1969 pelham Blue Melody make bass?

[MARICOPAA]

Ok...one of floor managers at my local GC loves Gibson SG shaped anything. He has a small collection mostly leaning towards guitars but he asked me if I was interested in his Pelham Blue '69 Melody Maker Bass. He says it's near mint and wants $3500...am I wrong or is he dreamin?

Seems incredibly high even for a custom color bass!

Perspective?? ;-)

[Dave W]

He's dreaming. A few years ago someone put up a web page claiming only 26 of these were ever made, 13 in each color. it's utter bullshit but it's become an internet "fact." There were hundreds made, they're not rare at all. They were lower priced than an EB-0, apparently paint grade mahogany, and had cheaper tuners. There's no way they should go for more than a regular EB-0. But recently I've seen a couple on eBay repeatedly in the 1800-2200 range, no bidders. Even that's crazy. But 3500? Ridiculous.

And it's not even custom color! Pelham blue and burgundy were the standard (and only) colors offered on the MM bass.

[hieronymous]

There's a whole bunch of them available on Gbase for half the price, which still strikes me as expensive - some of them have been up for several years without moving. I paid around $1000 for mine in Japan and felt like I was overpaying, though I may have gotten in on the cusp, and plus American guitars are just more expensive in Japan. I love it though, and think it was worth every yen!

[drbassman]

I wouldn't give over $1 k for one in mint condition with a mint case!  They are cool-retro looking, but they were the Music Masters of the Gibson line.

[Barklessdog]

Buy the $1000 one and sell to the guy for $2000

[eb2]

They were the best Kalamazoo they made.

[MARICOPAA]

Numbskull that I am...I didn't think to investigate the bass on gbase.com. As you point out...many to choose from at half the price. That IS still to high methinks as well. $1K or less...that's more like it. My GC guy was certainly dreamin'. It was an guilty pleasure to call him...direct him to gbase...and listen to his sigh as he read the list ;-)

BTW...did any of you catch the big change at GC's everywhere this last Monday?

Bain Financial bought GC last year (seems Mitt Romney is one of the owners). With the downturn in the US market bain couldn't process the purchase the way they had intended and are currently in a sort of hold position. I guess that evolved some changes in the GC business model. Monday ALL GC's locked their computers and now there are no discounted prices below the sticker sale price. Apparently they did beta testing with the 'new' price lock business model in three markets (Seattle, Atlanta and somewhere else) and found that the top three grossing GC's were infact those three markets...now it has been implemented in ALL GC's.

Side truth is you can get a managers 10% discount if you know somebody...but that's apparently it.

[nofi]

living in atlanta i can say the stores are always full. full of kids spending daddy's money and older guys recapturing the good old days. i guess this is the demographic they need to stay afloat. 

[Barklessdog]

they used o match ANY offer internet or other wise.

They picked a perfect time to sell the Biz. Take that money and start another. The old one starts dyeing, buy it back at half or third of what they payed for it!

Worked for the owners of the Sear Tower here in Chicago.

[Dave W]

FWIW, Mitt Romney cashed out of Bain Capital in the late 90s. So you can't blame him for this. 

GC still has their 30 day price guarantee.

[uwe]

They were the best Kalamazoo they made.

Another one of his classic one-liners.