The Fender Jazz Bass Guitar was first sold in the 1960’s, and is easily one of the most popular vintage bass guitar in modern history.

It contains a number of firsts or Fender — such as an ultra-slim fast-action neck (especially compared to the p bass), an offset waist contour, a stacked concentric controls and full-range bi-pole pickups.  The Jazz Bass was inspired by the Jazzmaster guitar, which both shares an offset body and sculpted edges.

The Fender Jazz Bass was originally intended to switch upright bassists to electric bass, and judging by it’s current popularity, it has done quite well.  There are  tribute basses that pay ode to the original Fender Jazz Basses, but the truth is that none come close to a classic vintage bass guitar, at least in my eyes.

Vintage Bass Guitar are any basses created between the 1920s and 1970s.  Vintage Bass Guitars made before this period are considered primitive and any Vintage Bass Guitar after the 1970’s doesn’t have as much of a value.  You see, before the 1970’s, bass guitars were often hand-made of Brazilian Rosewood, a type of wood that is illegal to import into the United States.  This is what makes the Vintage Bass Guitars so valuable — the fact that they can not be duplicated.  Bass Guitars made after the 1970’s can be easily replicated, so even though they are rare and might hold value now, in the future they might not.

My personal opinion is that if you’re looking into bass guitars, you should definitely look into purchasing a vintage bass guitar.  Not only do they have a sort of ‘personality’ that these new guitars not have, but many vintage bass guitars also have some serious monetary value to them.  So while you could have a brand new bass guitar, why not invest in a golden oldie vintage bass guitar?

2010 Official Vintage Electric Guitar Magazine Price Guide

This is the holy bible of price guides for vintage bass guitars, and vintage guitars in general.  This is THE guide on the market right now for determining vintage bass guitar prices and lucky for you, it was JUST updated for the 2010 year.  If you don’t have this guide, there is a good chance that somebody with this guide is going to take your money, or screw you over on a guitar.  This price guide has over 1000 pictures and includes all of the major brands (Gibson, Fender, Martin).  You really can’t be considered a vintage bass guitar enthusiast without this.

The first vintage bass guitar I plan to discuss is the grandaddy of all basses.  The Fender Preicision Bass (or P Bass), designed by Leo Fender, is THE bass that started everything.  The impact that this bass alone had in music is seriously unbelivable.  In fact, even to this day the Fender Precision Bass is one of the most popular and widespread bass guitars around.

This revolutionary bass is an alder solid-body instrument with a split-coil hum bucking pickup and a one-piece maple neck with rosewood or maple fingerboard and 20 frets that is still in manufacturing today.  Here’s a short video of the ‘62 Fender Precision bass:

Anyone else here got a Fender Preicision Bass?  I’d love to see ‘em, hit me back!

I figured I wasn’t the only one with a passion for vintage bass guitars.  If you also have a passion for vintage bass guitars, I’d love to hear about them.  What vintage bass guitar do you own?  How often do you play your vintage bass guitar?

I’ll start it off.  I currently have a ‘62 Fender Precision Bass, there is a good chance that you will see me talking about it in my next post.  I plan on giving a good review of it, as well as some of the vintage basses that I have had over my lifetime.

Until next time,
Mark,