What's so good about old bass guitars?

[ruztiwarren]

What's so good about old basses? Do you mean Vox, Burns, Hofner, Ampeg, even old Gibson basses (Ricks the possible exception)? Nope, it's straight into the price of 50's Fenders! Why are they expensive? Fender pioneered the electric bass, everything else followed!

If you want to spend you dosh on a 60's jazz or an Alembic that's your choice, but their pricing is always going to exclude a lot of us (me included). Your not going to find either going cheap. That's just the way it is unfortunately.

[Lfalex v1.1]

[quote name='Tusknia' post='320162' date='Nov 2 2008, 02:25 PM']You watch in 40 years when you pay £12,000 for a vintage 2005 American J with an S-1 switch![/quote]
If so, I'm sorted, with my 2004 MIA Jazz S1.
Which also happens to play well and sound lovely, especially with cheapo Fender Nickels on it!

I'd buy a vintage bass, but only if it was a good player and had a good sound.
And only if it was made on a [i]certain[/i] day in 1973 (!) That'd make sense.

[Telebass]

nice one!

[wateroftyne]

I like basses that look 'lived in', for the same reason I don't like bright white trainers, or jeans with creases ironed into them.

[mewsie]

i have only ever played 2 basses i have fallen in love with over my 2003 sterling. one was some beat up old jazz at the gallery (CK, can you remember how old that was?), the other was CKs alembic.

the jazz just felt and sounded so full of spirit and soul, and the alembic is just lovely, the only way i can put that bass into words is that playing it felt like driving my car does.

x

[ezbass]

[quote name='Telebass' post='320926' date='Nov 3 2008, 01:52 PM']What really gets my goat is the notion that the older stuff was 'made 'better'. Yes, the wood has aged, and this may or may not affect the sound. 70s 'thick-skin' Fender finishes don't age or change colour like nitro finishes (exception: some of them were even then clear-coated with nitro laquer). The consistency of build cannot have been other than more variable than it is now, even at its best. 70s and early 80s Fenders, now well into vintage territory, could be truly dreadful, and there were certainly more duds from that era than any other. But there were also good ones.[/quote]

You're absolutely right, they were no better made back then than now and inconsistency would have been rife, far more than now with today's high precision (no pun intended) mechanisation. The general rule I have heard is that if a pristine vintage instrument is for sale, it's probably a dog to play and sounds awful as it's not been used for good reasons. The finish comment is right on too, although hopefully a lot will have worn away off from the thick skin jobbies (depends how thick I guess) or been refined/stripped. Rule is, if you find a good one, get it if you can because they are of their time and you can't go back and make more (althought the Fender Custom Shop would disagree). The short supply of Pre CBS instruments rightly or wrongly brought about the desire for the '70s ones and now in turn the '80s ones. When will it stop? Who knows?

If you find an instrument you like and that speaks to you, old or new, then that's the one for you.

Edited November 3, 2008 by ezbass

[Delberthot]

For me it has a lot to do with disliking active electronics and wanting something basic.

I've been through the whole 5, 6, 8, 12 string, fretless thing with more controls than the Hubble space telescope and wanted to go for something that sounds good without all the gubbins attached.

This is why I went down the route of getting the Warmoth basses.

What i got were 2 basses

First bass looks like one of the early precisions but is made with different woods to sound the way I wanted the bass to sound.

The second one is identical to a 1957 pre-facelift precision, right down to the paper in oil cap.

I'm happy as i have something that I like that is simple to operate and that I don't have to put a lot of work into making it sound good. In fact, if it didn't leave holes I would remove the controls completely on both of them.

That, to me, is one of the reasons that people go for older instruments. Its the original, simple design. Used in so many recordings to great effect.

There will always be a place for these instuments as reliable workhorse basses.

One bass player's collection that i have always admired is Bob Daisley's. He has some cracking old Fenders.

[Telebass]

+1 for Daisley's gear!

[cris the man]

i think you'll find the most logical answer is feel (perhaps tone also).

some people (for example sting) have used their intruments they have used from the start (his fender telecaster bass) and you see its all 'weathered'. But it is HIS bass, and i highly doubt he'd replace it, after a while i think people get close with their bass, its like an extention of them (dont laugh, no matter how cheesy ). I think the older basses shouldnt be priced so expensive, because you cant buy a good feeling?

[Shaggy]

[quote name='cris the man' post='323313' date='Nov 6 2008, 11:48 AM']i think you'll find the most logical answer is feel (perhaps tone also).

some people (for example sting) have used their intruments they have used from the start (his fender telecaster bass) and you see its all 'weathered'.[/quote]
Could be wrong, but I remember him starting on a mid-70's natural / maple neck Precision fretless, moving onto a Ibanez Artist Musican fretless around '80, and then various others until the '50's P / telecaster relatively recently. I always liked his sound best with the Ibanez - on "Message in a bottle", "Walking on the moon" etc (the reason I got one around the same time)

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='Shaggy' post='323333' date='Nov 6 2008, 12:15 PM']Could be wrong, but I remember him starting on a mid-70's natural / maple neck Precision fretless, moving onto a Ibanez Artist Musican fretless around '80, and then various others until the '50's P / telecaster relatively recently. I always liked his sound best with the Ibanez - on "Message in a bottle", "Walking on the moon" etc (the reason I got one around the same time)[/quote]
+1

I've always fancied one of those Ibby's myself..

[ianrunci]

I think its fair to say that the woods used for manufacturing were certainly better back in the day. You could get cuts of wood that you simply can't find now.

As for hardware I don't think there would be much difference really except that they can now produce much better quality cheaper parts than they could back then.

Also I would assume that a lot more of the building and finishing process was done by hand

But I also I think the idea that the wood affects the sound a lot is fairly subjective. Bob Taylor pretty much proved this with his Pallet guitar

[thedontcarebear]

I like old Fenders as I just like things made by unskilled mexicans!

[Happy Jack]

Sorry if I'm sort of repeating myself but most old basses do sound great for the simple reason that most of the crap-sounding basses made at the same time (in the same factory by the same people) got binned long ago. It's usually the good ones that survive.

There's no need to argue that basses were better built in those days, or even that they used better materials. What we see now is [i]survival of the fittest[/i] from the Class of '58.

[OldGit]

[quote name='ezbass' post='320857' date='Nov 3 2008, 12:42 PM']
[/quote]


Works for me, cracks an' all...

[Shaggy]

[quote name='ezbass' post='320857' date='Nov 3 2008, 12:42 PM']
[/quote]

Me too! Is that the original finish? All the other old white ones I've seen have gone yellow

Edited November 7, 2008 by Shaggy

[Paulo Silva]

I dont have anything new to add to what's already been said but I prefer old instruments because they generally sound better, the old woods are better, the old pickups have more good materials in they're assembly parts.

[chris_b]

[quote name='Telebass' post='320926' date='Nov 3 2008, 01:52 PM']....and Mr Taylor has built several first-rate acoustics from pallet wood....[/quote]
I've got a lovely '58 pallet. No question, back then they were all hand finished, they really knew how to make pallets.

[notable9]

Apparently pro-players prefer 5's cause brass sections like to play everything in Eb...

Anyway getting back to the old bass thing....My 71 sunburst P wears a gorgeous deep red guard, and chunky neck.....not necessarily a great player etc but sounds fantastic and boy does it look good........Im happy.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='notable9' post='324325' date='Nov 7 2008, 04:51 PM']Apparently pro-players prefer 5's cause brass sections like to play everything in Eb...[/quote]

I think you'll find it's possible to play in Eb on a four string. Bass guitar players have been doing it for decades (including with brass sections), bass viol players for longer. I did it only yesterday and without tuning down a step.

Edited November 7, 2008 by EssentialTension

[notable9]

Ah but not a low Eb....

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='notable9' post='324406' date='Nov 7 2008, 06:57 PM']Ah but not a low Eb....[/quote]

Well, I and (more so) many others have managed very well without that so-called low Eb. You and others might like it but that does not make it necessary. And anyway now you don't have a low Bb so you need to get an F# string, etc.