Re: What might this Jazz bass be worth?


"hcbowman" <hcbowman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1165154132.125529.244220@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Horace Caulk wrote:
in 1982 who would have ever thought a late 70's axe
would be considered "vintage".

Noob question:

Apart from individual instruments with real historical significance,
was collecting a big deal in the past? Are high prices for "vintage"
basses a new phenomenon?

No, it's just the definition of vintage changes because instruments
get older, not younger. In 1989 I bought a 1963 P-bass for $750,
a good-but-not-great deal at the time (a somewhat overpriced one
on a showroom floor would ask $1000-1200). Now it's probably
worth $3-4000, but of course it's 17 years older. A mid-70s bass
is now as old as a late 50s bass back then. There are other factors;
as someone pointed out they didn't make as many in the 50s and
early 60s (before the Beatles) so they are rarer. I hear that even
refinished ones from that era are worth a lot now; it used to be
refin was the kiss of death for collector's value. Ultimately it's
all about supply and demand.

- Gary Rosen


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