Sir Horace Panters “Ghost Town” Precision Auction

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I love Sir Horace, but 20k is crazy money, eSpecially for a bass he got rid of.

 

And bought back, and now is getting rid of again.

[tauzero]

3 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

GH I’d full of quirky stuff. If you’re considering bidding I’d encourage you to get a full condition report or (even better) to go and visit. The chap their (Luke) is really nice and you get a lot of opportunities to see the items, unless they’re super expensive stuff like the 50s or 60s Strats that are locked away.

 

Sometimes the descriptions aren’t always incredibly accurate. I bought one bass there described as in excellent condition with lots of corrosion. I’d been to see it so I knew what I was buying.

 

When you’re dealing with thousands of items (which they do) it’s understandable and it’s not a criticism. 

 

I bought a Shuker Uberhorn fretless last year which turned out to have a duff truss rod - in a way it was a blessing, as I took it to Jon who is almost finished rebuilding it with a new fingerboard and truss rod and a scale length revised from 35" to a tad over 34". Hoping to pick it up next week. OTOH, the Barcus 6-string fretless I got for a pretty good price (IIRC it was below the original starting price) is great.

 

Incidentally, the ludicrous fan-fret Megatar didn't sell last time out and it's back again. If you want a straight 12-string tapper, fine, but all Megatar/Stick tunings that I've found have the six bass-side strings with the lowest string closest to the centre of the fretboard, completely obviating the point of a fan fret. You'd need chevron frets to make sense of it.

[Misdee]

3 hours ago, TimR said:

 

Not more money to everyone. 

 

More money to someone who this song is part of their history.

 

It's all part of the "things have emotional value". Like the first bass you owned. Some people have sold their first bass or thrown it in a skip. Others have it in the loft, never to be played again, warped neck, busted pots, but with that sentimental value that means they'll never get rid of it.  

I agree entirely, but when material things have emotional value, the value lies in the emotions rather than the thing, and emotions are deeply personal and subject to change. If other people don't share those memories and sentiments it could be very hard to get your £20,000 back out of this bass.

[Richard R]

6 hours ago, tauzero said:

You'd need chevron frets to make sense of it.

 If Citroën made basses 😉

 

[Burns-bass]

6 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I bought a Shuker Uberhorn fretless last year which turned out to have a duff truss rod - in a way it was a blessing, as I took it to Jon who is almost finished rebuilding it with a new fingerboard and truss rod and a scale length revised from 35" to a tad over 34". Hoping to pick it up next week. OTOH, the Barcus 6-string fretless I got for a pretty good price (IIRC it was below the original starting price) is great.

 

Incidentally, the ludicrous fan-fret Megatar didn't sell last time out and it's back again. If you want a straight 12-string tapper, fine, but all Megatar/Stick tunings that I've found have the six bass-side strings with the lowest string closest to the centre of the fretboard, completely obviating the point of a fan fret. You'd need chevron frets to make sense of it.

I didn’t realise that. I appreciate caveat emptor exists at auctions, but that’s a fundamental flaw you’d hope would be checked when a bass was brought in to sell.

 

If you were to turn up with some tools and try to adjust the truss rod, you’d quickly be warned off, for example.

 

Glad you got it sorted and will be happy. I did see the Shuker, and it looked lovely.

[TimR]

12 hours ago, Misdee said:

I agree entirely, but when material things have emotional value, the value lies in the emotions rather than the thing, and emotions are deeply personal and subject to change. If other people don't share those memories and sentiments it could be very hard to get your £20,000 back out of this bass.

 

Which was my point about being valuable to Gen Xers for maybe the next 10 years and then lose value. 

[TimR]

It's the same with Elvis and Beatles memorabilia. It's only valuable to those who have memorability.

[Mickeyboro]

“ Panter repurchased the instrument and integrated it back into his rig for the remainder of The Specials’ celebrated reunion era (2008–2022).”

 

Bollix. He was playing a Jazz when I saw him on the Encore tour.

[Misdee]

1 hour ago, TimR said:

 

Which was my point about being valuable to Gen Xers for maybe the next 10 years and then lose value. 

My point is that, never mind ten years from now, it's already not worth twenty grand to a sensible person of any generation. It probably never was. Who is so emotionally invested in the summer of 1981 that that are willing to fork out that much money for what wasn't even Horace Panter's main bass? Does anyone actually believe that this refinished P Bass was in fact Excalibur in the war against Thatcher? Is anyone that daft? 

[TimR]

We shall see. 

[Cliff Edge]

It’s £20,000 for bragging rights on a non original Fender bass you can buy for much less elsewhere. It’s just publicity for the auction. 

[Lozz196]

I suppose a major Specials fan who plays bass could buy it and it ends up as their number one bass that they play every day and will cherish. I think £20k is steep for any bass but to someone that could be doable. If a Bruce Foxton or JJ Burnel owned Precision came up that had been used in their original work then I`d be tempted, however I already have my fave bass so it would be a waste for me as nothing replaces that.

[iainbass]

I think the basses he used in those iconic studio vids have way more historical meaning. Still looks like nice pair of original Dimarzios which are worth having 

[jezzaboy]

On their comeback gigs I only saw him play a Thunderbird and a white Jazz but hey if you have the cash and it floats your boat go for it.

[Reggaebass]

The estimate is 10-20k, i could see someone going to about 10 but you’d have to be a really serious fan to go to the 20k mark for this ,

A comparison for me would be if one of my all time idols Aston Barrett’s  iconic 72 jazz came up for sale , would I spend 20k on it ?, I probably  would