• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Retiring your #1?

#82
GeneralElectric said:
I don't have 30+ basses, I have a measly 8! 2 Stingray type, 2 jazzes, and 4 very nice P-basses (though one of them is technically a TB) If I do downsize, I'd keep this one for sure. It was my first good bass and has a lot of sentimental value.

I guess the question is do I keep trying to fit a round peg in a square hole concerning the bands I'm playing with.
Click to expand...

i’ve been playing with the same band for 50 years now. Over the last 50 years however I’ve been involved with several others that played different types of music that lasted anywhere from a week or two to as long as 15 years. To your point, no need to pound a round peg in a square hole, but there may be a day when you may want that round peg. JMO. Best wishes on resolving your dilemma.
 
#84
gmarcus said:
Closet...sure
Sell it.....NO!!!!

The wife will return...a little older....a little wiser and you will get tired of fiddling with all of those knobs to try to get a P-Bass sound.
Click to expand...
I found this to be the case when I was trying to get my active 5 to sound a certain way. I was happy to go back to my P bass with volume and tone.
 
#85
All of em. Hearing damage ended my career some years ago, so all my basses are automatically retired as soon as UPS drops them off.
My first L2000, bought new in '99 or 2000 (can't remember which) was almost at the point where it needed retiring when it was destroyed 2 years ago. I had done so many modifications and repairs on it; the last one was fixing a ski-jump in the neck where I had to remove so much wood from the fingerboard to do it, that I worried it wasn't going to be strong enough to handle being tuned to pitch anymore. It had the lightest tension strings on it I could find that weren't TI Jazz Flats.

Otherwise, I don't forsee ever playing even one bass that much again, to where I just slap wear it out.

My Lake Placid Blue Tony Franklin does have a defective fingerboard, so one day the truss rod may eventually snap inside the neck on that one. That would make it unplayable, but I'm hoping I'll be dead and itll be buried with me before that actually happens. The prognosis is pretty good tho.

L
 
#88
There is never a good reason to retire your number one bass. Steve Harris from Iron Maiden has been playing the same ~1970 Fender Precision Bass since the mid-late '70s and it has been used on every Maiden album and tour. 50-something years later and with the option to play anything, he still chooses that bass.
 
#89
I've got "only" three basses, but I am currently selling my MIJ Geddy even though I love it: that bass deserves to be played. I'd rather have a CV Squier as a J bass option (and/or a backup bass) than keep this one in its case. I've pulled it out only once in 2021 (studio), and that's it. I already did something similar 13 years ago and I did not regret it, because yolo.
So, yes, I would get rid of it because it feels like hoarding, but hey, that's me.
 
#90
I don't have a No.1. Whichever one hits me as the holder of that title on any given day is it. After a while another will depose the current champion for a turn as the chosen instrument. This natural rotation has no set rules regarding timing or duration. Some remain at the zenith longer than others. I only own basses that have something special to offer and rarely sell them off. I would hate to have the next "go-to" bass be a "go-ne" bass!
 
#91
I’ve ended up playing certain basses more, or exclusively, at different times in my life. But I can’t say I ever felt the need to “retire” one. If something is already paid for, then why get rid of it or just stop using it as long as you still like it?
 
#92
I just sold a PJ bass with an 83 neck and the body to the very first good bass I ever owned, a natural ash/black/maple 76 Precision what I bought new out of the store. Been through a lot of mods and a lot of surgeries, and I did my own ebonized finish on it in summer 2020. Collectability was shot to hell, but it plays like a dream and sounds legit pre-CBS.

It also weighs a little over 8 3/4 lbs, and I have two FSO PJ's that weigh 7 1/4 lbs, one of which is pretty exceptional feeling and sounding in its own right, the other a beater that plays out of its league to a certain level. I'm 60 now and need every advantage I can get when playing long hours standing up. I have gear that I'm quite attached to, but I'm at that age that I need to cash out the highest value and least practically usable stuff before it gets sold for pennies on the dollar at my estate sale.

So I'll be Marie Kondo'ing my collection a bit more. I just got over the biggest psychological hurdle of them all a couple hours ago, I've got plenty of great gear I'm keeping, and I can still play. Does not hurt my feelings that the buyer is a hard working and very cool local guy 20 years my junior who's really getting into playing again over the last couple of years, and wanted to step to a seriously pro level Fender without getting stung too badly. And that look in the dude's eyes when he played it for the first time and knew right away he was springing for it...you'll have to excuse me...getting a little misty up in here...

LOL! But seriously, don't do it till you're 100% ready to commit to it, but once you make that commitment...slice like a knife.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: stefancaunter, GeneralElectric, Justinian and 1 other person
#93
Yeah I’m definitely not going to sell this one. I got it from my late father who drove me to the widow of his old bass player. It had been sitting under the bed since the guy died in the early 80s. It used to be one of those trans white basses. About 10 years ago I refinished it in vintage car paint that I got here on TB because there wasn’t much finish left. It also has a the EMG because of you repping that pickup so hard many years ago here in the forums.

I just got rid of my 63 P bass which was a gift from my girlfriend. She had had it since she was a teenager and her dad bought it at Gruhns. It was my holy grail bass but I never played it. I couldn’t see the fretboard on stages. Sold it privately to another TBer here. I miss it but I know it’s in a good home.

I still LOVE P-basses. I still look at them and am always tempted to buy something I don’t need because I think the Fender P is one of the most visually appealing basses for me unless we are talking exotic woods. But many times I’ve wished the P had a little more top end or low end which EQ never really fixes.

I think the old girl is going to live in it’s case for a bit. My #2 P bass (Fender CS) will make the appearances of when a P is required. I’ve had that one about 10 years and it’s a similar story, minus the refin.


JimmyM said:
I just sold a PJ bass with an 83 neck and the body to the very first good bass I ever owned, a natural ash/black/maple 76 Precision what I bought new out of the store. Been through a lot of mods and a lot of surgeries, and I did my own ebonized finish on it in summer 2020. Collectability was shot to hell, but it plays like a dream and sounds legit pre-CBS.

It also weighs a little over 8 3/4 lbs, and I have two FSO PJ's that weigh 7 1/4 lbs, one of which is pretty exceptional feeling and sounding in its own right, the other a beater that plays out of its league to a certain level. I'm 60 now and need every advantage I can get when playing long hours standing up. I have gear that I'm quite attached to, but I'm at that age that I need to cash out the highest value and least practically usable stuff before it gets sold for pennies on the dollar at my estate sale.

So I'll be Marie Kondo'ing my collection a bit more. I just got over the biggest psychological hurdle of them all a couple hours ago, I've got plenty of great gear I'm keeping, and I can still play. Does not hurt my feelings that the buyer is a hard working and very cool local guy 20 years my junior who's really getting into playing again over the last couple of years, and wanted to step to a seriously pro level Fender without getting stung too badly. And that look in the dude's eyes when he played it for the first time and knew right away he was springing for it...you'll have to excuse me...getting a little misty up in here...

LOL! But seriously, don't do it till you're 100% ready to commit to it, but once you make that commitment...slice like a knife.
Click to expand...
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back