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Do you have a sentimental attachment to your basses?

HankHillWaluigi

HankHillWaluigi

May 2, 2015
312
465
#1
I currently have two basses: an SX 5 string and a Fender Jazz 62 RI. Of the two, the Fender gets all the playtime and the SX just kinda... sits there. I think the only reason I'm holding onto it is because it's the first bass I bought with my own money and that it has a great grain in the ash and a good sound. However, I feel like I'm doing it a disservice and that some kid just starting out could have a great bass from the get-go. This sentimental attachment isn't helping me, but I feel like I'd get over it but I can't bring myself to sell it at the time. I've been eyeing a Fender Road Worn P for some time and selling it could help me with that purchase, but I digress.

How about you guys? Got any sentimental attachments?

On a side note, pics or it didn't happen, right?
IMAG0134.jpg
 
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#2
I've got 9 basses. Some i like more than others,but sentimental attachment-? Nah.
And i've never felt that way about (most) possessions in general.
I have a few worthless things i've kept because they were from passed relatives,so that's about it.
I did buy a bass with an inheritance windfall a few years ago,but i'm not particularly attached to the bass.

I did buy a bass from a friend a while back,who needed money at the time. I could tell he was very conflicted about selling it,because he bought it at a momentous time in his life. It turned out i didn't really like it,and i made steps to get it back to him,which felt really good (for both of us).
 
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#3
I have a sentimental attachment to my 2 basses because I built them myself and LOVE everything about them....I even sold my "expensive" basses and I don't care.
Now do I still get GAS for a couple of other basses...sure thing...but that is another topic.
 

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#6
I own (and have owed) a lot of instruments (not just basses). To me, they are tools to get the job done. However, there are only two that I have sentimental meaning. My 1915 York & Sons Valve trombone that was owned by my Great-grandfather. The other is my Fender Precision Lyte Deluxe. It was the first bass I bought with my own money. It wasn't new, but I worked my butt off selling Christmas trees to raise the money. It got me through many gigs, I won some competitions with it, and was one of the basses I used when I was accepted into Berklee.
 
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#7
Nine years ago I sold my Jetglo Rick for $900 and bought a Fender Jazz and it's the only bass I own. I don't think I'll ever sell it because it has the kind of serious road wear/character scars you just can't sell. The neck is worn, the finish is completely stripped, only one of the tuning pegs is an original silver one and the other three are black.

I don't want to compare it to Jaco's Bass of Doom but I'm comparing it to Jaco's Bass of Doom. Maybe I'll call it the Bass of Dumb.

Btw do any of you guys name your bass? I've never understood that. Kind of creepy in my opinion.
 
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#8
39-Bassist said:
I have a sentimental attachment to my 2 basses because I built them myself and LOVE everything about them....I even sold my "expensive" basses and I don't care.
Now do I still get GAS for a couple of other basses...sure thing...but that is another topic.
Click to expand...
Double P=Doubledrooldrool


I only have one bass, so yes, it's a sentimental possesion. When I purchase a new bass with my own money, that will be a sentimental object too.
 
#10
I'm attached to my NOS 64 jazz that's been my #1 for about 8 years. It's pretty special to me. I guess I'm also still attached to my 69 tele that was my #1 before the Jazz came along.

The tele has been in the case for about a year, and hasn't seen much playing time for many years before that... I've flirted with selling it, but have never quite been able to pull the trigger.

Other basses have come and gone without a thought.
 
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#11
Some of my past basses were difficult to part with but I got over it. My most recent was giving my Dano Longhorn to my Granddaughter. It really wasn't difficult because its family and she took an interest in bass so I was happy to give it to her, but I miss it sometimes.
 
#13
A lesson in quasi-materialism

See my post regarding sentimentality. While I am fond of the various traits and features of my basses, I try not to get too attached. I had to say goodbye to a lovely Schecter six-string and a stunning MIM Fender Jazz Bass to fund the purchase of my first MIA Precision. Later, I sold a fretless Ibanez I had for six years, signed by some of my favorite artists because the bass itself never got play time.

It wasn't fun, but you just gotta move on sometimes.
 
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#14
So far I think I have more of an attachment to these La Bellas. They're just about 10 weeks old now. I keep talking about replacing them with a set of Precision flats, but it's just talk.

I'm mulling over another name for this bass. The first name didn't stick for more than a day or two.

Maybe Vandella. Big Martha Reeves fan here.

In the meantime there are these five strings to name. George, George, George, George, and George. Can't replace 'em now. It's personal.

I don't think naming inanimate objects is creepy. My parents called their first car Elmer. With time he became Old Elmer, after New Elmer came along. Old Elmer was a rustbucket.
 
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#16
I too have a closet case bass that I refuse to move on a low level Ibanez. First bass I bought new and have more hours of playtime on than any other bass. It has little value in the open market so its just worth more to me than I could get for it. I'm not much for sentimentality but I guess this is the one thing I have a fondness for. Maybe one day I will mod it and get it back into heavy rotation, so it may have a second life. It is without a doubt the most stable basses I have ever owned, one truss rod adjustment in 15 years and hardly ever goes out of tune.
 
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#18
Two, maybe three. My first two basses are cheap, but I've had them over 25 years so I can't really part with them even if they just sit in the closet. I have a TA-600 that I had to work really hard to find, and I have a Lakland I love the look of even if I'm constantly having trouble get just the right tone out of. Those would be hard to sell, but not impossible.
 
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#20
Sure, to a point. I still have my first bass, but my friend was borrowing it for about 5 years. It was nice to get it back, but I wasn't dying without it.

And I still have one of the two jazz basses I did lots of gigging with in the 2000s. Sold one to pay rent or something. I'll probably hang on to the other for a long time unless a worthy cause demands that it changes hands. It's a super cool, albeit pretty beat-up '68 jazz with a '74 neck. Could definitely use a pro setup... Maybe a little fret work.

Then I have a '92 Squier P that I got for $50, with an SKB case. great deal on a very cool bass! It was loaned to a student for a year or more. Glad it's back, but I wasn't missing it too much.

Then the basses I currently gig with: a Yamaha BB425X and a fretless Douglas Sculptor 5... and a nice student model upright on loan to me. These, at present, are the ones I'd miss most... but that's because I'm using them the most.

I've gone through lots of basses. The ones I have now will probably be with me forever, but they all serve me in different ways. I don't feel like I need any more now. All bases (basses?) are seemingly covered for what I do. But then again, evolution. :)

Sentimental attachment? A little, but not completely.
 

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