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Only One Bass?

With my current bands I need two different basses. My Franken-Fender (early 70's body + '75 neck) and my active Hotwire Funderbird, which was custom made for me. One cannot replace the other. One does the P-Bass thing, the other is more flexible and better behaving. Then I have identical backups to each of those, and a Hotwire extra long scale 5-String with PU in MM Position which helped me a lot to get a better muting technique.

It's five basses I don't want to miss. The others might go some day. One bass, I don't see me there...

If it has to be one, it would be the above mentioned Fender Precision or the first bass I've ever owned my Fender Precision '76.

Viele Grüße
Pablo
 
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I am pretty sure, I am not going to be a one bass owning player, but if I were to drop down to one, it would be my Pedulla. The more I think about it, two basses, a fretted and fretless are optimal for me. I will probably end up with four, but realistically, at four, at least one will be neglected a lot. I guess I really love basses, but I do not want too many at home.:bassist:

I own 11 but if I did have to drop down to one (which I did for 15 years at one point) it would be my Fender American Vintage Hot Rod Precision Bass or my FAVHRPB as I usually call it:laugh:. (P/J) (Try to say that fast three times in a row.)
 
I am pretty sure, I am not going to be a one bass owning player, but if I were to drop down to one, it would be my Pedulla. The more I think about it, two basses, a fretted and fretless are optimal for me. I will probably end up with four, but realistically, at four, at least one will be neglected a lot. I guess I really love basses, but I do not want too many at home.:bassist:

I own four, and I can't even remember the last time two of them came out of their cases. Not in this calendar year in any event. But hey, it's just stuff, and who doesn't like stuff?
Yel_wink.gif
 
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Musicman bass with Cobalt flats is magic
I have them on my US Sterling HS, which will soon metamorphose into a sorta-kinda Joe Dart bass clone (passive, with a single Nordstrand MM4.4, volume, tone, and series/parallel/single switch), they are indeed pretty great. I use GHS Pressurewounds on my single H Sterling, and do prefer them for a lot of stuff I play, but if I could just have one it'd be an HH with the cobalt flats.
 
I am pretty sure, I am not going to be a one bass owning player, but if I were to drop down to one, it would be my Pedulla. The more I think about it, two basses, a fretted and fretless are optimal for me. I will probably end up with four, but realistically, at four, at least one will be neglected a lot. I guess I really love basses, but I do not want too many at home.:bassist:
I have the following:

  • Dingwall Afterburner 5 (with Nordstrand Big Splits pickups) - this is my main bass - it sounds like a furious, huge P Bass and also plays and feels awesome
  • Dingwall Combustion 5 (with Nordstrand Big Singles pickups) - plays and sounds great - like the angriest J Bass I have ever heard
  • Kiesel Icon 5 fretless - I love playing fretless and I wanted a 5 string version
  • Rickenbacker 4003 - it has that iconic Rick sound and look and plays well. I did the RWRP mod to reduce buzz and also shielded the routing with copper foil.
  • Warmoth Z Bass (with Nordstrand P/J pickups) - hands-down the best-sounding and playing 4 string I have ever had. Total keeper.
  • Fender CIJ Geddy Lee Jazz Bass - plays and sounds great, but I find it lives in its case in the closet. Autographed by the man himself, I believe it's worth more than I have been able to get for it so... I guess my estate will have to deal with it someday.
  • Warwick Katana NT - German made, this has ringing, clear piano-like tone and plays very well. Another closet queen, though it was my main player for several years. Again, this instrument would be about $6k if ordered new and if I can't get $2k out of it used, I'll have it until I die and then... who knows? I certainly won't care any more.
So, I don't actually want all these basses; I would reduce to 5 if I could sell the two I don't play any more. But each of the remaining 5 has something unique about it that I would miss if I were to not have anymore.

Keep as many basses as you're happy with.
 
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I have the following:

  • Dingwall Afterburner 5 (with Nordstrand Big Splits pickups) - this is my main bass - it sounds like a furious, huge P Bass and also plays and feels awesome
  • Dingwall Combustion 5 (with Nordstrand Big Singles pickups) - plays and sounds great - like the angriest J Bass I have ever heard
  • Kiesel Icon 5 fretless - I love playing fretless and I wanted a 5 string version
  • Rickenbacker 4003 - it has that iconic Rick sound and look and plays well. I did the RWRP mod to reduce buzz and also shielded the routing with copper foil.
  • Warmoth Z Bass (with Nordstrand P/J pickups) - hands-down the best-sounding and playing 4 string I have ever had. Total keeper.
  • Fender CIJ Geddy Lee Jazz Bass - plays and sounds great, but I find it lives in its case in the closet. Autographed by the man himself, I believe it's worth more than I have been able to get for it so... I guess my estate will have to deal with it someday.
  • Warwick Katana NT - German made, this has ringing, clear piano-like tone and plays very well. Another closet queen, though it was my main player for several years. Again, this instrument would be about $6k if ordered new and if I can't get $2k out of it used, I'll have it until I die and then... who knows? I certainly won't care any more.
So, I don't actually want all these basses; I would reduce to 5 if I could sell the two I don't play any more. But each of the remaining 5 has something unique about it that I would miss if I were to not have anymore.

Keep as many basses as you're happy with.

I don’t blame you for not taking a loss on valuable basses!
 
Good for him. Yes, clones of his bass is available as a production bass, but, as in any model of anything, his particular bass (fancy woodwork and all) was custom made for him - he specified everything on that bass (and then it was copied for everyone else). It's not like he decided to pull a Squier P off the rack and play only that.
True - the only Palaedium that I’ve ever seen Jeff Berlin use is the one with his (then) wife’s name inlaid at the 12th fret. It is possible, of course, that Peavey made him more than one but most likely it was just always the same one.
I’d hardly call it a “crappy production bass” either - neither, I suspect, is the Cort Rithimic although I’ve never played one of those. It doesn’t sound crap, not to my ears at least....
 
Do you even tort, bro?

you'll need another with a tort guard! :D

I do! Or I did. Here’s the factory tort I took off over a year ago. I like black, and the pattern on the original hasn’t grabbed me tbh. I’m swapping the PU in the next couple of weeks. Think I should tort-it again while the guts are out and the PG is off?
6425F6FA-2899-4B63-BCEE-637944ED4ABB.jpeg 2738603D-C0C3-435F-8E23-82B3DFF08078.jpeg
 
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I do! Or I did. Here’s the factory tort I took off over a year ago. I like black, and the pattern on the original hasn’t grabbed me tbh. I’m swapping the PU in the next couple of weeks. Think I should tort-it again while the guts are out and the PG is off?
View attachment 3723545 View attachment 3723546[/QUOT
Well, of course... That is sort of a weird pattern, though.
 
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I do! Or I did. Here’s the factory tort I took off over a year ago. I like black, and the pattern on the original hasn’t grabbed me tbh. I’m swapping the PU in the next couple of weeks. Think I should tort-it again while the guts are out and the PG is off?
View attachment 3723545 View attachment 3723546

Sure why not. It easy to go back to black if you like. The Black pick guard looks good too!
 
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Even though I primarily play one bass Taz there are a bunch of #2 basses that fulfill roles that are necessary for specific tones and bands that I do not want to sacrifice. Toney is Taz little brother with EMG HB and my incognito PBass gets a lot of session time and classic rock band work. My Gibson EB14 5 string and Peavey DynaFive are my modern tone basses. Then of course my two fretless basses [Squier VMFJ & Peavey Foundation FL*] that get regular play. My two ABGs for those occasions [Washburn AB20 & Dean Playmate EABC5]. My three piccolo or Tweety basses [2@Carvin LB50 and a vintage Harmony H22B] plus a few other oddities that see play time here and there like the PV Verdine White and the Stink Ray. Nope not going down to one anytime soon, stop nagging.

*My Peavey Foundation Fl does double duty as my Vertical Bass mounted on a stand.
 
In the most literal sense, for someone to play bass, only the first one is a need. Any more than one is a want.

We live in an era of excess that I think we all are subject to. The primary bound on it is what can we afford? I have 5 (6 but one is for sale) but I bought dozens over the last 20 years to get to where I am now. Hindsight tells me that it was a huge waste of time and money. I could get it down to one but I would have to be forced to because my way of thinking about basses is a lot like a child with their toys.

It is a fun game though. To anyone - which one would you keep?

1983 G&L SB-2
2008 US Lakland Decade
2014 Fender P (factory custom American Design Experience with a J profile neck)
2016 EBMM Caprice
2018 G&L L2000 custom
2019 G&L SB-2 custom