So many 'rare' basses

[E sharp]

I've just noticed on Ebay , a Vigier up for - buy now 3.5k , and starting bid of 2.5k .

Needless to say , it's marked up as 'rare' . It is an old one granted , but from what I've seen on here and on Ebay , the buy it now , seems about 3 times optimistic . Not even any movement on it over on the Vigier chat room . They seem to go for aroung a grand - case in point , that sunburst one on hear a few months ago , that was the finest I've seen .

This has gotten me thinking , how many 'rare' basses are there out there ? Because it seems like many on Ebay are chancing their arm , much like those numpties in Denmark St , and marking down everything as 'rare' , in the off chance someone will be gullable to believe it .

Anyone else seen any classic ads ?

[Doctor J]

It's just people chancing their arm, I wouldn't get too worked up about it, part of me believes the gullible should be exploited and this kind of marketing approach seems to appeal to quite a lot of people these days. Kicking ass and having fun just isn't enough anymore unless you're doing it on something which sets you apart from the great unwashed. It draws similarities, to me at least, of the sometimes absurd prices sought (and frequently paid) for vintage basses, where when you say the year of manufacture before the model that the bass is somehow better, or there is some kind of chronological snobbery at play... I grow weary of folks saying "I was playing my 76 Jazz last night"... what are they saying the year for unless there's some kind of self applied kudos to exclusivity which massages the ego just right and gives the owner whatever it is they're missing? So yeah, someone somewhere will get an extra glow from having a [i]rare[/i] bass which, hopefully, will be worth the premium they no doubt paid for it. They can tell their buddies that it's not just a Vigier, it's a [i]rare[/i] Vigier and, for 90 days, they'll still be able to show the ebay ad as proof

[Prime_BASS]

What a great answer.

[Happy Jack]

[i][b]Rare [/b][/i]isn't enough. On its own, [i][b]rare [/b][/i]is just another 4-letter word. To achieve any real kudos, your eBay'd bass must be [i][b]vintage and rare[/b][/i]. Now that really works.

Even better is [i][b]unique[/b][/i]. This can then be slotted into your eBay listing as





[color="#8B0000"][size=4][b]UNIQUE!!! One of only 2300 ever made. In 2004. During June.
[/b][/size][/color]

[Alfie]

'Rare' is the third most annoying thing on eBay after @LOOK@ and WOW!!!

[Kiwi]

I don't really care much for vintage, but if the instrument has a story behind it then its interesting.

[neepheid]

[quote name='Doctor J' post='888080' date='Jul 7 2010, 08:35 AM']It's just people chancing their arm, I wouldn't get too worked up about it, part of me believes the gullible should be exploited and this kind of marketing approach seems to appeal to quite a lot of people these days. Kicking ass and having fun just isn't enough anymore unless you're doing it on something which sets you apart from the great unwashed. [b]It draws similarities, to me at least, of the sometimes absurd prices sought (and frequently paid) for vintage basses, where when you say the year of manufacture before the model that the bass is somehow better, or there is some kind of chronological snobbery at play... I grow weary of folks saying "I was playing my 76 Jazz last night"... what are they saying the year for unless there's some kind of self applied kudos to exclusivity which massages the ego just right and gives the owner whatever it is they're missing?[/b] So yeah, someone somewhere will get an extra glow from having a [i]rare[/i] bass which, hopefully, will be worth the premium they no doubt paid for it. They can tell their buddies that it's not just a Vigier, it's a [i]rare[/i] Vigier and, for 90 days, they'll still be able to show the ebay ad as proof [/quote]

Just to offer an alternative viewpoint on this - sometimes it is necessary to apply a year because it denotes a particular style of bass - for example a '51 Precision looks different to a '57 - be it a reissue or the real deal.

I also don't find it offensive the way you seem to. I find it interesting to be able to place a bass in the chronology of the particular model. So if you don't mind I'll continue to let people know that my Gibson G-3 is a 1978 model (which allows those in the know to surmise that it has clear epoxy potted pickups and the body is probably made of alder) and that my Gibson Victory Artist is a 1981 model (meaning it's an early one - and not much else - Gibson at the time seemed to mix and match whatever they had lying around in the shop ).

[The Bass Doc]

In some cases you can turn 'rare' on it's head and view the fact that not many were made because they weren't particularly good/didn't sell well.

In my time as a dealer many moons ago I was offered an early 50s Fender Precision which I declined on the basis it didn't sound as good as the 57 onwards type - Leo Fender must have thought the two-part pickup was a better design.

Same thing on the 'rare' dual concentric Jazz - he changed to the 3 control system quite soon, presumably for better performance.

So sometimes 'rare' indicates something was changed for good reason and shouldn't, in my opinion, make it automatically worth hods of money.

[SS73]

I think the year of an item is an Americanism we are taking on board here, I used to have two 4001's and a Fender Jazz, but now I'm referring to them as a 69 a 79 and a 71 , am I hoping that it will put more value on the conversation I'm having now they're sold. Ok with a Chevy or Mustang, cos these were changing almost every year, but it seems now '' my 56 Chevy '' adds kudos, where Don Mclean just drove his Chevy to the Levee.

[Tee]

[quote name='Alfie' post='888125' date='Jul 7 2010, 09:44 AM']'Rare' is the third most annoying thing on eBay after @LOOK@ and WOW!!![/quote]


agreed and don't forget 'Stunning'

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Tee' post='888603' date='Jul 7 2010, 04:04 PM']agreed and don't forget 'Stunning'[/quote]
.. and plays like butter ...

[Lfalex v1.1]

I played my [i]extremely common[/i] Fender Jazz last night. I'll have to check the serial number to let you know what year it is!
My lesser-spotted Vigier was lurking in its case, sleeping!

On a more serious note, people will [i]try[/i] to charge what they [i]think[/i] the market will bear. They may be right, they may be wrong. It's only the eventual purchaser who will make the real value judgment as they're the one prepared to part with the agreed amount of hard cash for the item.

If someone wants to pay £3.5k for a Vigier, it's up to them. Do bear in mind that the last run of Series3 basses had a list price of £2.5k.
If it's an absolutely mint Series1, it [i]could[/i] fetch that much. Too much for me, though!

It depends what you want, too. Do you want a collector's item or a cracking bass (or one that's both)
What is a pity is that far too many potentially excellent instruments end up hanging on the walls of various "Hard Rock Cafes" where they'll never see any action again.

[Lorne]

Some things are "RARE" by design,I spoke to Neal Moser,MCS and previousley designer at B.C.Rich,when he mentioned Seagull basses being rare,to which I said "We'll make this bass and see how it sells" chrip chirp "sh*t,we made 10 of them and had trouble selling them,that idea sucked"

Therefore you have 10 "RARE" basses,as they didn't sell well

[flyfisher]

I reckon I could knock out a bass from scratch in an afternoon and it would be both rare and unique. It would also be crap.

[waynepunkdude]

My peeve is when someone hacks out a pick up fills it put some paint over the filler that doesn't match and then advertises it as 'custom'


This is a custom


This isn't

[flyfisher]

Hey, where did you get that photo of my bass I made this afternoon?

[ThomBassmonkey]

It's funny, I'm selling a rare bass (my Mav, only 20 made) and I have that it's rare in the description, it just says what it is in the title, i.e. it's model and that it's a 5 string bass.

I saw one that made me laugh earlier, a black jazz scrathplate, nothing fancy at all that had "~W0W~" in the title. Amazing! WOW! Never seen one of those before...

[spinynorman]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='889013' date='Jul 7 2010, 09:58 PM']My peeve is when someone hacks out a pick up fills it put some paint over the filler that doesn't match and then advertises it as 'custom'[/quote]

I was just thinking the same thing.

I'm surprised no one has set up a company to import Chinese clones, called it Rare Guitars, and cleaned up on Ebay.