1956 Fender P Bass @ Tom's Guitar Shop

[Beedster]

Have to say the one for sale at Tom's looks to be a pretty nice example aesthetically speaking 

[Burns-bass]

What people sometimes forget about celebs buying vintage instruments is that they add value (which we can’t). 
 

A big standard 70s jazz is £3k. One owned by Geddy Lee is £30k for example.

 

Buying them up also gives the impression they’re rare, which they’re really not. 
 

I can see the value in a completely original pieces, because they genuinely are rare. But the rest of them, not really.

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

What people sometimes forget about celebs buying vintage instruments is that they add value (which we can’t). 

 

I disagree mate, it adds price, not value 

[Burns-bass]

1 minute ago, Beedster said:

 

I disagree mate, it adds price, not value 

Semantic point as we have to define value in this context. Intrinsic and extrinsic.  If we agree that the manufacturing process adds value then ownership and age can do too.

[Burns-bass]

I've been thinking about this a bit recently. I bought a double bass that was owned by Jack Bruce (not in the putative sense most vintage instruments are sold) but with provenance from Bonhams. It's 100% one of his, but it means nothing to me really. I bought it because I needed a great sounding classical bass and this was checked over by a friend and was given the OK. We assumed it would be out of my price range, but in the end it sold for half the original Bonham's sale price. 

 

I guess my point is that the "value" of celebrity ownership is probably temporal and that the celebrities of today are unlikely to mean much (if anything) to the generations in the future. Maybe a few will, but ultimately, we're all shadows and dust. Or 3 generations from irrelevance, as my mum put it when we were enjoying a walk. 

[Wolverinebass]

I remember playing an old 50's era precision about 5 years ago. My friend had raved about how good it was. It cost at the time about 10 or 12 grand. 

 

Well, it was a piece of crap. The pickup was massively wooly and it was also clear to me that the action wasn't really going to come down in any way to a level I'd be happy with.

 

I'm happy to say that he gets a great deal of joy out of it and of course I never said anything about my misgivings. Like everything you could say "you could buy however many basses I actually like for that!!" as a rebuttal, but in truth, it doesn't matter as long as it does it for you.

 

I have basses I don't play much, but that's mainly because the projects I'm doing or have been doing don't suit them. Not because I'm trying to build up some massive collection to store in a temperature controlled, secirity guarded aircraft hanger.

[Cato]

I love the look of these early P basses but at the end of the day I'm also sure there are sound reasons why Leo Fender tweaked the design and stuck with those changes for the rest of his time at Fender.

 

Ergonomics and quieter pickups being 2 of the obvious ones.

Edited yesterday at 13:43 by Cato

[Happy Jack]

2 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

Not because I'm trying to build up some massive collection to store in a temperature controlled, secirity guarded aircraft hanger.

Well what else can I use my aircraft hanger for? Eh? Well? 

[Dad3353]

5 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Well what else can I use my aircraft hanger for? Eh? Well? 

 

Don't you need it for your inflated ego and bloated megalomania..? 

 

...

 

 

[Geek99]

6 hours ago, Beedster said:

But why's that a sadness? It's a few pieces of wood and metal put together in a factory, to many people it's just as much a piece of visual art or a historic antique as it is a musical instrument (as I said above, you can get instruments just as good for around 5% of the likely price of this). As Leo would have agreed, there's nothing particularly special about them as instruments, it's not a Strad  

Were strads super-special back then? Just another maker of hand-built violins 

[Happy Jack]

42 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Don't you need it for your inflated ego and bloated megalomania..? 

 

...

 

 

 

Damn! Rumbled ...

[PaulThePlug]

2 hours ago, Cato said:

Ergonomics and quieter pickups being 2 of the obvious ones.

Ergonomics for sure... the forearm and belly cuts.

Then he had a bit of a wobble with the Jazz Shaping and those Single Coils again!

 

I have a Harley Benton PB50 modder and myopia - saved a bundle!

Edited yesterday at 15:58 by PaulThePlug

[Beedster]

3 hours ago, Cato said:

I love the look of these early P basses but at the end of the day I'm also sure there are sound reasons why Leo Fender tweaked the design and stuck with those changes for the rest of his time at Fender.

 

Ergonomics and quieter pickups being 2 of the obvious ones.

 

44 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

Ergonomics for sure... the forearm and belly cuts.

Then he had a bit of a wobble with the Jazz Shaping and those Single Coils again!

 

I have a Harley Benton PB50 modder and myopia - saved a bundle!

 

I have a few basses here, but for the last 6-months my go to bass has been a slab body 51 RI. It's hard to pinpoint the reason, I love the neck for sure, it's a baseball bat in every respect, and my bandmates appear to like it to the point that when I pulled out a late 70's Precision for a rehearsal the singer actually complained about the tone, and he never complains about anything. There is something in that slab body/SC/baseball bat space that really does work, certainly in my experience.  

[SteveXFR]

I might buy this and play it with a pick through a signal chain including a selection of disgusting distortion pedals, a cheap solid state amp and one of those plastic TC cabs.

[Delberthot]

I've always been a huge fan of the single coil precisions and have owned 2 Japanese Fender '51 reissues, 2 Warmoth '54s and currently have a Sire D5.

 

There's just something about them. 

 

If I had the money to buy this one I would gig it. If it breaks you can fix it. After all, how many people still have all of their original parts at 70 years old, never mind a musician's tool? 🤔😂

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, Delberthot said:

There's just something about them

Yep

 

[Wolverinebass]

4 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Well what else can I use my aircraft hanger for? Eh? Well? 

When times were hard and I had to downsize my bass collection, I rented it out to the US military to facilitate their extra judicial rendition programme.

[Rick's Fine '52]

https://www.andybaxterbass.com/collections/fender-precision-bass/products/1955-fender-precision-bass-2-tone-sunburst-1

 

Nice video/sound clip of this very clean and original version sold this summer. For those interested in hearing the tone. (Bottom of the listing)

 

I personally love these early contoured bodies, and this one. 😉

Edited 1 hour ago by Rick's Fine '52

[Lozz196]

Really nice sound to that one

[Rick's Fine '52]

3 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Really nice sound to that one

Yeah, it’s pretty special. Light too. 

[iainbass]

Probably the easiest Fender to replicate. As an eg, a Bravewood with the right tuners is pretty much indestinguishable from an original. Just saying.

[Rick's Fine '52]

8 minutes ago, iainbass said:

Probably the easiest Fender to replicate. As an eg, a Bravewood with the right tuners is pretty much indestinguishable from an original. Just saying.

In theory you could say that about a £100k Broadcaster too, and I agree that John does great work, I have one of his basses. Or a £45m Pollock painting, which, as an artist I could replicate in 45 mins. I’m pretty sure players/collectors don’t care for that though. Just saying. 

Edited 53 minutes ago by Rick's Fine '52

[Burns-bass]

8 minutes ago, Rick's Fine '52 said:

In theory you could say that about a £100k Broadcaster too, and I agree that John does great work, I have one of his basses. Or a £45m Pollock painting, which, as an artist I could replicate in 45 mins. I’m pretty sure players/collectors don’t care for that though. Just saying. 

They’re not comparable. A Pollock isn’t about a technique (see Ed Sheerans Pollock-esque paintings), it’s the value of the concept and the execution. 

 

I’m highly negative about the vintage bass market, but these all original models genuinely are rare and obviously highly valuable because of that. 
 

I don’t think it sounds any better than any other single coil P bass but that’s me. 

[Beedster]

20 minutes ago, iainbass said:

….a Bravewood with the right tuners is pretty much indestinguishable from an original

I’ve owned both, and no it isn’t 

[Rick's Fine '52]

3 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

They’re not comparable. A Pollock isn’t about a technique (see Ed Sheerans Pollock-esque paintings), it’s the value of the concept and the execution. 

 

I’m highly negative about the vintage bass market, but these all original models genuinely are rare and obviously highly valuable because of that. 
 

I don’t think it sounds any better than any other single coil P bass but that’s me. 

Well, like everyone, you’re entitled to your view. 

As a bass player and collector, and artist (very poor amateur), I don’t agree with your art appraisal either, if you’re saying the value is in the concept and execution, I think those are two different things, Leo had the concept, so puts replicas in the shade, and regarding execution, do you think Jackson’s execution was any more skilled than others that have done it since and copied, like John Squire for example? I personally don’t think so. That style doesn’t need skilled execution, it’s all about the concept and interpretation. Which bringing back  to guitar terms, Leo was a trailblazer in every aspect of his craft.