How NOT to get sympathy from a fellow bass player.

[Steve]

So, I have to sub a gig tomorrow with my wife's country band. To save the hassle of a strike and reset while the stage is up, I put my rig onstage tonight and let her regular guy use it.

He shows up full of thank you and moaning that, due to being unemployed, he's had to sell everything to pay bills and all he has left is this one last bass. Feeling pretty bad for the guy, I look at the case and it says Carvin on it. He's a Fender guy so...I'm starting to feel his pain.

Then he opens the case.

1963 Jazz bass. Yep. He's the original owner, it's all original. Electronics, ashtrays, pickguard...the front is perfect, the back is all mojo, the neck is so played in it's not much lighter than the rosewood fretboard and it plays and sounds exactly like it does in your wildest fantasy.

Bite me Woody. I'm not going to feel sorry for you until you have to sell it to me for $600.

[salcott]

So he should give up the one decent thing he has left before he gets a little sympathy from you? I hope I'm reading this the wrong way and that you're being facetious.

[el-Supremo]

Wow. Way to hate on one of the last things this dude holds near and dear.

[Steve]

Nah, you're reading it wrong. I'm just bagging on a buddy. He's not that bad off, he just thinks he is. I'm doing worse. Times are tight in the Florida economy right now.

[nsmar4211]

Problem is, he couldn't sell that for enough to make it worth while right now, so he really doesn't have as valuable an assest as he used to........ and I'm sure he's gotten burned on the sale of the other stuff.

One advantage to having cheaper stuff-you don't eye it to sell it to pay the bills!

[IvanMike]

I will say that some folk here know i had a financial meltdown about 5 years ago and had my income cut by 2/3. Had to sell most of my stuff, down to one bass. 1986 Original Tobias made by Mike himself, #474 out of the "pre-total gibson takeover and mike leaves with a five year no compete agreement" run of 1044 or so i think. I don't get a ton of sympathy either.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by nsmar4211

One advantage to having cheaper stuff-you don't eye it to sell it to pay the bills!

That's kinda what cracked me up about his "business man's blues"

He dumped 2 MIM J basses, one fretless and one fretted because he said he was strapped. He's still got his house, his Rolex, his three cars, his big 'ol RV, he's still subbing his gigs to me so he can take the family camping once a month...and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he shows up with a new J bass one of these days soon.

Once upon a time, I had to dump an honest to God '64 Thunderbird for $400 because I had to pay bills. THAT, is pitiful. That was 20 years ago and I still ain't over it.

[Tim C.]

Originally Posted by Steve

Times are tight in the world economy right now.

Fixed.

[Delta_Petra]

Originally Posted by nsmar4211

One advantage to having cheaper stuff-you don't eye it to sell it to pay the bills!

I agree with this. I would like to downsize a bit, but none of it is worth getting rid of. It would take more time and effort to sell them than I would get from the sale. They are customized to me.

[cnltb]

Originally Posted by salcott

So he should give up the one decent thing he has left before he gets a little sympathy from you? I hope I'm reading this the wrong way and that you're being facetious.

+1

[Eminentbass]

I have a "don't sell gear unless it's to buy gear" policy which I've broken on occasion just to make rent. Two casualties were a '77 jazz bass identical to the Geddy Lee signiture and a +-minus 60yr old European double bass, two big regrets about selling. I wish I'd made some other plan and held on to those two so kudos to him for hanging on to it. I do see the funny side to the story though

[countrybassist]

Originally Posted by Steve

He shows up full of thank you and moaning that, due to being unemployed, he's had to sell everything to pay bills and all he has left is this one last bass. Feeling pretty bad for the guy, I look at the case and it says Carvin on it. He's a Fender guy so...I'm starting to feel his pain.

Ok so he sold everything. But in another post you stated that he still has his house, a Rolex, 3 cars, Big ol' RV, goes camping every month and in all likelyhood may show up with a new bass. huh? Doesn't make sense.

[rarisgod]

I don't think he should have to sell his 1963 Jazz Bass in order to get sympathy, but if what you say is true about having 3 cars, RV, etc. then he might not deserve much sympathy.

[hall1k]

Originally Posted by countrybassist

Ok so he sold everything. But in another post you stated that he still has his house, a Rolex, 3 cars, Big ol' RV, goes camping every month and in all likelyhood may show up with a new bass. huh? Doesn't make sense.

Welcome to America! Seriously, in all likelihood the guy bought a house he had no business even looking at with the salary he had cause the bank didn't have the sense to deny him the mortgage like they would here in Canada, then when interest rates started rising he suddenly found out he couldn't make the payments. Thats the main reason the recession happened. Thankfully, us Canadians came out of it much better cause our banks didn't do stupid things. Really the only reason we got hit at all was cause of our trade dependence on the US.

[xxfaux_punkxx]

Originally Posted by hall1k

Welcome to America! Seriously, in all likelihood the guy bought a house he had no business even looking at with the salary he had cause the bank didn't have the sense to deny him the mortgage like they would here in Canada, then when interest rates started rising he suddenly found out he couldn't make the payments. Thats the main reason the recession happened. Thankfully, us Canadians came out of it much better cause our banks didn't do stupid things. Really the only reason we got hit at all was cause of our trade dependence on the US.

oh yeah... oh yeah..... damn I got nothing....


Seriously though if the guy has all that he's hurting. I currently have 1 bass that cost less then 300, a handfull of clothes, and my laptop, and I still think i'm better off now then when I was in texas.

"If you're lookig for sympathy it's in the dictionary between syphilas and suicide" ~ ?

[Steve]

No. He's not stupid. He, like myself and most people in the construction biz, are used to being on the bleeding edge of the economy so, he's good with money and keeps his cards close to his chest. He say's he's "unemployed" but the reality is he, like the rest of us, are more "underemployed".

He's hardly starving, he's just not making what he wants to be making. Classic businessmans blues. Like the bar owner I have to work for tonight that's always griping about being broke. Right before he gets into his Benz and goes golfing for the day.

I think, more than anything, he was trying his GAS excuse out on me first before he tried it on his wife. If he really was up against the wall, he's got way more toy's far more valuable than a couple of beater basses. Which, is why I told him to bite me when he cranked up the poor me routine. I wish I was as poor as he is.

[trunkshope6]

your a monster sir a monsterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[totallyfrozen]

I've already told my wife there are two things that I WON'T sell no matter how bad it gets.
1) My music equipment
2) My guns

Sorry, times just can't be so tough yet that a guy should have to sell his instruments and equipment to make ends meet. I'm not attacking this guy (or the OP'er)...just saying. There's isn't a nationwide famine yet. There's still got to be some options.

In any case, I don't blame the guy for not sellling that Jazz. He would never forgive himself. Good times and bad times come and go. There's no reason to give up your favorite pieces for a few months of bad times. Sit tight; things will get better.

As far as this specific dude, he actually doesn't have any problems yet. He may be in a house he can't afford (I don't know that), but he can lose the RV and the Rolex first. Whatever...I'm not his financial advisor. I'm just saying some people have a very different view of "broke" than others. I'm sure if a "broke" club owner were to walk the streets in Kenya or Ughanda somewhere, he'd never use the phrase "I'm broke" again. It's all personal perceiption.

[lbanks]

I thought I could hang on to all of my stuff, too. But when the flip hit, I went from 22 basses to 5, including 3 Alembics. Life can be... interesting.