Vintage Fender Prices

[NancyJohnson]

44 minutes ago, ClassicVibes said:

Great. I don't care. 

I honestly don't get this response.  I read your post and agree with everything you said, and @bassaussie just furthered your point.  You don't care for the history lesson or what?

 

[ClassicVibes]

2 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

I honestly don't get this response.  I read your post and agree with everything you said, and @bassaussie just furthered your point.  You don't care for the history lesson or what?

 

I don't need one. I have Wikipedia available for that. 

[Burns-bass]

Having personally owned some beauties, in my opinion it’s pretty much all nostalgia.

But there is something that’s unquestionably romantic about an old guitar, and Fenders in particular.

The vintage market is an odd one, and like all collectibles can crash at any time, but if I had the money I’d prefer to have a room full of old guitars than anything else.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Burns-bass

[wateroftyne]

1 hour ago, ClassicVibes said:

Great. I don't care. 

Cool story.

[Drax]

Supply and demand as Steve says above. 

Those to whom the vintage Fenders mean the most, are increasingly older - and richer (at least have more disposable income) - which further drives up the prices. See also classic cars.. 

[ClassicVibes]

49 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Cool story.

Sigh...

[wateroftyne]

3 minutes ago, ClassicVibes said:

Sigh...

Cowell?

[ClassicVibes]

16 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Cowell?

Sure.

[Steve Browning]

Deleted.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Steve Browning

[wateroftyne]

3 minutes ago, ClassicVibes said:

Sure.

ActiveDry 48hr Protection?

[miles'tone]

Let's not turn into Talkbass chaps ✌️

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 6, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[la bam]

The quicker they rise the quicker the investors will jump onboard and snap them up, and artificially keep the prices high.

The more they snap up, the less are on the market, making them rarer which then puts the prices higher still.

Good investment if you can find one at a good price.

If they're 60 years old now, imagine the fuss around them when they are even rarer and reach the magical 100 years old.

[la bam]

.... I bet theres even a massive price hike in 15 years when they reach 75 years old.

[ClassicVibes]

25 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

ActiveDry 48hr Protection?

Under no circumstances mention deodorant.

[wateroftyne]

35 minutes ago, ClassicVibes said:

Under no circumstances mention deodorant.

Touchy subject, huh?

[gjones]

2 hours ago, Drax said:

Supply and demand as Steve says above. 

Those to whom the vintage Fenders mean the most, are increasingly older - and richer (at least have more disposable income) - which further drives up the prices. See also classic cars.. 

Yes, you're probably right. They will also buy them as an investment, rather than to play. The problem is authenticating something, that may cost thousands to buy. The years I've spent on Bass Chat have taught me how easy it is, for a good luthier, to produce a road worn bass, that could easily trick the experts.

[Dad3353]

12 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

I can understand some prices for a piece of history, but I cannot understand why any one would pay hundreds for some of the sixties junk like Egmond or a Rosetti Lucky 7; even some of the Hofners are ridiculous over.  Who’d pay over a grand for a club 40; I remember selling for a tenner!

I'll give you fifteen for the next one you come across, and twenty for a Club 60... 

...

[Beedster]

38 minutes ago, gjones said:

Yes, you're probably right. They will also buy them as an investment, rather than to play. The problem is authenticating something, that may cost thousands to buy. The years I've spent on Bass Chat have taught me how easy it is, for a good luthier, to produce a road worn bass, that could easily trick the experts.

It's not just about investment, it's also about emotion and sentiment, of getting back in touch with (and possessing) part of your childhood and the dreams you had then. Why do you think YOB (even MOB) basses are such a thing!

As a 12 year old a Fender was an impossible dream, hell a Satellite was a dream then (I dread to think what brand my first bass was). I'd sit and look at the ads in various magazine and those images and those dreams got into my DNA. There's no financial or even musical logic here - 90% of the vintage basses I've played are easily outclassed by modern instruments costing 80% less - just the curious logic of emotion.

 

[ead]

6 hours ago, ClassicVibes said:

Vintage Fenders are overpriced full stop.

😴

No they are not.  You can't force anyone to buy one (not in this country at any rate) so the market sets the value.  If they are priced too high they wouldn't sell like any other product you care to name.

[Burns-bass]

48 minutes ago, ead said:

No they are not.  You can't force anyone to buy one (not in this country at any rate) so the market sets the value.  If they are priced too high they wouldn't sell like any other product you care to name.

Given a £22,000 Bass appears to have just sold on Basschat, I think we can deduce two things:

1) The market for vintage Fenders is bouyant.

2) Basschat is the best place to sell a bass in Europe.

[gjones]

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

Given a £22,000 Bass appears to have just sold on Basschat, I think we can deduce two things:

1) The market for vintage Fenders is bouyant.

2) Basschat is the best place to sell a bass in Europe.

I never knew there could be such a thing, as a bass guitar worth £22,000 . Did they make a mistake and think it was a guitar?

Reminds me of that funny story, about the groupie who accidentally slept with the bass player because she thought he was a guitarist 😊

Edited July 16, 2020 by gjones

[Monkey Steve]

48 minutes ago, ead said:

No they are not.  You can't force anyone to buy one (not in this country at any rate) so the market sets the value.  If they are priced too high they wouldn't sell like any other product you care to name.

while I broadly agree with the supply and demand aspect of this, there does seem to be something of a Dutch Tulip bubble about some of the prices (and not just for Fender, for vintage instruments in general) that they reflect the age of the instrument rather than the inherent quality.

Case in point, a few years back I was getting my hair cut and, knowing that I played in bands, the barber asked if I could have a look at his Strat (one of the other barbers had inherited a bass from his Dad and I'd done a set up for him so he could learn to play - a really nice flamed maple Hofner from the 60's).  He'd bought the Strat new in the 1970's, had failed to learn more than a couple of chords, and it had sat in it's case for the last couple of decades.  Could I give it the once over and let him know how much I thought it was worth, and if I liked it, did I want to buy it?

The guitar was in remarkably good shape given how long it had been left alone and just needed a clean, some new strings and a set up...but the guitar itself was a shocker.  The neck was much too narrow and it was impossible to play, the pickups were horribly thin sounding, and it had all the other bits and pieces that Fender got criticised for at that time - three bolt neck plate, etc. I set it up for him, but warned him that the 1970's were well known to be a bad decade for Fenders, and this was by far the worst Strat I'd ever played, so he shouldn't be dreaming of a windfall.

He rang a shop who offered him £1,500 for it sight unseen, this being about half of what they expected to sell it for - £3k for an utter POS, purely because it was a 40 year old POS

Of course, if I'd been buying them up when they went for pennies in the '80's I'd be very pleased with the current state of affairs

[wateroftyne]

1 hour ago, Monkey Steve said:

while I broadly agree with the supply and demand aspect of this, there does seem to be something of a Dutch Tulip bubble about some of the prices

The Dutch tulip bubble lasted about four years, didn't it?

[Geek99]

7 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

I honestly don't get this response.  I read your post and agree with everything you said, and @bassaussie just furthered your point.  You don't care for the history lesson or what?

 

I thought it was a bit rude, personally