '52]

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1347146817' post='1797503']
I've stopped since you pointed out how daft it was for me! Not getting played as much now though, well thinking about it that may also have something to do with moving to a new city and not being in any bands.

anyway, you're moving your JV's on. mine would feel left out!
[/quote]

Having yours would be a great reason to keep mine though eh!!

[funkypenguin]

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1347145650' post='1797492']


Yes, in the case of a £20k Fodera, I'd agree, because thats been recently made, and bought, to be played. In the case of a £20k 50's Fender, its different, it was made to be played in 1952, not 60 years later, it has now become a highly regarded, and collectible vintage piece of history, and should be treated as such, and respected as such.
I've said it before, similarly, cars are meant to be driven, but you wouldnt drive your super rare £2m '65 Daytona Spyder to Tesco, and leave it in the car park next to the trolley bay would you? Unless you're a total knob of course...same applies to anything else like this, including instruments.
[/quote]

Tell that to string players that use Stradivarius violins worth millions day in day out including flying all over the world. I buy an instrument to play it, irrespective of age (not that i have 20k to spend on a fodera, to my regret)

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='funkypenguin' timestamp='1347148427' post='1797515']
Tell that to string players that use Stradivarius violins worth millions day in day out including flying all over the world. I buy an instrument to play it, irrespective of age (not that i have 20k to spend on a fodera, to my regret)
[/quote]

How many violin players play Stradivarius every day? Isn't this the same as a handful of top pros, Guy Pratt, Flea for a while etc gigging their early stack knob Jazz basses?

[DiMarco]

As great basses like Warwick neckthru models are fairly cheap on the secondhand market a lot of people can afford playing one. This is a good thing for the players and the brand name.

You honestly think I'd pay around 4.5k to 5k euro for a Dolphin or Streamer 5 string when I can get a used one for way under the 2k mark?

Niche basses drop in value by 50% or more soon as you walk out of the shop doors, regular basses like an american built J or P, Ric 4003 only drop a little and their value remains pretty much steady until they become regarded as 'vintage'.

[lojo]

Basses are designed to be played, but manufactured and marketed to be sold to anyone for wherever purpose they want to buy it for even if it doesn't include playing it

[gareth]

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1347145770' post='1797494']
Same thing as i said to funkypenguin. I don't think[i] your [/i]attitude is very real at all. You obviously don't own a £20k bass.
[/quote]

thankfully i do not

[Rick's Fine '52]

[quote name='gareth' timestamp='1347194610' post='1797856']
thankfully i do not
[/quote]

Thankfully for the vintage bass community that you don't as well.

[gareth]

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1347195106' post='1797864']
Thankfully for the vintage bass community that you don't as well.
[/quote]

not quite sure what you mean by that?

[Rick's Fine '52]

[quote name='gareth' timestamp='1347196169' post='1797877']
not quite sure what you mean by that?
[/quote]

Sorry, thought it was obvious, it was actually you're quote. I meant, thankfully you don't have a tadeo precision that's having its finish faded and cracked due to being exposed to light every day, and the bakelite guard cracked to swithereens by palm sweat. If it was played regularly, as you say it should be, it wouldn't last long in nice condition. Rare, significant and important artefacts, whether modern or ancient, including basses should be preserved, its obvious, we're not splitting atoms here, you don't agree, which is fine, I'm just glad you don't own one, it's an opinion, which I'm entitled to, as are you.

[funkypenguin]

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1347197946' post='1797901']
Sorry, thought it was obvious, it was actually you're quote. I meant, thankfully you don't have a tadeo precision that's having its finish faded and cracked due to being exposed to light every day, and the bakelite guard cracked to swithereens by palm sweat. If it was played regularly, as you say it should be, it wouldn't last long in nice condition. Rare, significant and important artefacts, whether modern or ancient, including basses should be preserved, its obvious, we're not splitting atoms here, you don't agree, which is fine, I'm just glad you don't own one, it's an opinion, which I'm entitled to, as are you.
[/quote]

At which point you have it stripped, re finished, a new scratchplate fitted, drop some new strings on, and continue gigging it hard for the next 50 years

[Bo0tsy]

Hi - well going back to my original post I bought one of these second hand (but in immaculate condition) for £920.

[url="http://www.warwick.de/modules/produkte/produkt.php?submenuID=14667&katID=00000014473&cl=EN"]http://www.warwick.de/modules/produkte/produkt.php?submenuID=14667&katID=00000014473&cl=EN[/url]

Whether this is a good investment or not who knows!! From what some of you've already mentioned, Warwick's are at rock bottom value at the moment, 2nd hand was the sensible way forward.

As I said in an earlier post the bass is going to be well used but also get well looked after, but I love the look and sound of the bass, so that to me is the main thing.

I'll post again in 10 years time and let you know if its value has gone up or down!!

[Jacqueslemac]

Good buy! I love my Corvettes.

[chris_b]

If you are serious about investment, and I mean really serious, get an instrument with a pedigree; one that has been owned and played by someone famous.

Many years ago Peter Green gave Gary Moore his Gibson Les Paul 59 Standard; the one on all the Fleetwood Mac records. Now GM's estate has been sorted out it's up for sale and is expected to go for about £500,000.

It got a neck brake when a white van man ran into the back of GM's BMW and some of the knobs have been changed, but with a pedigree none of that matters.

There are several people interested.

[Big_Stu]

Trawling through old paperwork yesterday I found the valuation that Bonham's did for my bass about 7 years ago; £3000-£3500.
Even they weren't deemed "expert" enough for Musicguard to want to accept it.

[thepurpleblob]

It's all rather like buying cars as an investment. It's sick. You buy a car to drive it and you buy a bass to play it.

We can debate all day whether a 50 year old Fender is great or is just nasty and covered in fag burns or, at best, no better than a brand new one for a quarter of the cost (or more).

[mike 110]

if this thread finishes here , I have to say I've really enjoyed it

[MiltyG565]

i think almost everything is going to lose value as soon as you buy it, and continue to lose value for a few years after that. if you are talking 10 years, maybe it will have started to recoup some of the value it lost by that stage, but i can't see many basses being worth alot more than what you paid for them after 10 years. maybe after 15 or 20 would make more of a return.

but i think a good bass in itself is an investment (especially if you are a session musician). think of it like this (and you probably already do) - whatever bass you are going to buy new, it looks great, and it plays great, maybe it allows you to create and play some cool fast riffs and fills. it sounds different from your other basses, so it gives you a bit more versatility in your styles and sounds.

i couldn't really be bothered to list loads of reasons here, but i'm sure you can think of plenty more. but all those things could be a defining factor in getting work, therefore, buying a new bass is already an investment. I consider my lessons an investment.

well, that's how i justify my purchases.... and i'm not even a session musician.

[Oldman]

I bought my Thumb NT 4 in 1988 for £1,200,00 from Ross in R &B Music Aberdeen, still have it, just twinned it with an '89 NT Fretless not much difference in the price 23 years later. I part chopped my Ovation Magnum 2 for the Thumb, I found out later, many years later only 4 or 5 ever came into the UK. I wish I had my EBO, the Red Fender Jazz matching Headstock from '66 or the Telecaster (Bass) from '78 or my '66 Precision or the first Stingray..... My EBO cost £112.00 from Rushworth and Drapers White chapel Liverpool in '65 only to be changed out for the Red Jazz about 6 months later at £120.00.

When I bought the Musicman I worked for Rumbelows in Wallasey, Merseyside, I got it trade. As a rule of thumb a retailer would never give you anymore than what an instrument cost to stock new, which at the time was about half retail. I don't think anything has changed, Warwick have ramped up the RRP so the Retailer can take a PX in and still make a profit, thats the way of it. If you pay top whack one day and go back the next it's worth 50% now I know that's maybe an gross exaggeration, but you try it! When you walk out of a retailers you take an immediate hit, it's the profit element. And don't talk to me about cars.

Edited October 2, 2012 by Oldman