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Basses you love but won't/don't use

W

Wadge

Oct 24, 2003
1,128
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Malta (small island in the Med
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#1
It has occurred to me that I have a really well made late 70's precision at home which I hardly ever play but will most certainly never sell. Nothing wrong with it, except that I tend to favour other basses over it and it I don't find it suitable for some of the stuff I do. Even for rock gigs, I take my Toby which will soon be replaced by the Sadowsky (when it gets here .....must be patient).

There is nothing wrong with the precision though, and as precisions go its a great bass. I'll also never sell it firstly because it was my first good bass, when I play it, it feels like I'm playing an old friend, and I think there may be a time in the future when I'll need that sound.

Anyone feel the same like me with their loved but unplayed basses.
 
#3
My Fatdawg Danelectro Longhorn hollow-body (gift from my wife 4 years ago). Just got it set up, plays great, ready to gig, but I still end up taking the Fender Jazz or the ESP.

I guess it's the weather, & concerns about the hollow body taking temperature extremes, plus my rig packs pretty tight in the car trunk. I expect I'll use it more come spring.

Maybe a pickup upgrade? To a Darkstar?

upb_2005_sm.jpg
 
#4
Baird6869 said:
My Geddy Lee Jazz. I wanted that bass for so long and now it just sits in a case. I wouldn't sell it as it sounds/plays amazing but my SR and Sadowsky are getting played these days.
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You should check out my thread in the Classifieds.

I have an EBMM Sterling that although I love the feel of it I just don't and won't play it. Super fast neck but the sound just isn't quite what I want. I use my Rics. So I threw the Sterling into the classifieds to see what might happen.

Beautiful bass.
 
#8
I used to have an 80's p-bass special that I never played (maybe 5 times total). I had bought it for a song after my Jazz bass had been stolen (the one signed by Geddy) and I needed a bass quick for a gig. Everything was perfectly fine with it, it sounded alright but it just didn't speak to me. I eventually sold it.
 
#9
Wadge said:
It has occurred to me that I have a really well made late 70's precision at home which I hardly ever play but will most certainly never sell. Nothing wrong with it, except that I tend to favour other basses over it and it I don't find it suitable for some of the stuff I do. Even for rock gigs, I take my Toby which will soon be replaced by the Sadowsky (when it gets here .....must be patient).

There is nothing wrong with the precision though, and as precisions go its a great bass. I'll also never sell it firstly because it was my first good bass, when I play it, it feels like I'm playing an old friend, and I think there may be a time in the future when I'll need that sound.

Anyone feel the same like me with their loved but unplayed basses.
Click to expand...


I have a similar 78 P, that is in darn near mint shape. I play 5s exclusively, but this one will never leave my posession. It was a surprise christmas gift from my lovely wife. She heard me talk, ad nasuem, about my long lost 78 P that I had in High School. She went out and hunted one down on the interweb, it is an exact duplicate of what I had. Think white/black guard/rosewood, like Sid Vicous used to use. This one is so unplayed that the color from the case lining has actually bled onto the finish in several spots. It must have sat in it's case for years. I couldn't have done better myself.

I also have a 55-94 white/birdseye/duncan p'ups that I got, from her, for our 10th anniversary. It was also a surprise, and she knew enough NOT to get a model with Barts, all on her own. Our 20th comes up in 3 years. My latest lust object is a Sadowsky P, PJ, 5 string. I can't wait to see if she follows her "normal" pattern :hyper: I would never ASK for something like that. God I love this woman. I'm so lucky, on many levels, to have her. :D
 
#11
I traded a MM Stingray 4 to StereoJoe for a G&L L-1000 fretless(which needs work).
The stingray was a gorgeous bass but I just didn't play it. I actually went back to my Kramer Focus 7000 from the 80's which just feels great. Something about those Japanes instruments from that time period. I do have a 20 yr old set of EMG PJ's in it though. I just love that PJ sound on steroids. Growly!
 
#12
I'm just fickle. I'll play whatever whenever the mood strikes me. I've been playing my crappy Fender lately for no good reason while the Ric sits at home. Maybe it's that the Daphne blue matches the guitards strat, or it could be the completely different, yet charming tone. I'm sure I'll start gigging the Ric more in future.
 
#13
I have an ESP parts Pbass from the days before ESP made anything but parts. One of the nicest P basses I've ever played, but I play fretless exclusively these days so it just sits in it's stand most of the time. I do pick it up on rare occasions and slap it around a bit, but I never want to sell it.
 
#19
Wadge said:
...I don't find it suitable for some of the stuff I do....
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Just a point to ponder...and please know that I am a PROFESSIONAL - ENGINEER, not musician.:smug:

So that's probably a big part of my attitude.

I guess I don't understand the "this instrument is suitable for this style but not that style" thing. I wonder if it is more a function of perception than reality. Not that perception isn't important - some would say that there is no reality beyond perception...but I digress.

Is it possible that the subtleties of tone, or whatever other parameters you might care to include in what a specific electric bass instrument brings, are actually lost on anyone else other than the player?

Me, I cannot tell a Fender Jazz from a Precision by hearing. There are too many variables at play - stock or custom electronics, passive or active, pickup balance, not to mention amplification. The perceptive subtleties are beyond my ability to notice - and I'm more in-tune than the typical listener.

I think the aesthete inevitably reads more into such subtleties than even the educated (non-aesthete) listener can possibly perceive.
 
#20
I would tend to agree. Many of us are on a never ending search for that perfect tone. Generally speaking, our audiences only hear the songs we play, as a whole. The sweet nuances we carefully craft into our music is totally lost on them. Not that it would stop my personal quest for the perfect tone, but I do realise that 99.99% of the audience doesn't care one bit. I play for the .01%, and myself.
 

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