GAS vs. Motivation vs. Downsizing

[brianrost]

Yeah, that is basically it. The purchasing/upgrading project seems to be what excites me
...
External stimulus helps a lot, vs. having the perennial difficulty in just getting started on my own.

Find someone (anyone) to play with. That was what kick started me 45 years ago. Sat in a garage with the guitarist showing me what notes to play and then jamming on Chuck Berry songs for hours. A year later my new college roommate was a banjo player and along with a beginning guitarist who lived across the hall we would play bluegrass all night long. After graduating, I moved to Boston and within a few months found a new band and was off to the races.

 

[wiscoaster]

....The purchasing/upgrading project seems to be what excites me....

Nothing wrong with that, nothing at all. I'm somewhat in the same camp. It's the instruments themselves I'm most attracted to. Making music with them is kind of a side attraction. I do like to play and I do try to play every day. It's really the only way to make progress proficiency-wise, it's not like a modding project that you can put aside for weeks, and if I'm not making progress on something I want to achieve, I get bored with it.

 

[Kaa]

If purchasing and upgrading things is really what you like, then keep doing it. Just do it with projects you can sell to fund your next project. As for the basses you have, I, personally, am a minimalist. I have 2, I don't need more. I like to fantasize about expensive basses, but, I categorize them in the same way as exotic cars. Cool and fun to look at, and dream about, but, really, what the heck would I do with it in real life?

Buy cheap basses, fix/mod them, then sell them. As long as you keep your investment low, and can cover your costs, congrats, you are now an amateur luthier. Go hang in "Luthiers Corner", amongst your kin. Lol.

As for the current stock of stuff, find one or two you really like, sell the rest.

 

[wiscoaster]

....Just do it with projects you can sell to fund your next project. .... Buy cheap basses, fix/mod them, then sell them. As long as you keep your investment low, and can cover your costs, congrats....

Hmmmm .... given the market for used instruments, covering your costs is pretty iffy, and getting anything for your time is absolutely nil. This is something to do for personal satisfaction and enjoyment, not return on investment, IMO.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

This has probably been said but work is slow and you did ask:

I know I'm not the only person here who wavers between obsessing about Their Next Bass, Which Will Be Perfect™, and contemplating selling everything and sticking the money into their house or 401k or whatever.

Since you know that the next bass will not be "perfect", I think you can safely throw that line of thinking onto the ash heap of Failed Philosophical Ideas. If you truly are going to quit playing then your second proposition is the correct decision. Just man up, unload, and move on. There is nothing wrong with helping ensure your future helping pay off enormous debt or saving money.

I'm in such a valley at the moment. I recently went through obsessively partscaster-ing some guitars, upgrading a couple of very nice Fujigen-made basses, rebuilding my bass and guitar pedalboards, and...once that was completed, I realized I've just been upgrading-and-trading in a constant cycle, yet haven't actually been motivated to play at all. For years.

It sounds like the second option that you have proposed is where you are actually headed.

One side of this debate: Sell everything, walk away, stop digging myself into a financial hole for the privilege of temporarily owning some nice instruments.

At this point, you are a "Bass Collector" and not a "Bass Player". What do you want to be? Both? Neither?

The other side of that debate: Get just one quality, stock bass to practice and explore my own sound, keep one guitar, maybe get a Bass VI style instrument down the road, but either way, keep them for at least 5 years before I decide what to do with them.

Still a "Bass Collector" but with long-term plans.

(On that note, the bass I'm considering would be the Ibanez EHB1005SMS (short multiscale). I think it hits everything I've been looking for - ergonomics, light weight, shorter scale, and most of the demos I've heard are pretty fantastic. I might be actually motivated to practice, especially learning to navigate a low B.)

Thoughts?

No. No, you won't.

"Better gear will motivate me" does not work any more than "Better gear will make me a better player". Do you want to play? Then play using what you already have. Do you want to play better? Spend your money on becoming a better player.

 

[vindibona1]

Well said. I don't think I've ever owned a super-expensive bass - though there are ones I should have held onto which you only know in retrospect.

A couple more things that I didn't say in my other lengthy reply.
Not too may years ago, when I was mainly a trumpet player (actuually not actively playing guitar and bass at the time) I had a pretty good collection of used trumpets. Nothing cheap, and only one "boutique" Bb. Over time. while was moderate, and interest wasn't depressed by the Fed, they seemed to gain in value and when I sold off all that I didn't need, the PROFIT from them paid for half my guitar collection.

I was wondering what attraction or benefit was there to spending more than $1500 or $2000 on a bass? All of my basses, with a little refinement played very well and sounded pretty good. What I played in the standard Fender line didn't impress me and I was pretty proud to own sub $1000 basses that IMO rivaled more expensive ones. And then I found THE ONE. It was expensive. Far more than I ever dreamed for a bass [though I have a couple Taylor acoustics that rival it in price, but can't equate the two. Go figure?]. Not a single second of regret, but it's so hard to see my other basses on the wall that I'm attached to getting litttle playing time. I think to myself "I think I'll take that one this Friday"... Only seconds later to pick up my new bass, play a few licks and change my mind.

 

[Kaa]

Hmmmm .... given the market for used instruments, covering your costs is pretty iffy, and getting anything for your time is absolutely nil. This is something to do for personal satisfaction and enjoyment, not return on investment, IMO.

Not meant for ROI, meant to have an enjoyable time spent doing something he likes, just not losing money doing it.

 

[wiscoaster]

Not meant for ROI, meant to have an enjoyable time spent doing something he likes, just not losing money doing it.

IMO, money spent pursuing creative activities in part to produce enjoyment, achievement, and satisfaction is money well spent, never "lost". If some income can be achieved by the tangible results of such activity, then all the better. But a realistic approach to that part is prudent. I'm happy with the first part.

 

[BluBasPlr]

For me it's a hobby. Just so happens to be a multifaceted hobby. First I was a player and hadn't played in 20 years. I stopped playing out when my son was born due to time demands. In 2017 decided to get a bass and amp. It's been a fun ride since. I now play more days than not, and play with some guys a coupe times a month. At the same time I have accumulated 43 basses and 7 amps, and 7 cabinets. Also, I have several projects in the works. A Frankenstein bass, and two cabinets to restore (65' Ampeg B15, and a 68' Ampeg B15). As a secondary benefit, if I can have a hobby enjoy the playing, the collecting, the projects and have it retain its value, its a win, win, win, win. Of my total outlay, and current values I'm up at least 25% or about 4% year. In the end if you enjoy it do it; doesn't matter player, collector, amateur luthier.

 

[Chris_will_do]

I've bought 5 basses in the past 28 years and still have all of them. And sold my nineties Ampeg B3 combo to replace by an GRbass head and cab. My back loves that decision.