Is your gear irreplaceable?

[bobyoung53]

I think I could replace everything with enough money and time, my 59 Ampeg Bassamp would be difficult to find, my Jazz is kind of uncommon it's a 1996 RI 62 3 knob version, was made for Japan even though it's American but as long as I could find another antique white Jazz I'd be happy. 70's SVT's are around, not cheap but they're out there. B-15S's and B-18's are out there, Ric 4001 and ric 4003FL's are out there too but the fretless is not common. EB-2's and EB-3's are also out there, Tony Franklin fretless's are available. I don't really own anything cheap but none of it is irreplaceable so I guess I'd be OK.

 

[bobyoung53]

I've got tons of rare stuff!

Graphite necked basses are uncommon enough, but where am I going to find another prototype collaboration between Ibanez and Modulus?
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These early 70's Rickenbackers with all their frets, pickups and bridge slanted at 11 degrees are pretty dang hard to come by.
It took me ages to even find a photo of one online like mine. I paid $270 for it in the late 90's. I don't think it would be so easy to buy now.
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What was the idea behind that? I like Rickenbackers but never heard of that before or if I did I just kind of glossed over it.

 

[Nunovsky]

Some of my basses would be dificult to replace. My Aria Pro II IGB805 from the 90's is hard to find. My 78 Antoria Precision fretless is also rare. My yamaha BB1024x had been discontinued but you can find some in the used market. My upright is one of a kind made by a local luthier.
The rest would be replaced more or less easyly.

 

[Nev375]

What was the idea behind that? I like Rickenbackers but never heard of that before or if I did I just kind of glossed over it.

It's very similar to the concept that fan frets are more ergonomic. The idea was that a guitarists fingers naturally fall at an angle of 11 degrees and so if the frets also matched this angle the guitar would be easier to play and chord. They built a few prototypes in the late 60's but according to a book I have on Ric's they started producing these in "about 1971" Mine dates from Dec 1970, so I guess mine was among the first in production. It was a custom option they offered that added $100 to the price of the instrument.

The idea never caught on on so they stopped offering it just a few years later. Not many were made.

Back then Ric was a very innovative company and they weren't afraid to try new things. They also once offered a comb-like gizmo on their 12 string guitars that would reach up and grab the octave strings and hold them down so the guitar could be converted to sounding like a 6-string at the flick of a lever. That didn't catch on either.

Every time I show it to a guitarist I just say "I have a very rare vintage Ric, would you like to see?" And I purposefully don't mention the slant frets. They ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS say. "Wow, this thing plays amazing! the action is so low and it feels real nice." THEN I ask them what they think about the slant frets and most of them hadn't even noticed it. Only ONE guitarist so far has said "Whoa, whats going on with the pickups and frets?" before he played it. Many of the others claimed they they thought there was something a bit unusual about it, but they didn't know what until I showed them. So based on that I conclude that It's definitely not any harder to play, and might possibly be legitimately easier, if only very slightly.

 

[gustophersmob]

My sole bass at the moment is a 2017 Gibson EB. Not hard to replace currently, other than my specific example weighs less than 7lbs. That part gets tougher.

My '96 Gibson J-45 acoustic has sentimental value, but otherwise not hard to find another.

My mid 50's Martin concert ukulele is a bit tougher to find (compared to the much more common soprano size), but still many out there.

Everything else; amps, pedals, other instruments are all common and readily available.

 

[Stumbo]

It'd be a real PITA to replace a lot of my gear. Actually, pretty much all of it.
- Sunn 2000s
- Sunn 2o00s
- Sunn 1200s
- Sunn 2000s 2x15 w/ JBL D140s
- Sunn 2000s 2x15 w/ JBL K140s
- Sunn 2000s 2x15 w/ JBL E140s
- Marshall JTM 45/100 (only 250 of the 2005 reissue)
- 1962 Gibson EB-3
- 1997 Rickenbacker 4001v63
- 2007 Fender '62 AVRI Precision (beyond even just the sentimental value)
- 2012 Fender '62 AVRI Jazz w/ Daguet Guitars Dagstar pickup
- 1978 Greco Thunderbird II
- 2007 Gibson Zebrawood Thunderbird (only 400 made)

Those would be the hard ones. The Sunns because, obviously, they aren't made any more, and prices keep creeping up. The Marshall because there's only 250 of them (I also love making guitar players angry). The EB-3 because they are prohibitively expensive nowadays (especially the early Black bakelite pup ones, thank you broken headstock). The AVRIs because even they are becoming a really bugger to find. The Rick because they're getting pricier. And the Greco because they aren't terribly common any more. Overall, it'd be easier to replace my basses, at least most aren't old and have newer equivalents. The amps and speakers would be the real nightmare. There's a number of Sunns up on Reverb and eBay, but their prices keep going up, it's harder and harder to find the deals I got on mine. Things would be prohibitively expensive.

Nice collection. Who do have insuring them? Rate?

 

[micahwc]

None of my stuff is valuable, but most of it is not something I could find easily. A '99 Fender MIM Jazz bass isn't particularly valuable, but finding one from that year would be hard; and I've put a lot of work into mine that would have to be redone. I could build another Warmoth but it wouldn't be exactly the same. The P bass clone I started with in 1997 would be difficult to find although when they are available they go for about $50, but again I would have to put a lot of work into it to get it how the one I have is.

 

[D.M.N.]

Nice collection. Who do have insuring them? Rate?

None at the moment, don't have the disposable income, probably need to sell some of that kit anyways. I have looked at insurance though, if I recall to cover everything it was only about $200 a year or something, which really isn't bad at all, but with student loans and rent it can be hard to scrounge enough away.