basses (and guitars) - how many is too many?

[GwenOnBass]

Owned one bass for 39 years, and truly intended to retire it when I bought bass number 2 in 2018. Added a third in 2020, and I do believe that's it for me. One of the three sees daily play. A hypothetical bass number 4 would just be an affectation for me.

 

[pcake]

I have 7 basses, and the target is 8. However, 6 of those are for the tribute band. If it weren't for having started that band, it would just be 2 - a fretted Jazz and a fretless Jazz.

I also have 2 electric guitars, one steel-strung acoustic, and one nylon-strung acoustic (the latter also for the tribute band).

do you use era or genre-specific basses with the band?

Blankets and pillows take a lot of space if you throw some out thats another 2 shortscales of real estate

We are full time RV'rs, living in 435sq ft. Long story short, my next amp will need to be a maximum of 15" high, 15" wide and 10" deep.

combo?

Anything more than a main bass, and a backup feels like too much to me. They are tools to gig with. Nothing more. Same with my guitars. That said, I currently have three guitars and three basses, and it feels like too much. Same with amps. One stack, one combo. That's it.

That said, I do flip them from time to time, but lately my desire to own super light basses has slowed the flipping down considerably. Once you find a 6 pound bass that plays well, it's a keeper.

yeah, but what about a fretless, a 5 string, one to keep in an alternate tuning, a super short scale?

btw, i just got a 5 string that weighs 7.2 pounds, and my mini precision weighs just over 6 pounds.

You can always bury them in the yard. I don't see a problem.​

I got 12 in a studio apartment, plus 2 uprights, a jumbo acoustic guitar and a drum set.
There's physically still room for more.
When I'm late out the door from deciding which axe to take to a gig, that's a good sign it's time to downsize a bit.

i think you win!

do you have room for a couch or end table?

Just got my 3rd bass and now feel like I have too many.

you're fine. why not enjoy basses with different characteristics or tones?

Too much is probably when you start to double up, i.e. more than one PBass, more than one JBass

i have 2 ibenez mikros, but 1 has fender jazz bass pickups, and i have 2 GSR100EX basses, but 1 has fender mustang pickups in it.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Ownership has its added costs.
I just dropped bass head #1 off at the shop. Bass head #3 has been in the shop for 2 months now.
I'm gonna have to make due with bass head #2 until one of these is fixed.
And of course I have to pay for the repairs.
Heck, at 11 basses let's say I changed all the strings at once and they were all flatwound at $50 per set?
$550 plus tax just for strings!

 

[ashtray]

I started playing guitar and bass at age 13. By age 15, I had about 5 guitars and a bass. In college I learned how to do general repairs on guitars, and would purchase a used guitar each week during "busy times" for around $100. Missing strings, horrible action, etc. Fix them up, sold them online for $200. I put much of my gains back in to more guitars and supplies. I think I had about 15 guitars when I left college. After that I got a job - was able to buy nicer stuff, and didn't need to "always be closing" a sale. My buying habits have slower down greatly, but my selling has pretty much gone to zero. So instead of buying 30-50 guitars (or basses) per year, I only buy 3-5… but I rarely sell one now.

It is neat to go through the closet and open cases to discover instruments I forgot or haven't seen in years. The downside is that instruments need routine care, so I end up with a collection of instruments that all need new strings and setups.

 

[wysiwyg248]

23 is the sweetspot for me.

 

[stringthrough]

Gotta disagree, altho' I admit recording and production activities expand my "needs". Not much of a Jazz player me, but my 40th Anniv. is different than the Toby V than the Thomann Jazz (all my Jazz are inexpensive), the P/J's are certainly more different - I even have one where the Jazz pup is active and the P pup not (a JP90).
And nothing else sounds like a Jazz or a P except P/J's, and L1000's, and they do both and more. As does the T-40. And I have a cuppla different basses (Tremor, Mercalli and Ray, etc.) with Musicman-type pups.

So much can be done with EQ-ing, compression, band-pass filters, overdrive, etc. pedals and amp coloration that "natural" differences in sound across basses can almost be ignored. In other words, PBasses, JBasses, Stingrays, Ricks can all be made to approximate each other, as far as it goes for 90-99 percent of the audience.

 

[Al T.]

I get by with 3 basses. Maruszczyk Elwood C with J/MM and flats,F-Bass BN-5 with Pressurewounds, and a 35 " scale Warmoth with Stringjoy nickels. Lots of different tones with active 5's and John East electronics.

 

[petermwright]

do you use era or genre-specific basses with the band?

It's a Sting and Police tribute band, and I use recreations/copies of basses Sting uses/has used. The '57 Precision (two of them), the white Spector NS-2, fretless Precision (red finish, circa 1980), Steinberger L2, and at some point the '62 Jazz.

 

[Wesley R]

do you use era or genre-specific basses with the band?







combo?

Yep, possibly a Markbass or Phil Jones

yeah, but what about a fretless, a 5 string, one to keep in an alternate tuning, a super short scale?

btw, i just got a 5 string that weighs 7.2 pounds, and my mini precision weighs just over 6 pou

 

[vvvmmm]

So much can be done with EQ-ing, compression, band-pass filters, overdrive, etc. pedals and amp coloration that "natural" differences in sound across basses can almost be ignored. In other words, PBasses, JBasses, Stingrays, Ricks can all be made to approximate each other, as far as it goes for 90-99 percent of the audience.

Absolutely!

Agree. 100%!

Go ahead and do it that way.

Mine is more fun.

 

[Snert]

My sincere apologies.

I do not believe they're sincere at all...

I went onto my store, opened a couple of cases and found our ancient Yamaha FG I'll string DADGAD to try. Not seeing the need for another 12 right now, especially as the one I'd like is very expensive.

For me, art is not found in a bass. The art comes from what I bring out of the instrument.

QFT.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I do not believe they're sincere at all...

I went onto my store, opened a couple of cases and found our ancient Yamaha FG I'll string DADGAD to try. Not seeing the need for another 12 right now, especially as the one I'd like is very expensive.

QFT.

Not sure what QFT means. But if it's an insult, I probably earned it. Have a nice day.

 

[Michedelic]

Did you ever see Walk Hard? If so, remember the scene toward the end where all of Dewey's kids come out of the woodwork to play catch? It's kinda like that.

 

[VeryTallBassist]

Not sure what QFT means. But if it's an insult, I probably earned it. Have a nice day.

Quoted For Truth. It was a compliment you earned.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Quoted For Truth. It was a compliment you earned.

'Thanks much.

 

[Kevan Campbell]

I'm up to eight instruments now, six of which are basses with one acoustic and one electric guitar in there too. I definitely have plans for more of all categories but I'm far more selective these days of what I purchase, even though two of my basses in the stable get 95% of my playing time.

In the past I got my stable up to 16 instruments with a lean more in the guitar side of things and would only purchase the most reasonably-priced version of what I needed, but between constant maintenance and having to move them to new homes repeatedly I decided that if I'm going to have a lot of instruments I have to really love each on that I own. For basses I have to have 5 strings, a thin neck (1.75" at the nut) and prefer to support smaller companies rather than large ones…this coincidentally does help to slow down my buying spree!

 

[JohnNash]

I have a four and a five string bass, one acoustic, and one electric guitar. When I have mastered these well I will allow myself a maximum of one more of each type. So I will let you know what I chose around 2045 lol.

 

[mongo2]

Too many is not enough and it's not enough to have too many.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

No definite number, your available "fun money" availability and desire for different options will dictate how many you want to buy.

I have my 4 basses, a Squier Strat, a Crafter Thinline acoustic that plays and sounds fantastic despite the horrible dog turd brown color, and an Epiphone acoustic that lives at our cottage. So 7, not too many.

 

[jamro217]

beside the emotion of the musician and the emotion one wants to evoke in the audience, scale length and tone also come into the equation, fretted and fretless, 4 and 5 string basses, and leaving one tuned to drop D.



actually i'm not sure, either.

to complicate that, i sold one last week, bought two, wanted to sell another one only to discover it has a frozen truss rod. and i have a set of pickups that don't yet have a bass...

"...based on a number of factors."