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Herd Thinning?

I currently own 3. So few believe me but don’t understand how often I buy / sell / trade. I’ve cut back considerably. I’ve easily owned 300 basses in the past 10 years. Most I’ve had on hand is 5 to 12 at any time. Ironically before the past 10 years I owned the same 3 for about 12 years. 3 might be my number but I’m still after a fretless! Lol!
Funny thing about all that. Over about 45 years, I have sold or given away about five basses. So, if I have ten or eleven, it means I have still only owned fifteen or sixteen in all that time. Buy and hold, I guess. Plain old inflation means I would probably do no worse than break even if I sold them. And the fact that only one was bought new.

Of course, considering my lack of skill, practice time, and talent, one is probably too many. But they make me happy.
 
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I just sold my #3. I could sell my #2 but it's a parts bass and I'd get pretty little for it. I don't feel like parting it out right now, but maybe soon. I could easily have 1. Two is reasonable but beyond that it just feels like needless stockpiling.
 
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Fought that battle this morning, literally. I got the StingRay Classic out and took a bunch of pictures, put it on the scale—fully planning to upgrade my TB and get it on the classifieds. And then I made the mistake of plugging it in. And then laying down a track on a song I’m working on. Jeesh.

I don’t think I’ll ever not be a first-pick-up-the-P guy, but I’ll be danged if that Ray didn’t just sit beautifully in the mix. I mean, just because I can jack up the high EQ to that rarified point where it can cut glass doesn’t mean I have to. I saw the value in tastefully manipulating the ON-board EQ. I saw the value in the Ray.

I have 13 basses. I sure would like to get it down to 6 or so. I have do do it eventually, or it’ll end up somebody else’s problem. And as I look back, the number of songs I write and record in any one year seems inversely proportionate to the number of axes in my closet.
 
I've regretted selling by pretty much every bass I've ever sold, so now that I'm in a financial position to not *have* to sell one to buy one, I've decided that unless I already have a duplicate, no; lp thing goes. I've got 5 Spectors (including a Coda 5 jazz bass), a modded SBMM Ray25CA, and an EBMM Bongo5 HH. the only thing I could possibly want is a 5 string P bass and maybe a Ric 5??
 
I have to thin the herd for sure. My #1 is the Mike Lull J on the left. That's a Nash P on the right. In the middle is a 1978 fretless Fender P. But this doesn't show all the others ... these are the ones I want to keep.

I like bass guitars ... don't shoot me. I have a. bunch of others.

IMG_1748.jpg
 
I have 4 now but I think I may sell my l5000 because I rarely use it. I think I’d rather buy a short scale 5er at some point.

My other 3 are locked in. 3 is a lot of basses for me, personally.
 
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I have four that get regular playing but only one is a known brand. The others I made myself or were made for me so there’s no sense trying to sell them. I would never get what I think they are worth. I won’t bother selling the brand name bass. I like it and I play it so it stays. I’m not looking for any more basses. I have two old 4 string basses that are kept for sentimental reasons. Both are very good but they don’t get played. Still, I won’t sell them.
 
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Ive got 8. One on order. The more the merrier
I also have eight, because I just bought one. I'm selling one to pay for the one I bought. However, I might do a partial trade, so I may still have eight when all is said and done. And that number could be nine, because the tradee has two basses available, but if I did that I'd probably sell one of them. So then I'd be back to eight again.

@Dr. Cheese, do you have a video of your SB5000? I looked through your postings and didn't see one - but it wasn't a long search. I might have a trade offer for one, but I don't need another five string. Well, that's not true - I have three, but I'm selling one because I don't play it. So maybe I do actually need one more after I sell the one I have. But then again, maybe not...? :rollno:
 
I am good now.
Fretless Jazz types 1 4S (still needs to be assembled) and 1 5S
Fretted: 1 jazz - 1PJ (Jazz is currently for sale) 15S VM Squire
1 6 string -


Sold everything else, Except my first bass - fretless with a repair broken neck but that does not count. MY son plays too, He says he'll get 1 fretless and 1 fretted from the herd.
 
I currently own 3. So few believe me but don’t understand how often I buy / sell / trade. I’ve cut back considerably. I’ve easily owned 300 basses in the past 10 years. Most I’ve had on hand is 5 to 12 at any time. Ironically before the past 10 years I owned the same 3 for about 12 years. 3 might be my number but I’m still after a fretless! Lol!
Not to snarky, I'm actually curious, did you really play all 300 to any degree? Or just buy and flip?
 
I own 4 basses right now, but the most I've ever owned at once is 6. I'm very happy with my 4 as they all get played in different capacities. So I don't think I have any more herd thinning to do.

I only regret getting rid of one bass and that was my 1980 Ric 4001. I traded it for a 1972 Fender Jazz Bass that I traded for my 2022 Ric 4003 last fall. My new 4003 is heads and tails above the other two basses I had in its place beforehand, but the 4001 was my first Rickenbacker and I miss it.
 
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Back when I was a trumpet player and spent a while "not playing music" I had an Eston fretless acoustic bass which was later sold for financial reasons. I would buy it back in a flash.

I have had a Fender P for about 6 months and love it. I've had my Ibanez SR755 PJ for 5 or 6 years and love it. My Aria Sinsonido is the bass I take away with me when I work and takes up no space at all and it has more than paid for itself (great little bass actually). I have a Tivoli Instruments EUB with a BTS bridge piezo which is lovely but it is picky about the strings put on it (Tivoli was an Australian builder in Sydney who I believe has since moved on to other things). I have a Cort Acoustic I've had for 20 years and is going very soon in a big general cleanout. Over the years I've sold a BB series Yamaha and an MIA Jazz that weighed a ton and I miss neither.

I won't play more than 2 electric basses so there is no real point in having more (unless I'm away and take my Sinsonido as my travel bass). Its hard enough to decide which to play when there are 2. I won't say there won't be changes in my basses in the future, but like the Fender P that recently muscled its way into my life any bass that comes through the door will have to do something special or distinctly different for me. I guess I won't change basses for the sake of it.

Having great basses it is a matter of using them better; of developing my skills, improving my choice of notes and so the range of lines I have at my disposal; and improving my accuracy, so dropping notes exactly where I want them, making the timbre of every note "right" and playing without any string noise. When I do that right people (will) say, "Man, that's a great bass you've got there!"

And as things stand right now, they'd be absolutely spot on.:)