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Not playing anymore with expensive bass

OptimalOptimus

OptimalOptimus

Jan 4, 2019
1,339
1,773
Canada
#1
Hello everyone,

I don't really play music anymore. Found other things to do with my limited time between chores and family time.

I have this beautiful Spector Euro 5LT that I barely play. Like an hour a month at best for the past 2 years.

Since we are in more difficult time with money and all, I feel like selling it and get something cheaper and bank the rest. But I feel like I won't find something else as satisfying to play when I feel like playing it a little.

Other people did go through something similar ?
 
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#4
OptimalOptimus said:
Hello everyone,

I don't really play music anymore. Found other things to do with my limited time between chores and family time.

I have this beautiful Spector Euro 5LT that I barely play. Like an hour a month at best for the past 2 years.

Since we are in more difficult time with money and all, I feel like selling it and get something cheaper and bank the rest. But I feel like I won't find something else as satisfying to play when I feel like playing it a little.

Other people did go through something similar ?
Click to expand...

@JRA

Sure, many of my bass player friends have gone that route, often quite happily.
 
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#5
I can’t see myself giving up my Lull and Stingray, even if I were forced into retirement from playing. Financially, I think I’ll be good if and when I stop working, but of course. Never say never.

If you don’t need the funds from the sale of the more expensive bass, I’d wait for a while and see how you are feeling in a few weeks.
 
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#6
OptimalOptimus said:
Hello everyone,

I don't really play music anymore. Found other things to do with my limited time between chores and family time.

I have this beautiful Spector Euro 5LT that I barely play. Like an hour a month at best for the past 2 years.

Since we are in more difficult time with money and all, I feel like selling it and get something cheaper and bank the rest. But I feel like I won't find something else as satisfying to play when I feel like playing it a little.

Other people did go through something similar ?
Click to expand...
So many good inexpensive basses these days you can't go wrong, even for less than $500.
 
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#8
OptimalOptimus said:
Hello everyone,

I don't really play music anymore. Found other things to do with my limited time between chores and family time.

I have this beautiful Spector Euro 5LT that I barely play. Like an hour a month at best for the past 2 years.

Since we are in more difficult time with money and all, I feel like selling it and get something cheaper and bank the rest. But I feel like I won't find something else as satisfying to play when I feel like playing it a little.

Other people did go through something similar ?
Click to expand...
Selling it for about what you're going to spend to buy a cheap one, doesn't sound like a winning scenario to me.
 
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#9
If you need the money, you need the money and you can certainly get a less expensive instrument and put the remaining money from a sale towards something your family needs.

Personal story, I did that when I retired from gigging - sold what at the time was a pretty expensive bass to fund some beginning of adult life/career type things. I think in the end I personally regret it, but only because about 7 years later life opened back up for more playing and to buy the bass that I'd sold the price had more than doubled. While I acknowledge that was a pretty unique situation involving a Dingwall Z2 6 string, it was no longer in the realm of reasonable to purchase another of those basses.
 
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#11
OptimalOptimus said:
I feel like selling it and get something cheaper and bank the rest. But I feel like I won't find something else as satisfying to play when I feel like playing it a little.
Click to expand...
Passinwind said:
Sure, many of my bass player friends have gone that route, often quite happily.
Click to expand...
:thumbsup:

@OptimalOptimus, FWIW, i stopped buying the expensive stuff (or having them made). i'm dedicated to mods and parts basses these days because i got honest with myself about what a bass needs to have for me to bond with it: great feel (the neck mostly), balance, and i like 'em lightweight. other attributes are less important.

IME/IMO, you could have a phenomenal player for somewhere between $500 to $1000 from great parts, and it could/would be a customized instrument with all of your preferences distilled into an affordable package.

some show and tell:
front and back copy.png bonde P.PNG red P copy revised knobs.png red P.PNG BLUE PJ.png BLUE J.PNG headstock copy.png black J.PNG black HH - Kapok.png glarry-kapok HH.PNG

anyway, think about a parts ax to fill the need! ;) if you assemble the parts yourself, there's also something satisfying about that, otherwise, it's an easy project for a reliable tech or a luthier to assemble the parts for you! good luck! :thumbsup:
 
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#14
Looking at sold listings on Reverb, you're looking at $1700-$2000 depending on the model that you have. Deduct Reverb fees and I think the sold listings had "free shipping". Free to the buyer, not the seller that is. And then if you want to go with Sire, which is a popular suggestion, that is going to run you anywhere from $800-$1800. That is, if you go new. There is tax and shipping added in. End result, you get a few hundred dollars and you're not playing the Spector that you like. A flat out sale will net you dollars, but a sell and replace may not work out like you're anticipating. Just saying this generically, not aimed at you, but if the bass is still on the credit card, don't sell until you've paid it off.
 
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#15
Thanks to CNC technology, a lot of the less expensive axes these days can be set up to play amazingly well.
Having said that, if you're not desperate for the money (and if you're just going to be banking it, it doesn't sound as though you are) why rush it? It's possible that keeping that money invested in a classic axe might provide a better return over the same time frame than a savings account.
 
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#17
I indeed had a reversal of fortune by my wife's unsuccessful back surgery, and I sold my two Alembic fives to help us transition to a smaller income and was glad I had them to turn into bill money. Not what I planned, but life can indeed throw you a slider low and outside from time to time.

I was not of a mind to replace them with something similar, as if there's anything similar (there isn't), and have since bought four Squiers, as ultimately it was the PLAYING I enjoyed, not necessarily WHAT I was playing.

It's a very personal decision, and my only suggestion would be that if moving the Spector is not a 'have to' case, I would think about it long and hard (Euros are far more expensive these days) and I'd try quite a few 'other' basses to see how you feel.

Best of Luck,

JW
 
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#19
I did that—pledged to buy cheaper basses—when 1980s MIJ lawsuit axes were peanuts to buy used, but now nothing awesome is cheap enough to make the switch from $$$ economically satisfying. And as the post above points out, selling can be a bit of a losing proposition and ginormous hassle at this point in time. Unless you have something crazy collectible. Tho I did have a satisfying experience hot-rodding a Squier with stuff I know I like. It won’t play like a Spector obviously but still pretty dang good!
 
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