Why am I so obsessed with discontinued/rare basses??

[Deleted member 264575]

I didn't consciously pick them because they're rare, but I do seem to have a few:
My Chris Squire signature Ric is 1 of 1000 made (mine is #365). Discontinued.
My Ibanez SR1000 Prestige, which were only made from 2005 to 2007. Discontinued. The only neck through Soundgears I've seen. [EDIT]- This is not so, thanks to @awilkie84 , for the correction.
My Zeta electric upright is a hard one to come by. Discontinued.
Haven't seen another doubleneck with a 12 on top and a 4 on bottom, yet.
I like to think of myself as rare and soon to be discontinued .

 

[awilkie84]

First, to address your primary question, "Why am I so obsessed with discontinued/rare basses??". I think the answer lies within the end of the question…"discontinued/rare".

It reminds me of a line from one of my all-time favorite movies; "You and I are merely passing through history. This…this IS history!"

Second, can I relate? Hell-to-the-eff-yeah! The first bass I ever, ever wanted turned out to have been discontinued a few years before my search began. But with some persistence, a lot of fruitless calls and emails, and not to mention a creative way to scour the web, I finally found "My Sexy Beast"!

Eventually, I even managed to get the whole trifecta! So what if I don't even play six-stringers! Call it out for what it was…a fairly inexpensive birthday present to myself. Besides, it looks smokin' hot and it'll be nice to have around if any of my friend's kids want to learn on it.

And then, there's the recent, untimely demise of Fender Japan. The thought of a world without Aerodynes is like a year without sunshine! But rather than just sit back and watch the ship fade away into the distance, I jumped on a listing for something that turned out to be much more rare than simply being discontinued. After doing some research (many thanks to archive.org for giving me the tools to do it), I found out it was a 2008 Limited Edition bass. Some ancient, Japanese Luck God must've been lurking in the background during all of this!

So what if it's afflicted with the classic "Fender G-string Dead Spot"! It's super-rare (on any continent), sounds great and looks even better!!



Same here. I bought a White Chrome Pearl Blacktop Jazz body from a local TB'er to go along with my black model for exactly that same reason. And to further the "discontinued" groove, once I get an appropriate neck for it, I plan on turning it into it's own little tribute to the '80s-era Fender Japan Jazz Bass Specials (much like the Duff-sig model).

I literally JUST bought a CIJ Classic 70s P-bass, today. (Pic and NBD thread to come)
I should have bought the one I was eyeing up 3 years ago but didn't.
Wasn't going to pass this one over, cuz they're not made anymore. lol

 

[awilkie84]

I didn't consciously pick them because they're rare, but I do seem to have a few:
My Chris Squire signature Ric is 1 of 1000 made (mine is #365). Discontinued.
My Ibanez SR1000 Prestige, which were only made from 2005 to 2007. Discontinued. The only neck through Soundgears I've seen.
My Zeta electric upright is a hard one to come by. Discontinued.
Haven't seen another doubleneck with a 12 on top and a 4 on bottom, yet.
I like to think of myself as rare and soon to be discontinued .

There are still neckthru Soundgears made today.

 

[Deleted member 264575]

There are still neckthru Soundgears made today.

Cool. Thanks for the info! Maybe I'm missing it, but on the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] site, it looks like the fretless SRF705 is the only neck thru Soundgear. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[alexander_gbass]

I have a XXX too, I see them for sale used here and there for about half the price they were new. When I got it I was split between it and an EDB550, now those are hard basses to find.

funny thing is i still have the original sales tag lol.. paid about 500 for it.. im currently putting in some emg 35'dc's in there.. updated system. cam stock with 35hz.. but im gonna go full active on this thing.. bringing it out of retirement for a short time, ive only seen the xxx 2 other times since i got mine.. a bass player friend of mine has one and i seen a used one in bad shape at the local guitar center

the edb 550 was pretty cool.. i love the 700 i got.. i would like to grab another one

 

[Watchootognbout]

I have basses that you don't see everywhere.
You can't just pop into a GC or a Sam Ash and see them on the wall.
The Dean is discontinued.
The Tune is becoming rare.
And the Wolf is an enigma to many.Wolf 7 String Bass Walnut with Gigbag

 

[deeptubes]

Not including the floor lamp, 5 of my 6 basses are discontinued - P Elite II, HM, Dimension v.1, T-40, Dyna-Bass. I love breaking some of them out and hearing "Wow! I've never seen one of those before!"

 

[scourgeofgod]

funny thing is i still have the original sales tag lol.. paid about 500 for it.. im currently putting in some emg 35'dc's in there.. updated system. cam stock with 35hz.. but im gonna go full active on this thing.. bringing it out of retirement for a short time, ive only seen the xxx 2 other times since i got mine.. a bass player friend of mine has one and i seen a used one in bad shape at the local guitar center

the edb 550 was pretty cool.. i love the 700 i got.. i would like to grab another one

I want to drop some Big Singles in mine at some point and maybe go full passive too, I'm not a big fan of the stock eq anymore and I don't really want to tack on another $200 or so for a new, superior one. Yeah the edb series is kinda underrated in general imo, I really loved the look/sound/feel of the 550, but them stripper inlays were just too much to resist for the 17 year old me.

 

[awilkie84]

Cool. Thanks for the info! Maybe I'm missing it, but on the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] site, it looks like the fretless SRF705 is the only neck thru Soundgear. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Ibanez SR 5 String Electric Bass Guitar - Vintage Natural Flat - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments

 

[Flaked Beans]

This one is discontinued:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[alexander_gbass]

I want to drop some Big Singles in mine at some point and maybe go full passive too, I'm not a big fan of the stock eq anymore and I don't really want to tack on another $200 or so for a new, superior one. Yeah the edb series is kinda underrated in general imo, I really loved the look/sound/feel of the 550, but them stripper inlays were just too much to resist for the 17 year old me.

they should have never stopped making the edb series period.. yea the inlays on the xxx were somethin hahah.. i think they did the c4xxx and a matching guitar as well.. i think it was for an anniversary or something .. cant remember what exactly..

 

[Baird6869]

This one is discontinued:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I would think it is very safe to say that there is an extremely low number of fretted SB 6ers out there.

Really cool bass!

 

[scourgeofgod]

they should have never stopped making the edb series period.. yea the inlays on the xxx were somethin hahah.. i think they did the c4xxx and a matching guitar as well.. i think it was for an anniversary or something .. cant remember what exactly..

Yeah there was a guitar as well, I think they were just Guitar Center special limited editions, at least as far as I know.

 

[alexander_gbass]

Yeah there was a guitar as well, I think they were just Guitar Center special limited editions, at least as far as I know.

you know what.. i think your right buddy.. but hey.. im glad i got one haha..

 

[Flaked Beans]

I would think it is very safe to say that there is an extremely low number of fretted SB 6ers out there.

Really cool bass!

Thanks. I bought it brand new back in 2009 and i think it's a very good 6 string jazz bass for the price, much better quality than a standard usa model. That quartersawn maple neck is ridiculously playable and the ebony/maple/alder wood combo sounds awesome. Also the preamp is not bad at all. Not to mention the kill switch! (paid $2500 + shipping).

 

[mat666]

I don't know why but i seem to be obsessing way too much lately with my axes.
-80s Tune Bass Maniac
- Steinberger XL2
-MTD Beast
I love all three to death and took me years to find all of these. The mystique of the rarity and them being discontinued seem to lure me away from all other awesome possibilities out there but somehow seemed to win the race in the final round. Can anyone else relate to this?

I understand completely.

I've been gassing over a LEFTY Aria pro II Cliff Burton BnG for 20 years. Even thought about asking Aria to build me one since they re-issue the bass.

But I just found one in a store oversea and god be with me a friend is travelling to Europe and will bring it back to me!!

Don't worry you're not alone ;-)

 

[Arizona Jones]

I know why thier rare and discontinued basses

Damn it, I was with you, but you blew the delivery.

 

[electracoyote]

Yeah, see my signature. I'm definitely in search of the unique and rare vintage vibe myself.

 

[Arizona Jones]

I just saw a Deal of the Day on those Gibby basses on Musician's Friend. They sold out.

What were they going for?

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I assume the reduction in price was to move them, but a lot of their deals of the day don't sell out.