Seriously! How do you guys manage having sooo many basses?!

[Wasnex]

I feel really guilty and ungrateful.

Seriously, Why? The instruments don't care and there are plenty of basses to go around. There is no reason for you to experience emotional problems.

I own 7 basses but I primarily play my Yamaha TRB6P. The rest of my collection consists of 4-strings and 5-strings, but I am most at home on a 6-string now. I pull each instrument out for a few days, approximately twice a year. Other than that they typically stay in their cases. I keep them because each does something different than the TRB6P. This is probably a stupid reason because I don't plan to ever gig again, but it feels like to much of a hassle to deal with selling them.

IMHO, If the basses don't bring you joy and there is no potential benefit from owning them then you could sell them and use the money to fund something else you want or need. If you keep them, stop beating yourself up.

Actually, if I find a nice instrument at a good price, I may by an NS design EU6 electric upright. I would also like a decent (entry- level professional) carved upright bass and bow.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I have 3 but only have the P out right now. With my guitars, I only have my Tele and LP out right now but I also own a Strat and PRS. I find that restricting myself can be quite liberating. More time is spent playing than worrying about what would "work best" at any given time.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Seriously, Why? The instruments don't care and there are plenty of basses to go around. There is no reason for you to experience emotional problems.

I own 7 basses but I primarily play my Yamaha TRB6P. The rest of my collection consists of 4-strings and 5-strings, but I am most at home on a 6-string now. I pull each instrument out for a few days, approximately twice a year. Other than that they typically stay in their cases. I keep them because each does something different than the TRB6P. This is probably a stupid reason because I don't plan to ever gig again, but it feels like to much of a hassle to deal with selling them.

IMHO, If the basses don't bring you joy and there is no potential benefit from owning them then you could sell them and use the money to fund something else you want or need. If you keep them, stop beating yourself up.


Actually, if I find a nice instrument at a good price, I may by an NS design EU6 electric upright. I would also like a decent (entry- level professional) carved upright bass and bow.

I have the emotion issue too but I think it stems more from a practicality standpoint. I can only play one at a time, I'm not gigging or doing studio work, and when you add up how much I have invested in gear it's... a lot. It's a good hobby to have, but it's not like back in my college days when I was gigging 3 nights a week and could get genuine use out of everything.

 

[QweziRider]

I actually like learning a song on one, then playing it on some of the others as I'm dialing it in. Just my way of having fun I guess.

It's fun and a great way to keep yourself on top of things. Switching it up is good.

 

[Wasnex]

I have the emotion issue too but I think it stems more from a practicality standpoint. I can only play one at a time, I'm not gigging or doing studio work, and when you add up how much I have invested in gear it's... a lot. It's a good hobby to have, but it's not like back in my college days when I was gigging 3 nights a week and could get genuine use out of everything.

IMHO if owning the instruments is causing emotional problems, you need to find a way to resolve the issue. Either deal with the psychology and keep, or sell them off.

The only part that may not be resolvable is selling the instruments may incur a loss. This is part of why I am unmotivated to sell. But it's really unreasonable to recover the full sunk cost of owning all of your gear, so this is partly a psychological problem as well (guilt over wasting precious resources). The best you can do is minimize the losses and move on.

Whether buying the instruments in the first place was a waste of resources really is a matter of perspective. I could feel bad about buying my amp collection, but I really don't. Researching the individual amps and the hunt to find and buy them was a lot of fun. Also I have leveraged ownership to help a lot of people here on Talkbass. This was also quite enjoyable. Also I learned quite a bit along the way. Of course as time passes, my ability to leverage the collection to help people is decreasing because I am no longer buying the latest greatest amps .

 

[bassliner50]

Many more basses than gigs right now. Thank covid19. But what can a poor boy do?

 

[ZedLepp]

I like that.. but it's not really cheap!

It can be if you know how to do setups and basic repairs. You can get things really cheap.
I have 25 basses. If you took away from me all the basses that I paid $100 or less I would have about less than half. If you took away from me all the basses that I paid $250 and less, I would have 4.

 

[Claymore]

There are 4 that I couldn't live without...
SB-2T, Yamaha TRBX604, Fender Jazz American Performer, Peavey Foundation.
The rest are great but are mostly there for variety.

 

[woodyng2]

It's my hobby...my collection shrinks and grows...currently i have 12, but 2 of them are heading for the exit.
I just like trying out different instruments,and what happens is i start to get ones i want to hang on to....so the collection grows.

 

[selowitch]

My rules are simple. I need at all times:

1. at least one four-string and one five-string;
2. at least one fretted and one fretless bass;
3. at least one acoustic bass for "campfire" use;
4. at least one passive bass and one active one.

 

[edencab]

I'm maxed out at 3, partially due to space. I jam on a Fri night with bass 1, then from Sat - Thus I practice, noodle around with bass 2 for the next jam, then repeat for bass 3 for the next week...any more than 3 feels like they are wasting space and not being utilized in a useful manner...my brain still wants to have 2-3 others "just because"

 

[Smooth Operator]

I currently have 5 basses, the most I've ever owned, although 1 is a cheap acoustic bass for summer and campfire jams. I'm looking to sell 1 of my Warwicks because it doesn't get played much and it's redundant ever since I got my Fender Jazz Ultra.

 

[selowitch]

I could probably get by with just one bass, but I am fortunate enough to be able to own several and they bring me pleasure, so why not?

Also, I like messing with my bandmates by showing up to rehearsal or a gig with an unfamiliar bass. The looks on their faces are priceless.

 

[Pickebass]

I have a few more than average. I've divided them into 3 categories.. 1. Workhorse instruments 2. Bucket list and 3. Curiosities.

Workhorses are those that are gig friendly for the situation. Typically standard instruments such as P & J variants. Everything from a squier to a sadowsky. These also include 6 strong and other modern sounding instruments that are a fit. I can grab and go and it will do the job for the genre of music without dramatic setup or eq changes.

bucketlist... you know the ones.. either you wanted since a kid or that vintage model you probably shouldn't take out to gigs. In my mind, taking a $10k vintage bass to most gigs is not practical, because it's not easily replaced

Curiosities are those that I know I don't need but really want to spend some time with them. For me, this is the part that changes most in my collection, because I either don't really need the sound or was curious about what the manufacturer was trying to do. A few basses come to mind including steinberger and light wave

 

[JKB1957]

I have 5 basses. Two RICs and three P-Basses. Kind of in a rut, but it's a nice rut.

 

[chris_b]

I have 2 5 string basses, an active Jazz and a passive P bass.

I think they sound different, but I've been told I make them both sound the same!!

I guess that means I really only need one bass!

 

[mattj1stc]

To the original question, I went through something similar. At my peak, I had 14 basses at one time. Every instrument had its purpose and role, but really, I was just having all of these things to have them, because I could. I ultimately thought about it and rationalized down to one bass - the one that I used the most. Do I miss some of my gear, sure. Am I sometimes tempted to begin acquiring again, every now and then. At present, I sometimes think about getting an upright again. Then again, I really don't need it, so I'm fine.

 

[groove pump]

Can't quite bring myself to go for a really pricey instrument with a lot of magic built in, so I have to keep a few of them handy - each with it's own small measure of pixie dust. All three that I could bring to a gig today are 4-strings, but they're all rather different. That's a plus.

I'd be in trouble if I forked out something like $1,500 or more for a real honey. I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off it if I took it anywhere. Picture a nerd in the men's room with a gig bag on his shoulder, right? I'm more at peace with my $500-$700 players, at least for now.

But then I just saw Oteil Burbridge in a video where he's STRONGLY recommending that all of us go and get a 6-string - even a crummy one - to help with expanding our musical know-how. Hmm... and here I was thinking that I'd be better off figuring out how to build myself a killer 3-string. That one might actually happen soon-ish

 

[Johnny StingRay]

I have one, a MMSR 5. I once had two: the Ray and a Yamaha 4 string. I gave the Yamaha to a kid who loved bass. He had a ton of emotional problems and the bass was his release. It made him happy. That made me happy.
My Ray and I are one. As the song goes I "play it like he's ringing a bell!" You only get intimate with a bass when you only have one. Like married couples, we are one.
If I did own another bass it would be a four string fretless (no lines!).
If I was a zillionaire, a collection would be great, but I'm not a zillionaire.

 

[HarveyRobertson]

when you have more money than you need.. or care less for food than necessary