OT: Where do people buy sell old guitars/amps?

[EPOJoe]

Also, if you're confused about the date of manufacture on the bass, the best thing to do is to "drop" the neck, which involves loosening or removing the strings, carefully unscrewing the four screws on the neck plate and carefully removing the neck from the body. On a Fender bass that's circa mid 1960's, the date of manufacture (month and year) will be stamped on the heel of the neck. If you're going to sell the bass, any informed buyer will insist on seeing a photo of this date stamp.

[BryanE]

Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Mi.
They've been around for a long time and know
there stuff.

[Peter P.]

I've been selling all my late brother's drum and guitar equipment through craigslist. That includes 20 guitars, 20 effects pedals, 6 amps, 52 snare drums, 5 drum sets, 30 cymbals, and the list goes on...

Due to the weight of items and commensurate shipping costs which would severely reduce sales prices, I couldn't see ebay being practical. Same with reverb.com which was suggested to me (I'm not a musician so I needed a lot of advice).

All that said, I've had very good luck with craigslist.com.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by rounder

Guitar Center has a good web site. I do go to their nearby store sometimes and they have lots of stuff.

Guitar Center's used gear may be a treasure trove for some buyers, but they absolutely suck from any seller's perspective. You will take a huge hit on the money you can collect.

[el cheapo]

For buying musical gear cheap...Pawn Shops! If you want to make a quick buck and are not looking for top $ they are also good.

[Duende]

Pawn shops and Guitar center will rip you off.

Craigslist is your best bet imo. I like reverb and eBay, but shipping of musical vintage instruments can be risky.

In terms of the pre-CBS designs, nothing changed until ‘69 from what I understand. Only cosmetic. First being changing the name from “Fender Electric Instruments” to “Fender Musical Instruments” mid 1965. One can find ‘65 amps with either label.

Then in late 68-69 they went to the silverface “drip edge” era... but they were still 95% blackface amps except for a minor cap value change somewhere... can’t remember off the top of my head. But if you look at the back of a drip edge amp, it still has all the blackface labeling... only the front cosmetics were changed.

Anyways... would love to have a Jazz Bass that old and a Portaflex amp. In fact those portaflexes sound AMAZING for guitar!

Good luck selling

[stien]

As a reformed guitar gear addict, this thread makes me itchy.

My go to was harmony central before the big shakeup and now the gear page. I’ve shipped guitars and effects all over the world without issue.

[Bob Ross]

Now that I think of it, the best success I've had selling bass gear -- both in terms of getting a good price with very little haggling or tire-kicking, and in terms of being able to trust the buyer (or seller) -- has been on the TalkBass forum. But I think you need to be a Supporting Member ($30/year) in order to post For Sale items on their Classifieds section.

[Duende]

Originally Posted by stien

As a reformed guitar gear addict, this thread makes me itchy.

My go to was harmony central before the big shakeup and now the gear page. I’ve shipped guitars and effects all over the world without issue.

What’s your handle over there? I’m duende (surprise). I hear ya about shipping. Just was referring specifically to vintage instruments...

[ojingoh]

Originally Posted by 572cv

So the question is, setting aside ebay, which I have great trepidation using, where might a good musician go to look for a bass like this, or where, if you are a musician, would you go to sell this?

For basses (I play bass) talkbass is great. Online stuff is a bit of a headache, or can be. I prefer to play the instrument first. I generally start with Craigslist. GC will rip you off.

Depending on your instrument and condition it could easily be worth five figures - original case, custom color, matching painted headstock, case candy - you might consider consignment with someone in NYC for instance.

Best way to date it is to take the neck off - the neck manufacture date will be stamped on the heel. Body for a mid-sixties Jazz will be in pencil in the neck cavity. Also, if it's a '66 it's not a pre-cbs (CBS bought Fender from Leo in January of '65.)

It's probably an L bass - neck plate serial number will start with an L and be five additional digits if it's from '66. That's a ballpark age, the agreed upon way to do it is neck or body stamp, and take the older one haha.

Ampeg B-15s are a great amp, but not super collectible, they are everywhere.

Good luck!

[Jef58]

Interesting about the date stamp on the end of the neck. I have a Mustang that has a date stamp before the guitar was supposedly made. This could be different for Bass models though. I read where Fender used pre assembled necks on guitars that may have different dates between the neck and assembled guitar.

I did a search on Fender's site with my serial number and it is post CBS, but the neck date was pre CBS. Mustang was considered a 'lower' model, so these could be different than the Bass in question. If I am incorrect, I would be curious about that since I was going by what I read.