Break or Sell

[Chienmortbb]

It seems to me that it is often more rewarding financially to break a bass for spares,

Even reletively expensive basses like Fender Aerodyne are sold in the USA for spares. I suppose people will do anything to make more money but it feels wrong.

I will be selling my cheap Peavey Milestone V soon manly as Mrs Chienmort has imposed a one out, one in policy. Is it worth selling as a whole bass or selling the neck, machine heads, pickup etc separately.

[discreet]

I feel a vintage instrument should be kept entire, even if it would make a lot more as parts. That's just my sentimentality, of course. I don't have a problem with parting a bass in theory, but bear in mind an entire bass is one sale, one packing session and one courier arrangement, whereas with parts you are dealing with multiple buyers, multiple payments and multiple postings which can be a right old pain in the arse and increases your chances of loss, damage, fraud, etc.

Edited March 16, 2016 by discreet

[Chienmortbb]

I have to agree with you and will try to sell as s whole bass. Ironically with a plywood body, the money I get will be peanuts but it is a really good bass. Easy to play, good sound, much better than most Squiers.

I think I might just hide it in the garage, and tell SWMBO I had to give it away,

[Shambo]

I've got an organ donor card. In the event of my untimely demise, doctors can transplant any bit of me that's wanted to improve the life of someone else. I won't mind, I'll be dead, but to someone it could be a matter of life or death. I'm like a Fender guitar, unique but similar, there's lots like me. I think of the bits of Fenders that appear for sale here and on ebay as organs that are donated so another guitar can exist. Rather than the end of one guitar, it becomes a vital part of many others.

That's only because they are so common, they can be re used. I wouldn't relate that analogy to another guitar which isn't so much in demand. If there isn't a demand for its components, then as a whole it remains worth more than the sum of its parts. I need a lie down now.

[discreet]

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1458124198' post='3004850']
I think I might just hide it in the garage, and tell SWMBO I had to give it away...
[/quote]

I have multiple hard cases and gig bags all over the house. Some may have basses in, some may not, who knows..? I'm lucky really as 'er indoors can just about tell the difference between a bass guitar and a ukulele at two paces and is notoriously unobservant. She says things like, 'what happened to that green guitar you had..?'

I've never had a green guitar, or bass, or even a ukulele... so there you go.

Edited March 16, 2016 by discreet

[dannybuoy]

I think you'd be better off keeping out in one piece. Fender style bodies and necks always sell well as people enjoy putting them together and know that most stuff will fit together. If your Peavey isn't interchangeable with Fender stuff, then not many people would want to buy a Peavey neck or body unless they had the other matching half lying about already, or would be making their own

[synthaside]

Discreet , You've missed out on perfect opportunity to purchase a Green / Teal stingray ;-) SHMBO has just given express consent.

Edited March 16, 2016 by synthaside

[discreet]

[quote name='synthaside' timestamp='1458139755' post='3005043']
Discreet, You've missed out on perfect opportunity to purchase a Green/Teal stingray...
[/quote]

I'd love to, but as soon as herself claps eyes on it, she'll say, 'what's [i]that [/i]doing here again...?'

[Skol303]

I put together a '70s Precision, bitsa-style, using parts bought mostly from the US via eBay. Unless you [i]really[/i] knew what to look for, I'd wager that most people wouldn't have a clue about it not being all 'original'. To my mind, it was screwed and soldered together in the same way as any early 70s Fender bass - using stock parts from the factory. So there's no lost mojo to me

Bizarrely, perhaps, it also worked out quite a lot cheaper than buying a complete instrument. Although I hasten to add that's because I'm a fiendish haggler, rather than the sum of the parts being cheaper (I found a couple of cool guys in the States, struck up a Bass-geek-friendship with them, and they were happy to cut their prices for a Limey in need).

But generally speaking, yeah, you'll get more of return if you sell an instrument for parts rather than in one lump. It'll just involve a lot more faff. And faff too = money.