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How many basses is too many?

im waiting for someone to vote 1 just to be sarcastic....

Yeah, I'm wondering who's ever going to do that on TB.

I think it depends a lot on who you are and what you want/need them for. The answer would really be that "too many" basses means "more than you actually use." IMO, if you're a recording pro or a rock star or something you may actually have a use for dozens of different basses. I know I don't. I've got two fivers, a four, and an ABG, plus non-bass instruments (an electric guitar, a mandolin, an acoustic guitar, and a keyboard). There's another four on the way, and I could see getting a fretless. But that is definitely pushing the limits of what a weekend warrior like me is actually going to pick up and play. More than that would just sit in cases unplayed, and I think that's a waste.

The guitarist in my new band has a large walk-in closet full - FULL! - of HSCs with all his guitars. There must be at least 30 in there, and I don't know how many more he may have around the rest of his house. That's his thing, so more power to him, but it seems off the wall to me - I have a hard time imagining that he regularly pulls those guitars out of the closet and plays them all.
 
To me, it all depends on money, taste, professional needs, so at the poll I voted for "never too many".
But there is the Real World: I have seven basses (plus one double bass, an EUB, my old classical guitar, my teenage-era electric guitar, some more stringed stuff, a digital piano, an alto and a tenor saxophones, and so on...), and my only answer is my wife answer: seven is enough, eight is too many.

Sad...
 
Depends. I think that once you get beyond about 5 or 6 basses then its no longer about musical need and becomes more about collecting. Being a collector is cool, but its not for me. I prefer to have one or two instruments and really bond with them. I don't like having instruments lying around unplayed.
 
If you have to rent space to store your gear...
or if you have to borrow money to buy a bass...
or if you cant afford the alimony or child support that will result if your wife who is threatening to divorce you follows through on the GAS related threat...
or you're seeing a shrink for GAS addiction.
Then you're probably near the threshold of having too many basses.
Until then... Buy, Buy, Buy!
Remember, you'll never know your limit until you've exceeded it.
 
I really like shoes.
So those sweeties that like shoes don't get any looks from me when they talk, shop & buy shoes.
In a relationship its share and share alike. Share the good & not so good and work through it.:)

To actually answer the question, what's too many?

Actually I think more than you can maintain is one too many. More than can get played is one too many.
 
Well you need your standards, like P, J, MM. Then you need your exotic/expensive one(s). Then you need your gigging basses, and recording basses. Then you need your extended range basses. Then your project basses. Then your laying-around-ready-to-play-already-plugged-in bass. Then your "it was on sale!" bass. Then your sentimental value basses. And after that, they all need back-ups.

exactly! :D
 
Well you need your standards, like P, J, MM. Then you need your exotic/expensive one(s). Then you need your gigging basses, and recording basses. Then you need your extended range basses. Then your project basses. Then your laying-around-ready-to-play-already-plugged-in bass. Then your "it was on sale!" bass. Then your sentimental value basses. And after that, they all need back-ups.

i can relate to chub 100%! i hit 27 and started with the frankensteins, kits, and now about 30. when i began losing count and memory, i decided to purge and now i have put a bunch up for sale. shedding a couple so far feels great. i think you can indulge all your fantasies in the 5-10 range.
i probably have 15 i wanna keep, and i do have maybe 12 of those set up and i do play them. just can't get enough time devoted to them.

my first mistake was finding this website. my second was getting a backup bass for every single type of different bass that i had. i have come to terms with my being a 'serial tweaker'. i just need less overall TO tweak.
 

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