Is your gear irreplaceable?

[Relsom]

It's not that there are things that are irreplaceable, it's just that I'll likely not be able to justify the expense of another Kubicki ExFactor or USA NS2. All the rest, Fenders, Peaveys, MMs, RICs, individually, are within my comfort zone to buy again if I had to, though some are out of production and might be hard to locate.

 

[klejst]

Other then sentimental value and the fact that it is mine and not like the others, all of my gear could be replaced. On used outlets it still all can be found.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Everything is replaceable if I had an endless supply of money, but I don't.

As much as I love my thumb NT6 modded by the previous owner with Delano pickups and Audere pre. I could see a custom shop Warwick replacing it. But that would also be rediculously expensive. And while I could charge it my wife would probably murder me in my sleep. Lol

All my other gear is pretty inexpensive in comparison and not terrible difficult to find.

Im really digging everything right now. I find when I am shopping for gear these days it's really just for accessories and a cheaper backup bass. I think I've gotten to a point where I'm not really looking for something better so if something did happen to my gear I'd likely buy the same stuff.

 

[bassbully]

I have a P bass that could not be replaced. It's not even worth much since it's a Fender and Squier build but it plays like a dream and has that vintage old school sound. It's the best sounding P I have ever played worth 200 bucks if that....priceless (almost) to me.

 

[Wfrance3]

I voted for "could replace my gear easily" but that's only because gone is gone. No reading to fixate on it. I do have a couple of irreplaceable
Items, but no matter what's gone I'd figure out something. There's always somebody who can play twice as good with half as much, so I would just make peace with that and move forward.

 

[spiritbass]

Sheldon doesn't 'do' chambered bodies on his Super J's anymore so I could replace my five-string but it wouldn't be quite the same. It wouldn't have such a cool top either. There's only one other Super J/P4 like mine (that I know of) out there, but its owner probably wouldn't sell it to me. The amps & cabs I use are still in production, so no sweat there...

 

[PWRL]

Only my Warwick would be difficult to replace. I've yet to see another one like it. The rest is pretty standard, though.

 

[skwee]

They don't make my bass anymore (Japanese Fender Jag Deluxe), so it would take some time and effort to replace, I'm sure.

 

[Old Blastard]

I've got 15 basses and four would be nearly impossible to replace. They are Andrew Drake customs and I could get him to make new ones, I suppose. I've seen similar basses to what I own in TB classifieds so I know it's possible. My Genz Benz Contour 500 might take some searching.

I'd probably take the insurance $ and start over.

 

[tycobb73]

I have a streamer bolt on bass. Cherry body, unfinished maple neck. Only saw 3 including mine for sale in the 10 years or so I've had it.

 

[Gord_oh]

1. Custom Warmoth Jazz: difficult to rebuild exactly if needed
2. Fender MIJ Marcus Miller Jazz: discontinued by Fender
3. Ibanez 105EX: gift from Dad for birthday
4. Custom build head and cab: father in law made me for birthday/Christmas
5. Hartke HA1200: eBay find, father in law rebuilt for me

Most everything I have is pretty custom other than my MM jazz, which I plan to give to me son someday. Everything I have is very sentimental which is hard to put a price on.

 

[InhumanResource]

Yamaha no longer makes my bass. Luckily, they were inexpensive, and mass produced. Modeled similarly to an active Fender Jazz, I assume. The BB604s I see go up for sale don't seem last long. They are one of the few basses that were offered with sweepable midrange stock. As time goes on though, trying to find one could get worse with the lack of production. I might not see that in my lifetime though.

Replacing everything else wouldn't be a problem since they are current production. Overall, I'd say my gear is uncommon but replaceable.

Cool topic for a thread, OP.

Dude... Couldn't be less related, but is your avatar a character from NES "Fifa international soccer"?

 

[bherman]

Only have one - 59 P bass that I bought nearly 50 years ago for $50 (I was 13 if you want to do the math). Been with me through everything.

 

[bobba66]

No.

 

[ihixulu]

The only gear that is irreplaceable is my fingers. Other than that, I'm sure I'd cobble together a toolkit that allows me to play happily should I lose all my gear.

 

[Blackjac97]

All of my basses are hard to replace due to either sentimental reasons or genuine rarity.

Johnson P Bass knock off - first bass ever, given to me by my parents for Christmas

Rick 4003 Mapleglo - First real bass, worked very hard to save money to buy while in high school.

Vintage Gretsch 6072 - Rare

Vintage Fender Jazz, 1966 - Blocked and bound neck w/ lollipop tuners. Difficult to replace due to both rarity and cost.

Epiphone Thunderbird, Pelham Blue Metallic - Rare color

Kramer Forum IV - Probably the least rare, least expensive, least sentimentally attached bass in my collection. Still don't see them come up too often though. Killer bass.

Ibanez BTN686 Terra Firma - No longer in production, considerably rare used.

Squier Classic Vibe 60's P bass - Near impossible to find used anymore, people don't want to give them up cause they're amazing. I really lucked out to get mine at a fair price, I would probably have to pay over double what I paid to replace it.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Reading the tale @Mantis Tobaggan related about his hurricane experience last weekend got me thinking a bit. It's unlikely I'll need to flee a hurricane in Missouri, but my gear could be damaged, lost or destroyed in other ways. And reflecting on how I'd have to go about replacing all of it made me curious about how other TB folks stack up: if you lost your gear but got insurance money for it, could you easily replace it with stuff that would be the same or better?

Personally, my basses wouldn't be that hard to replace. The Rickenbacker 4003 and the Rick Turner Ren4FL would be pretty easy, though I'd miss the discontinued ruby red color on the 4003. My 4004Ci would be a bit harder to replace, but a 4004Cii could do the job (I would miss the 4004Ci neck profile). As far as amps and cabs go, the Verellen Meatsmoke preamp is still produced and the Mesa Powerhouse 112 cab has a close equivalent in the Mesa Subway 12. The difficult part would be replacing my Mesa Buster 15 combo. There aren't many of them out there, and the combo of the amp and cab really is special, at least to my ears. So other than the glorious-sounding boat anchor tube combo, I could get my setup back pretty easily if insurance paid up. What about you?

I could replace my DNS-410 cabinet fairly easily as they are still being made - expensive, but available. I would have a tougher time replacing my Jazz Bass as it is the ONLY Jazz Bass I've handled that has a neck that feels the same as my 1965 Jazz did. I should still be able to have one made though it would probably be a 1-off. The neck shape is from 1965 but this is a maple neck instead of the maple neck with the rosewood fretboard that was on my '65. Plus, I really like having an Olympic White bass with white pickup covers and white stratocaster-type knobs on it and white binding on the neck.

Just checked out the Fender "Custom Shop" and their 1962 relic isn't even close - I don't want a relic anyhow. They say it has a 9.5" radius on the neck (not available in the 60's). My '65 had and my current Jazz has the 7.25" radius fretboard. Further they talk about the "U" shaped 60's neck and that is way off. That stupid U shape didn't happen until 1966. I remember thinking how cool that 1966 Jazz looked with the bar markers. Was wondering how much they'd give me on a trade in for my '65. Then I pulled the '66 off the wall and played a couple of things on it. I put it back on the wall thinking, "thank God I don't have that bass, that's terrible". The only thing I could think of was that CBS was trying to save money on the bass by using inferior wood for the neck and making it thick so it would hold up. That was the U-shaped neck that I compare to a baseball bat because it's so thick. I would call the neck on both my Jazz basses as a shallow C - about half as thick as the letter C.

So looks like I might have some trouble getting my bass built, but I think I can still get it done. I know they still have the specs for the '65 neck and know I can get one built to spec elsewhere if I want, but that just wouldn't be the same.

 

[BAG]

I've got a Warmoth fretless neck and a fretted neck. They would not be impossible to replace but to get two necks that are as nice would be difficult and costly. I bought them both second hand and the fretless was almost a basket case. I spent $500 (Aud) having the fingerboard leveled and epoxied, the mounting holes drilled and doweled, the 20 or so holes from previous tuners filled and the entire neck refinished. It is by far the nicest neck i've ever played. So much so that I got the same luthier to roll the edges and frets of the fretted neck. That cost me $250 so all up they've cost me around $950. I've priced similar necks from Warmoth shipped to Australia and to get both would set me back around that muche but they would most likely need more spent on them to get them to what I have now. To be honest, the fretboard edges and finish on them were average at best. So yeah, i'd class them as very difficult to replace.

Just about everything else would be replaceable but i'd have to spend a LOT more than I paid for most items.

Fender Blacktop Jazz: A bit "thin on the ground" since their discontinuation two or three years ago, but not impossible to replace.

I've got one that might be for sale soon.....

 

[jcerio]

I might have a bit of a pain finding and replacing my Czech-made MTD Kingston Grendel and my Korean-made MTD Kingston Z-5. I also have fretless and fretted Fender Prophecy II basses that would be a bit of work to find, too. But my amp, wireless, effects, and so on wouldn't be all that difficult.

 

[Malak the Mad]

I've got one that might be for sale soon.....