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What Motivates your Bass Collection?

#62
I have a number of contributing factors to my "collection", all of which are important and worth consideration.

Things like GAS, curiosity, admiration all have played roles in my obsessive flipping over the years, but a freak injury about 5 years ago was actually a major influence on my fear decisions. I lost my 3rd(ring) finger on my right hand and decided that with how suddenly things can change, I might as well pursue gear dreams. This led to me selling my unused gear and splurging on my first Fodera. Since then I've maintained that approach to gear buying, with a hint of practicality and functionality baked in. I now own 2 foderas and 2 fender jazzes. A 4 string and a 5 string of each. They all Have different wood combos, and satisfy a unique tonal goal from one another.
Here's the list:

Fodera imperial elite 5
Walnut body, ash tone block, ash neck, ebony board. Dual coils
This has always been my favorite signature combination of woods from Fodera and Is still the nicest electric bass I have ever touched.

Fodera monarch 4
Bolt on. Mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood board, EMG pj pickups. It absolutely nails the Vic thing or does a nice modern p when needed. And it is insanely light and comfortable to play all day and night.

Fender deluxe active j 5
Ash maple blocks sadowsky pre. It does exactly what it's supposed to do and is a work horse.

Fender FSR 75 reissue j 4
Alder, rosewood, blocks, Olympic white.
I played one of these when they were released in 2003 and fell in love. I couldn't pass it up when I saw one pop up in the classifieds and I was in "need" of a back up 4. C'est la vie.

I love this line up and feel quite content at the moment. I'm currently relying on pedal GAS to keep me away from the bass classifieds, but we all know he reality of that struggle!
 
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#63
I am definitely NOT a collector, but I do like good gear as much as anyone. What I am "collecting" is to get a set of visually matching Fenders; a P, a J, a J5 and a J fretless. Black, tort and maple neck. So far I have the P and the J. I have a J5 that would qualify, after a paint job and a pick guard. The fretless is still missing. It will have to be a Warmoth job, though, and clearly with some exotic fingerboard.

Other than that, I have a couple of fundamentally different basses; a Longhorn and a Gretsch G5123B.
 
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#64
Altho' in recent years my spectrum of bass playing has narrowed (mostly fast punk now) I run a small studio with my buddy, we mostly do self production for several projects we have, but also sometimes we work for "the outside world" so I still try to keep a diverse collection of basses, very handy from time to time. My main basses are still a couple of Stingray fivers (amazing for anything rock/punk/metal/funk), also keep an Epiphone Viola (for acoustic gigs, great tone for recording pop stuff too), a great sounding and playing P-bass kit I recently built and a (korean) Fernandes Gravity Deluxe V for a 2 pickup versatile tone (plays amazing, crystal hi-fi tone). Also am looking forward to build a J-bass kit to have around the studio too. They all end set up to my linking, that is low AF and often stringed DAEB on the 4 stringers. So that's my motive mostly, variety.

The most expensive basses I've ever bought are both my Musicmans (a 1997 model that cost me some 1600$ used -had to import it to Argentina- and a 2003 bass a friend sold to me here in Spain for 1150€ -from some seller in the UK-, also used but in as new condition). I regularly have the chance of testing all kinds of basses, cheap and expensive, even boutique sometimes, and never found anything remotely close for my taste. But then again, my taste is definitely tainted by 15+ years of Stingray 5 love (and me evolving in a direction where I could still find some more about the bass that fits me). Got an American G&L L1505 for $700 (a closing store). Didn't like it at all, ugly neck, ugly ortopaedic electronics, not quite the real thing, at all. I tend to setup all my other basses so that they're as close as possible to my Musicmans in playability (which is the #1 thing to love about a Stingray 5 IMHO). With this in mind I usually conclude a bass that can be setup to play confortably is a bass I can use. That's why the switch from a Stingray 5 to my 88€ P-bass kit build is not traumatic, and altho' there's a more than 10 to 1 ratio in price between them, the value they have for me as musical means is much closer once I feel comfortable playing either. So, even if I had the money to indulge I don't think I'd be looking at expensive gear with the "musical tool" mentality, would be more of a treat (totally valid reason) than real value for musical work.
 
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#65
I don't think I have any guiding philosophy or principle. I get a bass when I have the money to afford one and feel a need to fill some gap in what I have already. Then it either turns out not to be something I really need and gets sold to pay for something else, or passes the test and becomes part of the permanent stable. I guess the only other thing is being able to have a backup for any gig.

So what I currently have:
Carvin SB4000
Franken-P bass (MIM P body, MIM J neck)
Yamaha BB415
John Toon custom 5-string
Godin A4 (acoustic and fretless, two birds with one stone).

I check out basses in stores from time to time, but don't have any huge urge to buy another. Maybe a Rickenbacker sometime down the line, but being able to afford one is a ways away and I don't want to sell any of these to afford it.
 
#66
Up until recently it was looks and sound. Then I found my perfect bass or two a SBMM Ray 34 in Ruby Red Burst and a FSR Fender PJ in Sea Foam Pearl and realized with my Geddy Lee in 3 TSB I have the sound and looks with those three. I have 17 basses now and regrettably I think it's time to thin the herd. But, I'll take my time and figure out what to get rid of and try to get it down to ten. GAS is a wicked thing.
 
#67
Here is my list of basses that I currently own. Why...because of Talkbass! Still missing a fretless.

Bacchus Woodline24 DX5AC-EWC/CW
Dingwall Z3
Fender Aerodyne APJ
Fender Custom Shop 1970 Jazz Bass Closet Classic Limited Edition
Fender Custom Shop NAMM 2005 Precision
Fodera Emperor Standard Special
Fodera Ying Yang Standard
Ken Smith BSR5GN
MTD 535-21
MTD Saratoga Norm Stockton Artist Edition
Roscoe LG Custom 5
Spector Forte 6
STR SC548
Yamaha BBNE2
Xotic XJ-4.
 
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#69
Near-perfection in sound ('focused Fender'), feel and construction. I've found it in three particular Dingwall basses. My '09 "Bronze Age" alder/maple/pau ferro four-string Super J/P, 2013 chambered ash/maple/pau ferro five-string Super J, and 2013 ash/maple/maple Super P. :cool:
 
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#70
Want. Plain and simple want. WP_20160228_20_04_31_Pro.jpg
 
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#72
leesbrushes said:
I guess I am not alone here.
Like I stated before I started with a guitar collection based on different tones and styles.
I have a strat.
A rg ibanez.
A schecter syn gates.
A rgt ibby..all deth metaled out.
A couple acoustics.
A 6505+ halfstack.
A fender hot rod deluxe 3
A fender champ 1970s..era.
My bass collection started with an ibby 300m
A schecter ellite 5 stilletto.
A custom shop p bass.
Now looking for a jazz.
I use a eden wt400 with a Stewart world 2.1.power amp and two 410 xlts.
I love that it sounds killer and has history.
Functional diversity... With a cool collector twist..
That's how I roll.
Click to expand...

Heh. I still have a couple of guitars and a Mesa/Boogie Mark lll half stack knocking around...
 
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#74
After I found my two main basses, every bass I've bought has been based on old desires and purchasing opportunities. I love old the old Fender colors like Sonic Blue and Seafoam Green, so I made sure I had one of each (one a Squier CV, other a Warmoth I put together). Was also a big fan of the Aerodyne, eventually found one on CL, very happy with that one.
 
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#75
I have only two instruments (out of six) that will never have a different neck/body combination than when I first got them, because they are proprietary instruments that would entirely lose their value if they were to be separated. All the others have been optimized by me to look and sound good with empirically selected components. Nothing is 'off the rack'.
 
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#76
NOTHING seems to motivate my collection(either of them)! It is all I can do to get them out of their stands for practice or a gig. Mostly they sit there quiet and motionless with blank expressions. I suspect that when I'm at work they watch netflix and rummage the pantry even tho I keep nothing that would interest a bass. I'm really starting to feel that I may have failed them in some way.

Is it too late?

How do you motivate your basses?
 
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#77
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#78
What motivates or has motivated me:

1. I need something different for a gig. In one case, I was in a band with a bagpiper :confused: who used two sets of pipes, one pitched in G and one in D. They were never in tune with each other. After getting tired of retuning multiple times during a set I decided to use two basses, each tuned to one set of pipes. G and D pipes mean a low D is useful so I was already using a Steinberger L2 which could be downtuned without needing to make any neck adjustments. When a Steinberger XM2 showed up for sale cheap I bought it. Before each set I checked the tuning of both pipes, then tuned up the two basses. A year or so after that gig ended, I sold the XM2.

2. It's just cheap and cool. Like a Danelectro Silvertone for $65, a Supro/Airline Pocket Bass for $250, that Steinberger L2 for $550 :thumbsup:

3. A backup...when I had only one bass, it was worth getting a second one for that purpose.

4. Wanted to try something different...fretless, 5 string, 6 string.

5. Different setups for different gigs, like one BG with flats and one with rounds. I use two DBs, one strung with synthetic gut strings and one strung with steel plus a EUB that's used for travel when there's no room to carry a real DB.

I'm not a collector because I don't have any rhyme or reason to what I own besides utility for gigging.
 
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#80
cms said:
Gorgeous!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I remember seeing a picture of a collection that consisted of a dozen or so Warmoth Geckos. At the time I thought that was rather goofy, but have come to understand it. Once you know your favorite shape there is little reason to deviate from it. I suppose the exception to that would be hollow and semi hollow bodies. I had a couple of those for awhile but found both to be too uncomfortable.
 
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