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"personalizing" a bass

S

sliceanddice

Oct 29, 2004
24
0
35
#1
So anyways, we all have that "don't give a crap about but love it" bass that like, you like, but you want to be personal. (AKA you have no intention of selling it :cool: ) So like, I was gonna ask you guys what you do to your poor basses (hahah)
It's my first Fender. It's a mexican Arctic White. I love it.

For me, whenever I play a show, I cut a line in the edge of the bass to mark down how many shows my bass (and I) have played. I've also carved a crude cross in it (I'm a christian haha) (and I'm aware most people put like satanic signs in theirs but w/e I'm different haha)

What do you do to torture your bass?

slice :bassist: :bassist:

God I hope the DSS Doesn't hear about this :hiding:
 
#2
I give a crap about all my basses.A lot of us have too much invested in out instruments to deface them. We just play them. That's what they like. If you want to carve yours up,go ahead,but most players don't whittle on their instruments.
 
#3
I put a sticker on my very first bass. I don't think I'll ever do that again. I currently own 2 basses, and the one I'll never sell is the Stingray. It had an accident and there are 2 chips in the finish (quite noticeable) and some crazy scratches on the pickguard. All came about as the result of gigs. I like it the way it is because the marks and chips on it remind me of gigs and events I've played at. I'd never intentionally do anything to mark it or personalise it.
 
#4
idk I understand where your coming from, but I defidently feel more "at home" with this bass, because it feels more like "this is my territory" you know?

I'm at the point where it feels weird to pick up someone elses bass. I am just so comfortable with this one. And whenever I add something to it, it feels more "mine". I don't think I could EVER get myself to sell my first fender anyways, (if I took good care of it) it's just such a step up. Getting your first fender was (for me) when I realized that bass went from a "hobby" to my life.

So I defidently respect your care for your basses, (and if I got an American, that thing would NEVER even leave my house...) but as I said, I feel alot more at home and comfortable playing this bass.

slice

anyone else?

EDIT:: Got rid of excessive likes lmao
 
#6
Well...one of my favprote bass players and a guy I have alot of respect for Told me that I can never sell my first fender. He also told me about how it reminded him of his first jazz bass.

So I decided that I was never gonna sell it. That gave me the confidence to go ahead and strip the finish, trying to get a better sound.
 
#9
i hate to see people with instruments that have stickers on or things stuck to them or intentional damage. i dont see the point at all.

my warwick has got a few scratches and chips in it and the colour has worn away where my thumb nail rests but that wear and tear is all natural and theres nothing i could do to prevent any of it anyway. my bass isnt personalised, mojofied =)
 
#10
The only way I've personalised my first bass was like this:
(excuse the first picture as I couldn't find one but thats how mine looked but fretted)
Before:
Link Removed
After:
Link Removed
As you can tell the personalisation is my nickname on the pick-up cover, don't think i'd ever dream of carving into it or adding stickers to it though.
 
#12
Bass002.gif


Can't really tell you..the pic talks to itself.
 
#14
...Yeah, can't say I've ever carved into my bass before...

I refinished my ancient Fender once... The original owner had the nerve to strip the original finish and, get this, cover the ENTIRE BASS in sparkle tape... I'm talkin' body, pup, back of the neck, headstock, even the bloody tuning pegs! I bought it just so I could save the poor thing.

I tend to like those little dings and marks and the like that show up on your bass over the years. Adds character, I think. And I'm not going to trash sliceanddice and say it's wrong for him to "mark his territory" in such a way, it's just not something I'd do to my own basses, that's all.
 
#16
The extent that i've done to my basses to "make them my own" is: installing schaller strap locks and playing them. They've got a variety of scratches, chips, and "oops" marks on them. The Pilot Plus 5 has some road rash on it from where the strap lock came out while i was carrying it behind me while carrying a DB in front me of at a marching band competition. The Ray5 has a variety of dings and wear marks on it. I don't intentionally try to deface or damage the instruments, rather i try to play the hell out of them.
 
#17
Well, the only thing I've done to my bass is hang this cool mushroom charm type of thing on the skinny part of the headstock under the strings just before the nut. I got the thing at Buzz Bake Sale (big concert festival thing) for free, and it was meant to be a hemp necklace worn around your neck, so I put it around my bass's neck instead. The top of the actual mushroom looks liek its made out of some clay with black and green tribal markings painted over the entire thing, with the "stem" is made of clear glass with a green mushroom shaped cloud of some kind of ink maybe? And it's small; only an inch or so.

Not irriversable territorial marking, but still pretty cool.
 
#18
I totally understand making it yours...

My MIM P-bass, ( my first bass, and still one of my main players) has a tort PG, ashtray, pickup cover, upgraded bridge, and... my wife's name carved in the back with a penknife.

As for the other scratches and wear, just play the thing for 12 years, and they come naturally. If I marked every every time I played out with that bass, it wouldn't have any finish left on it!

I understand the urge to "personalize" your bass, but it's a safe bet that as you acquire other, more expensive instruments, your desire to carve divots in your bass will fade, along with your desire to preceed each phrase with "like". ;)
 
#19
i play an SX sjb75c bass. in a town known for its music snobbery, that's enough personalization.
this tank takes all sorts of dings and nicks on the road, but that's part of the job. and that's the reason i use a $170 bass as my main gigger.
 

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