"Vintage" ??

cahaya

cahaya

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Messages
365
Reaction score
0
Location
Perth Australia
Lately I starting to see many sellers on ebay and other sites uses the "vintage" when selling their ukulele. Some of the ukuleles were in the '70s. I thought they are old but shouldn't be in the "vintage" category. I understand they only use that word to, hopefully, push the price up.

How old a ukulele should be before one considers a uke is a vintage?:confused:
 
I did a quick check and it seems this word generally is used for wine. Dictionary.com also said this word "representing the high quality of a past time". So it seems "vintage" does not mean something very old, it is just not new ???
 
There is always someone who chimes in that vintage can only be used for wine, and in the dictionary most of the definitions are about wine, but it can also mean "representing the high quality of a past time: vintage cars; vintage movies." Tens of thousands of people talk about vintage guitars and vintage cars, so it is fairly common. I'm pretty sure a classiccar from 1970 would be considered vintage - i.e. a Mustang or a GTO or a Porsche. A rambler station wagon probably not.

So a 1970's Kamaka uke? I'm OK calling it vintage. A uke that cost $4 at a souvenir shop? Probably not.
 
I agree with the expanded definition. If you have a KoAloha with a round sound hole or a Kanile'a pre-TRU bracing, I would say the term "vintage" applies there. It can draw people in to determine why yours is "vintage."

I think most people use the term for hits on eBay, though.
 
Last edited:
Probably what everyone else is saying is correct...
...but I consider "vintage" as the 20's & 30's
 
And then there is the brand "Vintage" - that one really chaps my britches. :)
 
An instrument made in the 70's is easily a "vintage" instrument. I'd call an instrument made in the 80's vintage. That's 20 and 30 years ago.

Back in the 80's we would call anything made in the 60's vintage. I think you guys are just getting old and not keeping up with the times.;)

Anthony
 
A particular time period should also be included when using the word "vintage", e.g. a 30s vintage instrument or a 1955 vintage car. Vintage means absolutely nothing to me unless a time period is used with it.
 
anthonyg said:
An instrument made in the 70's is easily a "vintage" instrument. I'd call an instrument made in the 80's vintage. That's 20 and 30 years ago.

Back in the 80's we would call anything made in the 60's vintage. I think you guys are just getting old and not keeping up with the times.;)

Anthony
Click to expand...

Ha ha, you may have a point Anthony. For me the 70's & 80's feels like it just happened yesterday. Has it really been 30 years already?
 
In most collecting circles "vintage" is considered to be 25 or more years old. "Antiques" are supposed to be at least 100 years old but I see it on a lot of things that are "only" 75 years old.
 
EBay's guideline for the "Vintage" category for ukuleles is "pre-1980," but they don't really put effort into enforcement. Even so, there's nothing to stop people from including "vintage" in the title without listing it in the vintage category. Etsy defines vintage as "more than 20 years old" and has some of the same problems. Outside of those contexts, though, I'd presume somebody talking about vintage ukes was referring to something from the first half of the 20th century and probably pre-WWII.

I read an excellent article (maybe a really well-sourced blog post?) within the last few years that talked about "vintage" shifting from a meaningful (if sometimes fuzzy) descriptor of age to refer to a particular aesthetic. If it has that vintage look to it, then it's vintage! As a frequent buyer and sometimes seller of things that are cool and old, it's frustrating.
 
Are you thinking of the mis-use of antique ? Now antique must be over
100 Years of date. Know that having dabbled in antique and vintage goods.

Vintage just is usually not of recent build. One could say Vintage
• the time that something of quality was produced.
So vintage 1960, or 1970, or 1995.
The buyer then knows the year of make and decides if it is a
year or model that one wants.

OR

collectible |kəˈlektəbəl| (also chiefly Brit. collectable)
adjective
1 (of an item) worth collecting; of interest to a collector.

So more than likely a Uke that would be highly sought after
and hard to obtain could be considered a collectable no matter
the age.

Yes there are no clear cut rules other than Antique must be at
least 100 years of age or more.

Hope this helps versus causes more confusion.
 
I own a 70's vintage guitar. My friend own's a 70's vintage violin. Only his is 1770's vintage. There's a little bit of a difference ;) specificity is the name of the game!

basically, people should be specific. I would consider my guitar a "vintage" instrument, because it's a discontinued model, was made in the 70's, and is a high quality instrument. Thus I refer to it as a 70's vintage. My watch is a high quality maker, made in the 50's, so I refer to it as 50's vintage. So yeah, vintage is a largely subjective term.

Yes there are no clear cut rules other than Antique must be at
least 100 years of age or more.
Click to expand...

Also subjective. The Federal Rules of Evidence definition of "ancient document" is at least 20 years old... :p 100 is the general guideline, but I don't think it's really universal.
 
roxhum said:
Ha ha, you may have a point Anthony. For me the 70's & 80's feels like it just happened yesterday. Has it really been 30 years already?
Click to expand...

Same here Rox, it just hit me. I have all these instruments around made in the '60's and early '70's never considering that they are vintage because many of them I bought new. Dang, I'm gettin' old and can't believe I've been playing guitar for 54 years and ukes recently.

My brothers and I have a couple of generations behind us playing instruments we had many years ago. It's a hoot when we all get together and hear them played together like we did so many years ago. They get to keep them as long as they play them. If they stop, the instrument comes back to the "library" where they can either give them up or trade them for another in the collection. Trustfully my ukes that I am collecting now will be played by my distant relatives a hundred years from now.
 
See, the 1920s and 1930s were a golden era of banjos, mandolins and ukuleles. The 1950s through 1970s were a golden age of the guitar. The 1980s were a golden age of the synthesizer. I'd be more likely to use the word "vintage" when talking about a golden age. Who played the ukulele in the 1970s besides Dean Ho and Tiny Tim?
 
In my opinion, Pre-1960's is my definition for vintage ukes. An exception is made for nice stuff in the decade or two after, such as gold label Kamakas and such.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

kkimura
Sold A $65 Guardian Vintage Case with a free Decca Soprano and for a limited time a set of Martin M600 strings!
Replies
6
Views
484
FatherMother
F
Eggs_n_Ham
For Sale White label vintage Kamaka soprano purchased from original owner
Replies
4
Views
263
Oldscruggsfan
Oldscruggsfan
G
New Kamaka vs Vintage sound
2
Replies
24
Views
580
GeoffHW
G
G
Vintage Kamaka HF-1 - is it real and how to determine authenticity?
Replies
17
Views
361
ookooleilei
ookooleilei
ukeclass
New Uke Day (NUD) Vintage Kamaka HB-2D
Replies
7
Views
263
ukeclass
ukeclass
Top Bottom