LeftyBassist.com

8500 for a refinished body?? in this market? completely crazy.

look on the bright side ... the shipping is cheap! LOL

I wonder what possessed them to decide it needed to be refinished.....

I'd like to know who the genius was that thought it was a good idea to cut the pickup wires leading from the pickups to the pots just so they could get a photo of the underside of the control plate.....idiots

Yeah I was thinking the same thing Tom. I dig the bass but damn. A bit overpriced

I agree Matt. Very cool bass and you don't see many lefty 65's (or any 60's lefties for that matter) but it is overpriced. If it comes down in price I'll think about it, but it would have to come down quite a bit.

Just curious you guys.... considering the refinished paint, snipped wires (does that hurt the value?), what do you think would be fair market value in our present economy? I'm not in the market to even think about purchasing, just interested to know what would be a realistic price.

Pre-CBS lefty!
It's hard to determine the price but I'd love to play it.

I'd say $4000 would be strong, if the buyer is really motivated. The refinish totally destroyed that bass. I wonder what prompted the owner to do a refin. And they are not telling the story of the bass, or where the refin was done. And it looks like it's poly.

If the refin was done in nitro by either Alleva-Copplolo, or Wilkins, or anybody reputable, then it could be a $6000 bass.

I think the whole point of paying big bucks for vintage Fenders is that they remain in original condition. If it was all original, it could be valued anywhere from $8K to $15K to the right buyer, given the rarity of lefties.

And this is all assuming that the neck is all original and in good shape, and not repaired or bent. The truss rod nut looks good, though, which is a sign that the neck at least has not been adjusted to death.

Also the nut looks kinda bright and too clean for a bass of that age.

Well I contacted to seller in re to the bass and he told me that when he purchased the bass recently, it was already stripped down to bare wood with the exception of the neck pocket. He told me he had it refinished by Al Inteso of the Guitar Parts Center in Mesa AZ. Said the new finish is nitro and that the wires were cut from the pots by the refinisher and that no photos were taken prior to the refin.
$8500 is still too high esp with a re-fin.

Not to say they don't exist and do good work but i've never heard of these guys, and I live about 15 mi. north of Mesa. Just sayin' .....

I bet that bass would have looked killer before it was refinned... I don't care if the seller said the finish was gone. I would way rather have it all original.

Take this as an example.





Absolutely georgeous.

Now that's what I'm talking about. That beat up finish is badass.

Gots to agree. I have a dude who lives 2 miles from me and has a lefty 1957 Tele. he had it refinned. he claims it was so beat up - and burnt in some places - that it would never have sold. After the refin, he wanted $18K for it!!! A reputable dealer I know who turned me on to the guitar told me he'd be lucky to get $8K on the best of days.

Folks just don't get that refins totally kill the value.

I agree. If it's lasted that long, leave it alone. It's a shame that he refinished it. I don't care how well the refin is. It's not worth the $8500. Had it been original finish-regardless of how bad it is, he could've easily gotten over 10k for it.
"well the paint is really worn and ugly, I'll just paint it so it looks new and I can get alot of money for it because all musicians like shiny guitars!"
Jeez!

The operative word these days in the antiques world is "Patina", and time and again the experts agree that even though the finish suggests it looks like it was burned, faded, scarred, blistered - whatever - leave it alone! It shows the history and suggests stories as to why the item came to look like it does.

Seems that if he had taken it to someone who knows rare and valuable guitars, he would have been advised to leave it alone. He should have at least tried to sell it in its original condition first. Then, if it didn't sell, he could have chosen the second option to refinish it, by someone who knows the market, knows how to Properly dismantle and restore a vintage bass, and would know what the real-market value was when it was done. Sounds like amateurs, and profit-minded ones at that, that made some bad judgement calls on this....

+1 couldnt have said it better myself!

I'm very curious as to how much HE paid for the bass. Betcha not nearly half of what he's charging for it.

Another exhibit of a killer worn bass with a history... in this case the beaten-up white Jazz owned by Clint Conley from Mission of Burma ... If only basses could talk.