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Do you ever just sell off everything?

#41
Never everything but several times in my career I dumped loads of gear when life got difficult because lets face it you dont need 20 or 30 guitars 4 or 5 PA systems a ton of drums and lights,I have always kept just enough to be viable though because to sell everything in my mind is unthinkable
 
#42
I went through about 10 year hiatus of playing regularly so I scaled down to a Korean EB-3 copy (short scale so on those occasional jam invitations I didn't totally suck) and actually didn't have a bass amp. A few years ago friend have me a non-working Crate BX-100 head and 1-15 cab when I started playing again with a basement band. I take my stuff to Music-go-Round or another local 'wheel & deal" music store periodically to see what they have and swap/upgrade if I find something I like better. The Crate rig turned into a Peavey 410TVX w/Fender MX-80 head, and that has turned into a Peavey Sessionbass head with a Hartke Pro 220 2-12 cab.
I still have the EB-3 clone, but bought an SX short scale jazz which I then traded in on a Schecter Stiletto Studio-4.
 
#43
When I stopped playing in the mid 90s, I sold all of my stuff. It didn't take long before I began to regret my decision. When I decided to start playing again a few months ago, I had to start over from scratch with equipment.
 
#45
I got up to about 14 basses and one day walked into my music room, took a look around, and said, "What the heck am I doing?"

I've been going through a big sell off over the past year and have been getting back to basics. I don't think I'll ever get below owning 3 basses, but that's much more manageable than 14. I also downsized my rig from a 6x10 to a 2x12, and I've been getting much more picky in regards to my pedals.
 
#47
jmattbassplaya said:
I got up to about 14 basses and one day walked into my music room, took a look around, and said, "What the heck am I doing?"

I don't think I'll ever get below owning 3 basses, but that's much more manageable than 14.
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Sounds familiar. I went through so much gear I should have opened a music store. I finally had to get off the merry-go-round.

I still think it's great when people have large collections of guitars, basses, amps, etc. More power to them--I love looking at those collections.

For me, like you said, less is just easier to manage. I remember when I had more than a dozen guitars, basses, acoustics, etc. to me it was more of a chore than a pleasure keeping them all strung, maintained, stored properly, rotated in play, etc....
 
#48
JxBass said:
I collected vintage basses for years, several I knew I could never replace. Well, in time I sold every one of them (around 11-12). When the time came I had no regrets whatsoever. It had nothing to do with $; I owned them for a long time and it just felt right to have someone else enjoy them.
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Very nice and very thoughtful. Wish more people were like you!
 
#49
What I want to know is, how do people decide which instruments to sell?

For example, you have two different basses, similar resale value, and you're seriously attached to them both. But if you need to sell one to keep a roof over your head, how do you choose?
 
#51
There was a stretch in my life of about 8 years when I didn't play anything. Sold it all except for an Aria Pro II "The Cat Bass" I got in Germany years ago, an old Sabine tuner and a ratty gig bag. all amps, etc...gone.

Then got back into music at the urging of my spouse. Went through a serious G.A.S. phase where I purchased numerous basses including an upright, fretless, p and J basses, essex, ATK, ABG, Ibanez Prestige series, 5 string. Sold some, brought others with the proceeds. Started with a combo amp, moved on to separate components. Purchased many a pedal. Built a music studio and when I go up there it looks like a dang music store. The wife doesn't complain too much as I buy the gear from proceeds of the gigs. However, starting to think it's ridiculous. I run sound for the band and I really just want plug and play.
 
#52
Over the past year I sold about 15 really nice fx pedals and a huge pedal board, nyc Sadowsky 5, MM Bongo, Aggie DB750, Aggie GS412, 2 Aggie DB112s, Trace Elliot AH500X, Acme B2, SWR Workingman's 12, a few rackmount pieces, plus a few other things I can't even recall.

Of course, not being a minimalist I replaced it all with money from the sales, now I have a Carvin SB5000, a P5, Deluxe P5, Fretless Peavey Cirrus 5, Streamliner 900, Uber410 and NeoX212 cabinets. And I still had about $800 left over for the kids' college fund!
 
#56
For most of my professional career I only had one bass and usually had to to sell or trade it in order to buy another one. When I started making a living by another means I found I had enough money to buy whatever instrument I wanted but didn't have the time to play them.

I few years ago I sold off 8 basses, some I miss now. Now again I have way more basses AND guitars than I can play. Sometimes I feel guilty and think I should sell them but not too often.

Lately, I've been buying a lot of PA gear.

Gale
 
#57
If you're going to sell your collection, chances are you're going to hang onto one or two very special instruments. My philosophy is that those are the only ones you need. I will soon find myself with four basses and I'm thinking I might only wind up keeping the Peaveys (unless I get sentimental again and hang onto my classic first bass).
 
#60
I always have about 10 basses around here, and very often wish I could bust it down to a 4, a 5, and a fretless.

These last few years, I have come to see how having lots of things makes life more complex than it needs to be. The old "do you own things, or do things own you" question.

Problem is, I play them all, and when I play them, I am glad I have them. :)
 

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