In my opinion vintage is something no longer made from a time period over 25 years. Also companies that have gone out of business in the same time frame.

Good question to pose... I don't know. Why is a Ford Model T an "Antique" car, and a 1957 Chevy "Vintage"? As in all collectables, there seems to be "Vintage" and then there's "Antique". Whether it's furniture, cars, or tools, collectors generally set a year or period range to distinguish between Vintage and Antique. I don't think any of us here would classify an 18th Century rope-tension drum as Vintage; it's an antique.

Maybe I'm trying to hard to define Vintage. Maybe it is just "I know it when I see it" after all.

Mike

And then as another 4 year old post proves, there are a variety of other factors that people consider when using the term "vintage" like where it's made, how it's made, when it's made, and by whom.

Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product.

Antiques are usually objects that show some degree of craftsmanship—or a certain attention to design, such as a desk or an early automobile.

"Vintage" seems to denote older than 25-30 years to lots of people, and "antique" seems to often denote around 100 or more years old.

To me any drum older than 1980 is vintage. I picked that date just because I'm old and anything newer than 1980 seems new to me. ;)

I think it's kind of a "know it when I see it" thing, and that usually means "of the 'classic' era" and a couple equipment generations old.

i.e. A '70 Ludwig kit with a double-tom mount is vintage. An power tom kit in the same sizes with Modular mounts isn't. An '83 Gretsch Bop in regular depths is tougher to figure - It's more "classic" in it's style, but there are older drums that are more "modern".

Guitarists have been mulling this over for a while now. Used to be only pre-'67 Strats/Teles/Les Pauls/SG's was "vintage" and desired. Then those got bought up and overpriced. Then super-primo early 70's was okay, then 60's non-mainstream models, and so on. Now their existential angst swirls around whether or not neon snot green zebra striped early 90's Jacksons with Floyds and active EMG pickups qualify. They're 25 years old, but still pretty state of the art in a high-tech sense. But the styling is as far from "classic" as you can get.

Probably has a bit to do with $$$, too.

If you can afford to own 20 3-ply Gretsch bop kits, one of each size scroll and floral Black Beauty, and a bank vault full of Radio Kings to pose your 24" K's on, anything less is crap and barely worth turning up your vintage-attuned nose at. If you're a broke college kid, a mismatch SSB 13-16-20 rewrap and some not-terrible 70's A's is vintage-ey enough for you.

I think your age def. has something to do with it. I know I feel like it's got to be before 1978 to be vintage because I just can't think of the 80's as vintage, I mean I could afford new stuff in the 80's and thought of that stuff as modern. And that is totally subjective based on my age. To me before the 30's like 20's and teens is antique and 30's to approx '78 is vintage, and newer than that is just used. But that 's just me.

Vintage , Antique to me go hand in hand to become Relics in time.