How do you feel with selling your basses?

[sam91]

Hey all - I've been pondering for a while now about selling one of my 70's p bass and get a jazz b instead to refresh my inventory (I own 3 p basses which each one has its own unique thing) - but for some reason, the thought of selling one of my basses that have been through a lot with me is very saddening...

How do you see about selling your basses? Does your bass is nothing but an instrument to serve your musical needs? or do you have any sentimental value to your instruments?

I think this question is even more relevant during COVID 19 era which a lot of musicians are having a rough time financially.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

 

[staurosjohn]

After joining TB, in 2010, I was ‘inspired’ to pursue options to my RIC (which was my sole bass- from age 15 until then)... I realized I preferred J necks w/single pups. It took awhile to part with ‘my buddy’- but opened up a whole new world of options! , now, have gone thru a myriad of basses- settled on various FrankenFenders- which really ‘fit’ what I want to feel & hear... would have never discovered all this (+ developing a working understanding of soldering, setups, etc.) without ‘taking the plunge’! I have bought & sold a few basses/items during the current Pandemic...

Here’s a pic-o-my-RIC (circa 1978ish) + a pic-o-my current FrankenFenders The RIC, basically, funded my ‘build excursions’

 

[PWRL]

I mainly think of them as tools, and have never been squeamish about letting something go. Really, I don't encourage that kind of thought, I think there should be a balance. There were a few things of which I shouldn't have been so lax about letting go.

 

[JimmyThunder]

as Homer Simpson said once..."possessions are fleeting"

I buy and sell a lot, hundreds in the past 10 years. I do regret trading away my first instrument and I have the presence of mind to hold on to my "#1" even when I'm not totally feeling it...the rest, they come they go they'll come again if they're good enough.

 

[Gustopher]

The cool thing is, since my basses have little to no resell value... it's not a worry, lol.

 

[Rob112]

There is sentiment to me. I have one I sold awhile ago(Warwick) that I still miss from time to time. I still think it was my best move at the time but I get attached haha

 

[equill]

The cool thing is, since my basses have little to no resell value... it's not a worry, lol.

Similar: I'm a fussy git, and my instruments are mostly either custom-made or customised, and either way there's sod-all resale value.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

I'm currently facing this dilemma. I'm trying to sell off some gear that has been sitting for years. When I used to play guitar I could almost (although falsely) justify having 13 - 15 guitars.

Now that I've switched over to bass, I've decided to sell off most of the old 6 strings. However, I seem to be having a difficult time of it. Add to that since most of them are FrankenStrats or modified in some way, I probably won't get much for them.

I don't have any answers.

 

[motornap]

Once I get attached to an instrument I will not let go. Might sound dumb, but they feel like physical extensions of my voice once I make the decision to keep one.

 

[Plectrum72]

They are tools. Mostly. I have one my wife gave me that I will never sell, both because it plays well and because it was a gift. Most of my other instruments tend to come and go after a year or three.

 

[sam91]

Here’s a pic-o-my-RIC (circa 1978ish) + a pic-o-my current FrankenFenders The RIC, basically, funded my ‘build excursions’

View attachment 3987747 View attachment 3987748

Cool! My 72' p is so similar to you white P!

Once I get attached to an instrument I will not let go. Might sound dumb, but they feel like physical extensions of my voice once I make the decision to keep one.

That's kind of what I feel for instruments I put good money and care into and having them with me for about a decade.

 

[ab2112]

I have only one that is truly sentimental to me and I wouldn't sell it under just about any circumstance. It's carried me through too many years of enjoyment and hard times and it wouldn't bring me more than a few hundred even if I did.

The rest are just interchangeable pieces in an ever-evolving hobby. If I'm not playing it, or if it can get me something else I want more, it goes.

I will add this, seeing so much loss across the country in the wake of natural disasters has influenced my thinking when it comes to possessions.

 

[bmusic]

It really varies for me. I may really like a bass for a while, and then one day I just disconnect from it and I'm ready to let it go.

I've listed things with no qualms and then felt a little pang when they sell, and a couple times in the last 6 months I've pulled things off the market when they start getting interested bites and I have a sudden rush of "What am I thinking??" Most notably, I've had a '65 Starfire on the block for several months. and around the time the lowball offers started inching up toward my asking, I put new tapewounds on it and started playing it a bit, and loving it, and I was like *yank*

Truthfully, if I had the space to keep every guitar and bass I ever sold, I might have kept them all. But certain things are finite, which I suppose is the sad fact that sits in conflict with every matter of the heart.

 

[BarfanyShart]

I donated my main DB to the local high school because I had not been playing for a few years, and I was spiritually distraught by the idea of that fine instrument moldering in my basement. I could not have brought myself to sell that instrument, which had been my best friend since I was a teenager, for money - but donating it was a good solution.

I admit I have a couple instruments that I will keep for sentimental reasons (great grandma's banjo, and a couple of instruments I used for a piece I wrote), but other than that, if I don't use it, I lose it.

 

[aprod]

If you need the money than do what you have to do. Otherwise keep them.

 

[Pings Bass]

I mostly don't want to sell mine because of the stress of listing and fielding calls. Of my many instruments, only a couple are worth much, and I'm just gonna hold those for posterity. All the midrange imports wouldn't be worth the hassle.

 

[mikewalker]

They are all expendable!
(Regrets, I have a few... )

 

[Valvehead]

I have been trading up for ages, buying and selling basses.
The stack I currently own has little cause for upgading anymore though so I am not thinking about selling much anymore... The Fodera seems to be kind of a holy grail.

But maybe someday I will put up the Warwick Dolphin and Zon Sonus 5 up for sale to get myself a nice Wal who knows...

 

[QweziRider]

Does your bass is nothing but an instrument to serve your musical needs? or do you have any sentimental value to your instruments?

Both, for me. now, there are a couple I will never sell. Far too much meaning to them. But all the rest over the years have had some level of sentimental attachment to them until I got cold hearted and put them in the tool category in my mind. I did not like selling them (even a couple recently), but I was over them by the next morning.

 

[garp]

I haven't had any real regrets about selling basses over the years. They were all liberated for good reasons.

I have only one that is truly sentimental to me and I wouldn't sell it under just about any circumstance. It's carried me through too many years of enjoyment and hard times and it wouldn't bring me more than a few hundred even if I did.

Same here. Except for one bass that's been with me now for 35 years since I bought it new, everything else can go.