What things cost in "The Good Old Days"!

[Paul Childs]

When I left school at 16 in April 1969 my first wage was £4 . 17s . 6d and the price of a Strat was £ 208. That was without an amp which would have also been a lot of money. Even second hand prices were nearly as much as new.
London prices might have been cheaper but getting there from Cornwall would have made it cost more with the travel expense.
It was impossible to get a band out on the road as we were all on the same type of wage and there was also the extra expense of a PA and speakers which none of us could afford to pay for extra.
As for Hire Purchase you had to be over 21 and most of us had families in those days who were old fashioned and were dead against it.
There was probably a lot of lost talent in those days because of overpriced equipment.

[Graylion]

Hi Paul, you're absolutely right! People were definitely quite poor in the early 1960s. My Dad was an electrician and for a while worked for Vospers on ships in for refits in Southampton Docks so his wage was of a skilled worker. Having 4 (eventually 5) kids takes a lot of money though. I only had two but didn't really have a lot of free cash until they left home!
My Dad stood as guarantor for my first music equipment as I was only 16 - as you say, the age of majority then was 21. (But the age limit for drinking alcohol in a pub was 16!) Everyone bought things "on tick" (Hire Purchase). It was still 21 in 1968 when I got married! I had to get her parents official signature for permission to get married as she was only 19! (I was 22)
In 1962, at the age of 16, my wage was £25 per month as an Insurance Clerk. The following April 1963,when I changed jobs, it zoomed up to about £64 a month!

When I left school at 16 in April 1969 my first wage was £4 . 17s . 6d and the price of a Strat was £ 208. That was without an amp which would have also been a lot of money. Even second hand prices were nearly as much as new.
London prices might have been cheaper but getting there from Cornwall would have made it cost more with the travel expense.
It was impossible to get a band out on the road as we were all on the same type of wage and there was also the extra expense of a PA and speakers which none of us could afford to pay for extra.
As for Hire Purchase you had to be over 21 and most of us had families in those days who were old fashioned and were dead against it.
There was probably a lot of lost talent in those days because of overpriced equipment.