The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: wellREDman on March 02, 2023, 08:32:58 AM
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following on from this thread, https://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=12304.0
I think if I'm going to do this I really want a Gibson, ideally a thunderbird, how far will my £3k go towards a 70s bird?
as in what are the ballpark prices?
I know when it comes to it I will do my own research but time is pretty tight at the moment so coming here for a rough idea please?
cheers
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For a Bicentennial in good condition, £3k might not be enough. And they're not nearly as collectible as a 60ies Bird.
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You're looking at north of $4k for a 70s model, depending on color and condition. Honestly, if you want to play it without worrying, you're better off grabbing an Epi Vintage Pro (or whatever they're calling it this week).
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You're looking at north of $4k for a 70s model, depending on color and condition. Honestly, if you want to play it without worrying, you're better off grabbing an Epi Vintage Pro (or whatever they're calling it this week).
Its not about playing and I have lots of basses, most that I have built or recycled myself to fulfil every need I have.
I want some of my savings to be a Gibson hanging on my wall rather than Krugerands in a vault.
is there anything old and fun and Gibson that will hold its value?
explorer? RD?
please dont make me go to a guitar forum.. :sad:
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Well in that case, look leisurely for a Bicentennial until you can grab one and be prepared to add something to your 3k budget.
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Well in that case, look leisurely for a Bicentennial until you can grab one and be prepared to add something to your 3k budget.
I wish you could "like" posts in here
thank you Uwe,
I Like this post :)
are we talking closer to £4k or £3.5k?
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Easy, for £3.5k you just have to be even a little more patient! 8) It's like waiting for the benefits of BREXIT, which will eventually come, I'm sure.
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I paid EUR 2.000 for my Bicentennial in good shape (the bass "from the Cold" i.e. communist Germany) maybe 15 years ago. That should give you an idea. I'd say that was a fair price at the time (the guy didn't ask for anything higher, I didn't offer anything lower), neither a bargain nor robbery.
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Forty years ago, I paid 600 Euro for a bicentennial T-bird. Never liked it. Sold it. Got hold of an Epiphone Embassy -64, for 1 200 Euro. Liked it! Bought another one, just in case..., also from the 60's, much cheaper. Gave it to my bass playing son, together with a Fender P 65. He's satisfied. I'm satisfied. Everyone's happy. Son's got a modern Epiphone Embassy, too. He likes it a lot. So: What to do? Get hold of a 60's Tbird. That's what I would do if I were in your clothes. Go cat, go!
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Ten years ago I bought a white Bicentennial for Carlo here locally and shipped it to him in Florida. It was US $2500. It had some bumps and bruises but no neck break.
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What to do? Get hold of a 60's Tbird. That's what I would do if I were in your clothes. Go cat, go!
is a 60's bird more in my price range than a bicentennial?* are they the holy grail of T-birds?
It's like waiting for the benefits of BREXIT, which will eventually come, I'm sure.
Thank you, and umm, ouch :-[
*The bicentennial is one of my earliest memories, at 4 years old I was living in a US airbase in the middle east when suddenly all the yanks went bonkers. I thought it had something to do with buffalo
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From the past, I'd say a 60ies Rev Bird should be twice as much as a Bicentennial, at least. Is that still roundabout correct? There are simply fewer of them (both in original production and via the further decrease in numbers through destruction/damage and loss over time).
Of course, currently, they have a more substantial value increase over time too, but don't underestimate how vintage the 70ies have meanwhile become to people in their 20ies and 30ies who will be the coming generation of guitar buyers.
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Its not about playing and I have lots of basses, most that I have built or recycled myself to fulfil every need I have.
I want some of my savings to be a Gibson hanging on my wall rather than Krugerands in a vault.
is there anything old and fun and Gibson that will hold its value?
explorer? RD?
please dont make me go to a guitar forum.. :sad:
The RD’s have seen a bump in value. I remember reading an article back in the day; “RD Artist, Ahead of their time or timeless turkeys”, They are heavier than a Thunderbird but unique in their own way. You should easily be able to find one in your price range. Kind of a “Melted Down” Thunderbird.
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My 2 '76s were 1K and 1100.00, but that was a long time ago now. I look at them on Reverb and see they've up quite a lot with 4-6K being common, it might just be me but I think they're held in better regard now than they used to be, being 47 years or so old isn't hurting the value either. I think Uwe said that they need a big amp to sound good, I would agree with that, cranked up a little they sound great, especially with a set of Ken Smith Rock Master Stainless and a .73 Tortex pick.
A little over a year ago I bought a '64 Thunderbird II, it was 7.5K - including the requisite broken neck. Actually, it was in pretty good shape, had both covers and the mute was intact except for the felts, I've noticed that since then there seem to be far fewer old Birds out there and most are at 10K or more.
(https://i.imgur.com/4eaZmLM.jpg)
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I've seen two or three Bicentennials go for around $2500-2800 on Buyee over the last year. It's a Japanese auction aggregator that charges a very small fee for any item won. The item is then shipped to them, and they ship it to you. Some people don't like to buy that way but it's worked pretty well for me once I figured out the oddities. If buying online is something you are OK with, you could check it out. Since they started shipping to the U.S. again, it costs about $200 a pop, so I just add that into my consideration whenever anything interesting pops up.
One you're signed up, this link will take you to electric basses (they sell just about everything available by auction or online in Japan, so it can be hard to find the right category):
https://buyee.jp/item/search/category/2084019034
The main thing I'd add is that there's a lot of junk that gets posted (and misidentified) among some decent stuff, so take a good look at the photos, descriptions (there's a decent translation widget) and any links to the original auction site (sometimes they have more photos).
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is a 60's bird more in my price range than a bicentennial?* are they the holy grail of T-birds?
The holy grail of T-Birds means different things to different people. For me, it's Uwe's "BuchholzBird", but I digress. A 60s reverse body is certainly the most valuable, all else being equal, but when I played one after having my Bicentennial for a few years, it was anticlimactic. What Mark said above about Bicentennials and amplifiers is true to some extent. Mine doesn't sound its best unless its connected to an old tube amp and turned up loud.
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Thank you all,
an RD would fit the bill, I'm a Krist Novoselic fan which helps,
plus the fact that for many years I thought that the bass that had first blown me away live (Craig Adams in the Mission) was a thunderbird, but it has since turned out to be an RD.
hmmm,
:vader: wonders if 3k might get an RD and a second hand modern epi bird
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:vader: wonders if 3k might get an RD and a second hand modern epi bird
Unlikely unless the RD market crashes...
https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=gibson%20RD%20bass
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I love RDs, but compared to the iconic status of of Tbird, they are just some sort of weird-looking instrument. A TBird is a classic, an RD is cult, there is a difference. There has never been a substantial number of people interested in them. If value accrual is relevant to you, that needs to be taken into consideration. You want something rare, but you also want a relevant market to monetize the thing one day. Try buying a hot dog with the money from a rare and valuable bass nobody - alas! - wants.
RDs come from an era when Gibson's reputation was down in the dumps. To boot, there is hardly a name player associated with them. Most people played them only for a short while, mainly because they were curious about the electronics. Novoselic is the one great exception, but he already has (at least) one. And he in fact preferred the passive Standard which no one else cared for (unjustly so, I prefer the Standard to the Artist too).
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I had an opportunity to pick up an RD Artist in Toronto for $800. In great shape , barely a mark on it. But I picked it up and it felt like the heaviest bass I had ever lifted. With a huge chunky fat neck.
So I passed
And I regret that now.
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The RD has a special place in my heart and I really dig the shape. But weight and phat neck (not that I mind) as well as an unconventional look worked against its acceptance from day one. I started learning bass in 1977, the year the RDs came out. I was immediately taken by their look though they were totally out of my budget. But I longed for one. They even caused a little bit of a splash when they were first released, there was some initial interest. But woe did that die down fast. Within a few months, the Mafia of Fender Jazz (Jaco!) and Fender P players that held German bassdom in an iron grip only referred to the RDs as "tree trunks" and "boat anchors". Instead, the new - and incidentally also active - bass on the market you should look out for became the Stingray - that found favor due to its Leo Fender ties. It was very much an elitist thing, if you were to be deemed "serious" about your instrument, you had to play a Jazz, a P or a Stingray, nothing else. An Alembic would have been tolerated too, but nobody could afford one.
If a few name players had adopted the RD as their mainstay bass in the late 70ies/early 80ies (just imagine Jaco P or Stanley C picking one up and recording as well as gigging with it), things might have been different, but from my perspective the bass was doomed by 1978. A decade later, Novoselic only resurrected something that by then had been relegated to a pawn shop image.
And of course there is the weight test. Anybody picking up a TBird for the first time invariably always exclaims: "Wow, it's a lot lighter than it looks!" And anybody lugging an RD will always say: "Yup, heavy, just like I thought."