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Whose bass is more to them than a tool?

St Drogo

St Drogo

Oct 9, 2009
1,221
24
Netherlands
mtechoband.com
#1
Who here has a special relationship with a bass? I don't (necessarily) mean inserting of bodyparts (EDIT: Ew), but a bond, like one can have with a pet or something.

I hear a lot of people who say a bass is just a tool, to be used. I mostly agree. But a bass can be more than that. There could be a great story of how you got a bass, or maybe you built one yourself out of your childhood racecarbed. Maybe you just bought the one bass forty years ago and never played anything else. Maybe you and your bass set off on wild adventures for so long, it became a friend. IDK.

I'd like to hear your stories. So, who here has experiences like that to share?
 
#2
I think that most people will definately say their basses are more than a tool. For example, people who have made them up from scratch, or had them for decades..

However, my only bass is a cheapo ibanez GSR. I can see that it's just some wood and metal, and i know it ain't brilliant, but it's my first bass. I'm not going to sell it for the sentimental reasons. :)
 
#4
St Drogo said:
Who here has a special relationship with a bass? I don't (necessarily) mean inserting of bodyparts (EDIT: Ew), but a bond, like one can have with a pet or something.

I hear a lot of people who say a bass is just a tool, to be used. I mostly agree. But a bass can be more than that. There could be a great story of how you got a bass, or maybe you built one yourself out of your childhood racecarbed. Maybe you just bought the one bass forty years ago and never played anything else. Maybe you and your bass set off on wild adventures for so long, it became a friend. IDK.

I'd like to hear your stories. So, who here has experiences like that to share?
Click to expand...

All bases are functional art forms to me therefore I have never seen them as simply a tool.
 
#6
Of all my basses, which includes an '08 Am. Std Jazz and a 2010 Am. Std. P, my 2001 MIM P is actually my "go to" bass! I bought it offa evil-bay and from the moment I first played it there was something special about it. I have swapped the pickguard, p-up(62 RI), CTS pots, etc. and it truly sounds like an older Precision. I dunno why, the new P is fantastic but I'm drawn to the Mex. Go figure...... :bassist:
 
#7
all my bc rich basses have alot of meaning to me, one warlock i bought with money i got when my dad died. my snake skin warlock and widow basses i wanted and looked for for 15 years or more and my girlfriend helped me buy them when a found them. the snakeskin plays sounds and feels so perfect after playing it it hurts to put it down and i get seperation anxiety when i gotta leave it to go to work : P
 
#9
Yeah - have had my Rick bass from age 18 till today, age 50.

From my teenage years to middle age and beyond...

Had it stolen and recovered.

Spent many years in storage when I lost my passion for music.

With me at 10 different residences.

Been there for me through many ups and downs.

Placed in pawn shops a few times when I was desperate for cash, but couldn't sell her.

Traveled thousands of miles with me, around the world.

Yeah, more than a 'tool'.

I'll die with her.
 
#10
My basses DO hang on the wall "as ... art piece" (snyderz), although they don't have names or get any cuddling. I just find I'm more likely to practice regularly if my whole set-up -- basses, amp, drum machine, peddleboard, DAI -- is within arm's reach and I don't have to mess with pulling things out of cases, cabling up, etc. That said, I have a MIM Jazz that I bought in '95 or '96 that basically sat in my ex-guitarist's closet for 14 years; I had a love/hate relationship with it and had left it behind when I had 72 hours to pack and move to Colorado from Florida for a job. My ex-guitarist, clearly a cool dude, saved it for all those years, and recently gave it back to me when I met up with my old band to jam, hang out, and reminisce on a recent trip to SoFla. It was black with a rosewood board, and was as beat-up as I remember it being: gouged, scratched, dinged, dirty, rusty, the whole nine. So I stripped the poly, repainted it in a Krylon rattle-can color that's a dead ringer for Daphne Blue, color-matched the headstock and applied a bootleg Fender Jazz decal with a lacquer overcoat, cleaned and oiled the fretboard, switched out the pups for U.S. Vintage Js, put in a new control plate and pots with a series/parallel push/pull mod on the tone pot, added Hipshot tuners, restrung it with DR Hi-Beams, threw on some old-skool covers, and had my luthier chase down some loose frets and set it up just so. Same neck, body, and pickguard, but everything else is upgraded. Now it looks like this:

img_03271.jpg
img_03301.jpg


And our love/hate relationship is renewed, without the /hate!
 
#11
The first bass I bought was an Aria jazz copy. the pups are as dead as my grandpa's stuffed parrot, it weighs 11 pounds and the frets are huge, but I ain't selling it. Frankly, I hate it, but it was my first and I bought it myself, so it's gonna stay with me until I am old.
Of course, in a few good years I'll refinish it in nitro red or orange, get her a new neck and some nice pups, but she'll still be special and I won't hate her anymore. :)
 
#13
St Drogo said:
Who here has a special relationship with a bass? I don't (necessarily) mean inserting of bodyparts (EDIT: Ew), but a bond, like one can have with a pet or something.
Click to expand...

Hey. Why should marriage be restricted to just a man and a woman? Isn't this a modern progressive age? I love my bass and my bass loves me and I think we should be able to have our "special relationship" preserved through marriage the same as anyone else even if we have to move to California to do it!
 
#14
My bass (and music) was one of the only things helping me get through life and meet people while I was in my teens (Just out of them now). At that point, for about 4-5 of those years, I didn't know where I was going to live or with which parent. I also kept changing schools and going back and forth from Vancouver to Ottawa. After all was said and done, my bass and brother were two of the only things that stayed solid and central in my life during that time. The particular bass that I had was nothing special: an OLP MM2, but it has become something that I don't think I could ever sell.
 
#16
Aspidites said:
All bases are functional art forms to me therefore I have never seen them as simply a tool.
Click to expand...

Another +1. I feel kind of sorry for people who don't value the visual aspect of their instruments - they're missing out on a lot. While I probably wouldn't choose to keep a bass that wasn't getting played, I sure do enjoy simply looking at my basses.
 
#17
My father in law was a shipwright in the Pearl Harbor shipyard for over 50 years. We have a few of his oldest hand tools here in our home, just some files, rasps, and wrenches that he used throughout the course of his life as a quiet, decent, hard working, blue collar, lunch pail hero. I don't know if he had any of these particular tools in his tool box the day the bombs fell on Pearl (it was Sunday, so he was off that day) but I do know that his tools are just tools...and they're a lot more than that, too.
My oldest bass didn't survive the attack on Pearl Harbor, but it was with me the day I made my first couple of bucks as a bass player. With me for my first grubby, dead broke rock and roll tour of the grittiest small town bars and clubs to be found in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and both Dakotas. Mexico...Mozambique...Honolulu...Tuba City. Of course it's just a tool...and a lot more than that, too.
 
#18
Let me see, Is it a tool?

Built from a pile of hand selected wood, the best parts I can find, and everything that my mind can dream up. Add to that hours of research, chat, study, and as many days or months it takes to put together, and you have a piece of your soul when you are done with your build. Do I name my basses?, No, but they are not "just tools", but rather my art.

Droot

BTW.... My T-40 is not modified in any way and it is still a part of me because I agonize over every purchase. Therefore by the time I finally pick out a bass I have grown to know it intimately.
 
#19
Almost all my basses are tools. I've got two basses I'll never sell. One is my 67 P-bass with a 62 Jazz neck that I got for cheap because its lightweight and an awesome sounding player.

But my 'Wife' has been through it all. My 1982 57RI P-bass, which I got about 10 years ago in NOS condition, is my main bass and its got a lot of sentimental value. I put all that wear on her through countless gigs and rehearsals. It was the first bass that was truly mine and my father (now deceased) helped me out by paying half of the $400 it cost to get it. I took her in to get set up last time and my tech (who himself is a gear whore and a P-bass player) offered to buy it from me citing that it was the best P-bass he's ever laid hands on. He even offered to trade me an early 60s P-bass for it + cash. When I said I didn't have cash and thanked him for the offer, he offered to just trade basses with me.
To put it into perspective, he's got a few pre-CBS P-basses in addition to a USA Lakland and a pair Mike Lulls. (Plus his 70s P-basses and P-bass copies etc) It was a big compliment for me, and funnily enough he isn't the first to have offered to buy the bass from me over the years.

Some pics.

front.jpg

back.jpg
 
#20
Aspidites said:
All bases are functional art forms to me therefore I have never seen them as simply a tool.
Click to expand...

This. Plus, music is art, and art involves aesthetic. And beyond visual, making music is physical, so there are tactile sensations as well. My Deep 5 is very much alive - I can feel the body vibrating when I play it. Some instruments are more visceral than others.

Tool, yes, but much more.
 

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