I know for a fact there are a lot of people on here who flip basses a lot... and often! I'm one of them, I admit it. Though I've been playing for 20 years, I've had almost 100 basses in that time. Some, I had for a day... some for years! But most fell at some point to GAS for another bass.
Not too long ago, I picked up a 93 Stingray 4 on a whim because the price was right. It was added to my SR5 and Status 5 string in the stable to see if I could deal with a 4 string again.
Over the years, I grew accustomed to 5s and many 4s had fallen out of favor with me, but I was coming to grips with the fact that most of my current playing didn't require 5, so this was me turning a new leaf. And honestly, I didn't know what to expect.
The meat of why I'm posting this is the fact that this bass really made me realize a few aspects of what makes a bass "a keeper". Players who flip may be searching for the next new thing or something that other basses don't give them.
For me, the experience has been like this:
Every time I play this bass, at practice or a gig, it makes me even happier than the last time I played it. And that's really a fantastic feeling.
That really made me think about what makes a bass stick to someone like me who doesn't tend to stick to things. I've definitely had basses "jump out" at me and I bought them. And I played them for a while, but eventually cooled on them for some reason or another.
This is different. In fact, the other 2 I have are also like that. For some reason, it never truly dawned on me as such, but it's the truth.
A bass that just continues to make you happy is a
keeper. Whether it's a Squier or a Fodera, that doesn't matter. What matters is, it makes you feel good to play it. You can't imagine playing bass without it. Sure, you may have 10 like that... or 100!
But if they are basses that attach themselves to you... if you can afford to keep them and just want to keep playing them, you have keepers.
I'm not saying that sentimental attachment doesn't make for a keeper in some respects. Or maybe an old, super-valuable bass that sounds bad, but keeps increasing in value is worth hanging onto.
But as a player, if there is a bass that just inspires you to keep playing it, a bass that defines the way you want to sound as a bassist... hang onto it!
