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Seriously! How do you guys manage having sooo many basses?!
- Thread starter TrevorG
- Start date
I used to have a large collection, but I've come to find that having a smaller, purpose-driven collection brings me more joy. Instead of having loads of cases filling closets and having basses hang all over the walls, I now enjoy having 3-4 basses that are often used.
I donate basses to local young musicians sometimes through a local charity that hepls young folks of limited resources get started in music; that helps keep the herd to a reasonable number. Or at least what I consider a reasonable number.
Part of my justification for having a....number of basses (the number does fluctuate at times) is that I have actually given away more basses than I have - that makes it seem a bit less selfish.
Part of my justification for having a....number of basses (the number does fluctuate at times) is that I have actually given away more basses than I have - that makes it seem a bit less selfish.
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This year's not been a good example of time, for sure. Other than finally getting to record my own music. But before 2020? Doing about 100 gigs per year, all sorts of different genres and bands? Just whatever mood strikes me on which ones to take. I like all their differences, it keeps me thinking all the time while playing.
I have 3 playable electrics, one non playable vintage piece of crap that looks cool, one upright, and a banjo. Until relatively recently (a few years ago) i could never justify more than one. I only aquired more after i realized that after 20 years of playing a now 40 something year old bass, i kinda wanted something a little newer. since then ive traded through a couple, now have a new daily, a unique second, and the retired workhorse.
I also have only three jeeps. Used to be four. Only two work.
I must impose limits. For example I only have about 1500 78's in my basement...
I also have only three jeeps. Used to be four. Only two work.
I must impose limits. For example I only have about 1500 78's in my basement...
30!!! That's not a collection, that's a shop without an "open" sign on the front door!!!
Hollows & semi-hollows are best: the dead air space inside the F-holes helps to insulate the house during the winter.
At least, that was my reasoning for buying them...
At least, that was my reasoning for buying them...
I spent most of my playing career (80s-90s) with two bass guitars (a fretted 4 and a fretless 4). Now in my dotage, I've got 6, even though I do 99% of my playing on DB. Part of this is due to obsessively wanting to check boxes on the "basses by Leo" checklist (P, J, Ray, L2K) and part of it's just picking up cheap imports because they're cheap and decent and why not. The only BG I've got that's worth anything is a 76 P bass, which I rarely play. I keep it for sentimental reasons, I guess. Not counting the P, I've got less invested in the other 5 than in my one DB, so what's the harm in collecting some eye candy that you can play with when the mood strikes?
The holes allow exchange of air, which would give rise to convection - reducing the insulation value somewhat. While your justification has some scientific merit, I suggest that chambered instruments would work even better.
I'm not sure what you mean by appreciate.
(I won't even question why you feel guilty and ungrateful.)
If you had seven children, wouldn't you appreciate them all?
I'd have to imagine you can appreciate them all without actually spending quality time with each and every one an hour a day, every single day of the week, right?
A bass is not a child, of course, and I believe you can appreciate any given number of basses, two, ten or twenty, even if some are favored and some simply sit in their stands for weeks at a time...just like you can appreciate a painting hanging on your wall or a vase of flowers sitting on your dining room table.
Now, if you're talking about someone owning ten or twenty basses and you're wondering how anyone has the time to play them all, that's a bit different, but I think that during this current situation with so many people out of work, we can appreciate the time we can now take advantage of in ways we never thought possible.
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I have one. A fretless jazz I customized. I do want a 5 string BC Rich, but other than that I'm not really interested in obtaining others.
Okay so "no" I don't equate basses to children and spend equal time and love on both my twin girls. By "appreciate" I do mean focus on playing them and as a semi-pro I want to keep my skills up or even improve. For that I actually only need one bass but past gigs have stretched from bands to theatre shows(on stage) and recordings and what I have covers all bases(pun intended). Pandemic aside, I don't see the practicality in having more than you will have time to concentrate on or duplicating an instrument a number of times when they do the same job.
The thread title is misleading. I was going to answer, "By having too much discretionary income, spent indiscreetly." But now, having read some of the posts, I can't.
Simple. Buy instruments as desired, relative to one's purchasing power.
We're like crazy cat ladies..., but with basses.
I don't play some of them for a while, and then, when I do, they're like new to me again...
It's cheap amusement.
It's cheap amusement.
