Not really knowing what this sort of thing typically goes for, I don't think I'd offer an amount the seller would accept but I do love how it looks. All I know is he previously listed it with an opening bid of £595 + 26 postage and got no bids. So my guess is somewhere around £350-500
Very hard to put a price on something that hardly ever comes up. I seriously doubt he'd take as little as £350, especially as the fees for that would be £35. My guess is he'll be looking for £500 on eBay/£450 cash in hand. I'd be wary of shelling out that much on a less-than-pristine example of a bass that hardly anyone has heard of in case I needed to get my money back on it quickly at some point in the future.
On that basis a Musicmaster would be a smarter purchase for that kind of money.
If you're more sold on the style than the vintage aspect mabes wait and see it any of the reissues come up. I think they got discontinued pretty quick tho (cos they couldn't shift any. The 2 in my local guitar shop went down to under £100 before they disappeared back in the day).
No doubt this is rare (and very cool) but I wouldn't exactly say its sought after. Given that and the condition I wouldn't pay any more than I would for any other obscure eastern instrument. Whenever I buy I always want to get a price where I know it will still hold it's resale value so I think the price is about twice as much as you'd want to pay for this bass.
The issue with getting the price down might be that the seller shelled out a heap of cash for this because he thought the age would make it worth more.
The changed bridge saddles (which he oddly includes no picture of, I'd definitely ask to see that before putting in an offer) and the missing binding on the neck is enough that you put off collectors leaving people like me and Benecol who don't really know the value but would like to buy it. I definitely couldn't buy it without having a good idea of what I could get for it if I sold it.
Still, I bet it plays the socks off a Musicmaster. I've never really had any interest in owning one of those.
I'd pay about £250 for this one, and I like it. If you're looking at being able to shift it on later without losing your shirt I'd say max of £300 and I don't think you'd even be guaranteed to get that, especially these days. The only second hand one I've seen was a reissue (bright yellow guitar version) in brand new condition and it was in with all the Affinity Squiers etc.
At a decent price someone on here would probably take it off you hands though. Its a cool bass.
I've played the guitar version of similar vintage...someone brought one in to Guitar Center to sell when I worked there and the boss would only give him like $150 for it, which obviously he walked on. I tried to contact him by craigslist later to try to buy it but he never got back to me.
The thing was seriously awesome, the neck was so comfortable, but something like I've never played before...it was a tiny narrow fretboard but with a fat V shaped back. I don't remember if I even plugged it in.
James wrote:Still, I bet it plays the socks off a Musicmaster. I've never really had any interest in owning one of those.
Damn straight: I'd trust a Yamaha over a Fender any day of the week, especially murky 70's Fenders.
I gave this an example for cash-back value, not quality. Regardless of what you think of Musicmasters there is a going rate attached to them, it's really easy to find out what it is, and it's only like to go up.
I put in an offer of £275, not expecting it to be accepted but hoping for a counter-offer and it was auto-declined*. Might try something above £300 but I'll think about it for a bit first.
*for those not familiar with how the best offer format works you can set a threshold below which all offers are automatically declined, you can also set an auto-accept threshold.
I love the colour, think it looks really cool and I don't doubt it probably plays and sounds great, but if you're buying a guitar off the internet without trying it first, it's common sense to think about how much you're likely to get back on it and how easy/tricky that process might be if you end up not getting along with it for whatever reason. That's all I was saying, seconded by Thomas, and I can't understand why some people are wilfully misconstruing such uncontroversial advice.
Just try not to get carried away with gear lust and potentially overpay for a niche instrument with at least four known 'issues'. It's your money, though....obviously.
Your posts aren't being wilfully misconstrued, you're just erring towards the posting style of someone who buys and sells guitars rather than someone who plays guitars. James was after a price check, but he's not some n00b who needs warning over the perils of buying guitars on eBay.
benecol wrote:Your posts aren't being wilfully misconstrued, you're just erring towards the posting style of someone who buys and sells guitars rather than someone who plays guitars.
If that's not wilfully misconstruing my posts I don't know what is. Sadly can't offer a price check for one of these basses with broken binding, replacement bridge etc. but would second Thomas's take on that stuff.
I sent the seller a message asking for a pic of the bridge.
I doubt I'll put another offer in, but I'm definitely interested as to what it goes for if it does sell. I think if it was in a store and I could play it first I'd happily pay £450 for one of these, somewhat blind probably more like £350.
Why don't you email him with your offer, outlining the reason why you're offering the amount you are. It might make him realise the amount he's expecting to get is a little unrealistic.
