Question for the Collectors - 6+ basses

[TN WOODMAN]

This calendar year I got 2 of my most expensive dream basses. A Low End Jazz Olympic white with black hardware and Lloyd Coles's white Pensa Suhr Jazz. This gives me 12 basses and 38 guitars .

As we all do , without meaning to I found a parts build that suits me perfectly . A p /j with Warmoth unlined Fretless maple neck and Wilde pickups. It should be here Monday...

 

[Ric5]

Do you guys consider your collection complete? Are you GASsing for another? What are some must haves in the collection? Any other advice?

You always need just one more bass!

 

[somebrains]

I really only play 1 right now bc a pickup swap has caught my imagination.

I'm focusing down on a onboard preamp upgrade, adding some thing to my signal chain.

Sometimes a set of pickups will affect everything but basses.

 

[bassstrangler]

I have the perfect Jazz, the perfect Precision, the perfect Stingray HH and the perfect L2000 (at least for me they are). The rest of my basses are really just frosting on the cake...a Gretsch hollow body, Ibanez 5, 6, 6 fretless, Talman and their version of a VI.

After recently buying the Stingray I put 5 other basses up for sale. When you find the perfect bass you know it. It permanently and seriously cured my gas and made me realize if I had to only have one bass it would be the Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray HH.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

If I kept half of my basses I've sold over the last few years I'd be somewhat a collector-- of crappy but cool sounding basses. I'm an odd animal on TB. I buy bargain basses and fix them up until they play well for me. Then I tire of them and sell them. There are a few I wish I would have kept. I sold a KSD to a guy who had 5 KSD sunburst 4 strings! Mine was the 5th!

So yeah I'm kind of trashy and I don't know why. Oh yeah I just remembered why. I don't want to pay $1,500 for a bass because of the name on the headstock when I have some awesome sounding excellent basses I got for several hundred dollars each. I've played many an excellent expensive bass but I'm just well-- trashy I guess.

I just bought an Ibanez for $83 plus shipping and it's a total piece of gunk. Gunked up everywhere and no tone controls, rust on the pickups and the bridge. But I'll swap that all out and she'll be a player in a couple months. Hey I might add that one to my "collection."

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I have the perfect Jazz, the perfect Precision, the perfect Stingray HH and the perfect L2000 (at least for me they are). The rest of my basses are really just frosting on the cake...a Gretsch hollow body, Ibanez 5, 6, 6 fretless, Talman and their version of a VI.

After recently buying the Stingray I put 5 other basses up for sale. When you find the perfect bass you know it. It permanently and seriously cured my gas and made me realize if I had to only have one bass it would be the Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray HH.

Wellllllllllll.............. for now...................

 

[packhowitzer]

I have 7 basses and will most likely never buy another.

 

[shadven]

I mostly obsess on Telecaster style basses, but I have some others. My collection is complete for the most part. I've bought and sold quite a few to get here. I gig with all of my basses. I usually take 2, sometimes 3 to a gig.
My ultimate collection:
1952 Fender Precision. My #1. I watch this bass closely, it's the most expensive I own. It plays like butter.
1968 Fender Telecaster Bass - rare headstock logo, only used for a couple months.
2 - 1969 Fender Telecaster Bass (one blonde, one seafoam).
1971 Fender Telecaster neck on a 1969 Precision body.
1965 Fender P, sunburnt tort.
1975 Fender P, gold sparkle.
2004 Fender Paisley Precision (single coil, Tele headstock.
2006 Gibson Thunderbird
1994 Rickenbacker 4003, black
Alvarez Acoustic Bass
Upright Doghouse Bass (Chinese?)

 

[mikewalker]

...
2 - 1969 Fender Telecaster Bass (one blonde, one seafoam)
....

69 Telecaster bass in SEAFOAM!!!!?!?! ( post pics!)
drooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrool

 

[Marikk]

I usually think of a collection as something planned or based around series of perimeters.

I just tend to accumulate basses i like to play.
First it has to feel good. This is a deal breaker, doesnt matter what it is, unless the deal is good enough i can flip it

Second it should sound good, if not making it sound good will factor into the price i'm willing to pay.
Not bad for used basses but will normally be a deal breaker for new basses.

If it feels great and sounds great, Its probably leaving with me

 

[Thumpin6string]

I guess I cured myself from wanting to collect basses when I built my own. I have my 6 string fretted and 5 string fretless and don't ever have GAS for any other bass. I will buy, repair and flip some, but don't keep them. Now amps are different. I get GAS for them. Maybe I need to build my own amp and I'll be cured.

 

[Hi-End Basses]

I have 3 Fender American Standard Precisions and a Fender American Select Precision. It's a pretty nice collection, if I stopped now.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

I'm a player and buy only to play, not collect. I am just not good at selling. It seems like more trouble than it's worth. I've only sold a couple in the last ten years. So I have about 23 basses now, roughly half are Fenders. I currently want an Elrick fretted and fretless 5s and some kind of 6, because Ive never owned one yet. I'd like to sell at least a couple to help finance those previously mentioned.

 

[svlilioukalani]

I have around 37 or so basses. I don't consider them a collection. And I am a serious gigging bass player. I now have everything I ever wanted to play on. And I sold off 2 this last month. I am not keeping basses I that don't work for my hands and style. I have gotten killer deals on the basses I buy. Most have come from Craig's list.

I have recently gotten on a kick where I want to consistently gig and practice with the same bass. For me the ultimate bass (this year) is an old Musicman Sterling. (last year it was the Mike Lull.) I keep 2 Sterlings now. One for practice and one for gigs. My goal is to have a more consistent tone. I learned this from Marcus Miller. But the others still get play time, just at home.

I started buying basses in 8 years ago when I went on a quest to find my ultimate tone. Had I just played through the right amp back then I would have a fraction of the basses I have now. The bottom line is that I love basses and they make me happy. Being surrounded by them keeps me inspired and practicing daily.

The Current Bass Collecton | Funk House Bass Productions

 

[Deak]

Don’t consider mine a collection .. I’d get rid of a couple of basses .. anyway it isn’t finished here .. I have at least 3 other basses which I will have to acquire sooner of later ... a Rick, a Sterling (don’t like Stingray wide neck) and a fretless jazz ... Amen

What about the Stingray SLO?

 

[bholder]

I'm a player and buy only to play, not collect.

I collect to play. True that I don't get to visit parts of my herd as often as I should, but they all get played.

 

[TonyP-]

Im in the upper teens
10 I gig regularly and the others are more specialty and/or backup (left at studio ect)

I have a few different tunings I keep them in for specific basses, some different pickup configurations and a couple of fretless.

None are vintage persay
All are tools

 

[Korladis]

Do you guys consider your collection complete? Are you GASsing for another? What are some must haves in the collection? Any other advice?

Are we counting only electric basses? Or does an upright or an ABG count? Because if we count those, I have six. If we only count electrics, I have four.

 

[bassstrangler]

Wellllllllllll.............. for now...................

I hope, but it is that good.

 

[el murdoque]

I'm only at the threshold, owning 5 basses. But my arsenal is two basses that are my main players, one bass I've bought new and owned for more than two decades that does not get much playtime, but sees a stage from time to time which is sentimentally attached to me in a strong way, one cheap beater I keep for fun and one that qualifies as a collector's item (a vintage Ibanez that's quite special and hard to replace once gone).
I could do with just the two main players and not miss out on anything, from a purely technical perspective. My rather large pedalboard and choice of amp heads gives me enough variety to cover all the musical styles I'm interested in.
So it's safe to say that I own at least a part of a collection.
I like to think that once I reached a few more accomplishments in day to day life and have a few grand lying around,
I'd add another super high quality boutique bass (just to have a far fetched goal) but in the past, GAS has flared up from time to time, making me get another bass. When that happens, the new bass usually teaches me a few new tricks, which is enough justification for me to continue buying instruments. That and the fact that the wall in my bass corner can carry a few more hooks.