• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Why do you own so many basses?

#62
Pep said:
I"VE GOT IT BAD!!!!

* Tobias Growler 4 ------------------------------------------ Bought in used 2008. Wanted one for several years.
* Fender Stu Hamm Urge I - 32" ----------------------------Mexican version I rebuilt to the American setup
* Kramer Deciple D-1 --------------------------------------- Fell in love with the color. Light weight, fast neck, ebony fretboard, MM style PU.
* Spector NS Pulse II --------------------------------------- Always wanted a Spector. Nothing but love for this one.
** Ibanez EHB1505MS -------------------------------------- Wanted a lightweight 5 string. Small hands so this one will be sold.
** (2) Ibanez Roadstar RB850 ------------------------------ Bought one new in the 80s and the other one used two years ago. Light weight and great sound.
** MTD Kingston LK5 - 5 string ---------------------------- Bought this because of the 32" scale neck. Easy to play for a guy with small hands.
*** Hofner CT Contemporary ------------------------------ Bought this for Beatle tunes only 2 years ago.
* Vintage ICON V4 ----------------------------------------- Wanted a P-Bass. Compared it to American Fender. it played better, sounded the same.
* Vintage ICON VJ74 --------------------------------------- Needed a Jazz bass so this was it.
**** Vintage VJ74 ------------------------------------------ Wanted one for rehearsal
* Vintage Pro Shop Custom VJ74 ------------------------- This is the best Jazz bass I have, Sounds & looks great. Plays like butter. Very low set-up.
** Fret King Perception 4 ---------------------------------- PJ is the best of both worlds. High quality bass from Trevor Wilkinson.
* Harley Benton PB-50 ------------------------------------ Bought this because it was '51 P-Bass for under $200. Plays like a $1000+ bass.
** Warmoth "51 P-Bass ----------------------------------- Wanted build one so this was it. Plays and sounds great.
**** Glarry P-Bass ---------------------------------------- Bought it because of some of the reviews and the price at about $100, Light and plays great.
** Warmoth Mini P-Bass - 32" ---------------------------- This turned out awesome. Sounds great, plays fast and easy for small hands.
** Custom Built Mini P-Bass - 32" - reverse Headstock -- Like this one but needs lighter body and a different string tree. Will rebuild.
Custom Built PJ - Wenge neck ---------------------------- Bought a custom pickguard in neon swirls. going to finish the body to match one of the colors.

PS: Another Vintage VJ74 on order ------------------------ Ordered Candy Red with Black Pickguard / Rosewood fretboard but may change order. They
just introduced a 30th Anniversary model in British Racing Green with an Aged White Pearl
pickguard, maple neck and fretboard, with black block markers and black binding around the
fretboard.

* In the playing rotation
** Played occasionally
*** For certain gigs / tunes only
**** Rehearsal only
Click to expand...
No one asked (or cares) what basses you have, the question was why.

;)
 
  • Haha
Reactions: shirojiro and Swerve
#64
Different basses for different gigs. I could get by playing my 55-02 with rounds for everything but that would be replacing a 4-string fretless (jazz) and a graphite Steinberger necked bass strung BEAD with flats (reggae) - both have a very distinctive sound that is quite noticeable - even my bandmates notice lol.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vitrius Humor
#67
Some people have a lot of artwork on their walls, I.E. paintings, drawings, photographic art, etc... To me, guitars are a visual art that you can pull down off the wall and make music with. I spent many of my working years going to yard sales finding bargains, trading, find more, trade more until I have guitars and basses that are models which I grew up looking at on album covers in the 1960's and 1970's. Now that I'm retired, I can go into my room and look at my "artwork" while listening to music and typing posts on TB.
 
  • Like
Reactions: urkel3000, jmattbassplaya, Ethix4 and 1 other person
#72
For me, a combination of factors:
  • I got divorced and wanted to get back into playing out, and there was nobody to tell me "why don't you do that with the two basses you played out with 20 years ago"
  • good (enough) basses have gotten really cheap since I was playing gigs on my Fenders in the 80s, so why not try a Stingray, an L2K, and a decent J. Oh and why not a 6-string fretless
  • there's a certain narcissism in some of us where we imagine ourselves in hypotheticals like "what if I'm in an R&B revue and I really need a ray for the 70s set" or "if I have a studio date, I'll need to bring a P and a J". I know realistically those things aren't likely to happen, and if they did, I could play them on a single decent instrument.
So the question is why do I still have so many, when I mostly only ever play the upright or 6-string fretless.
  • I keep my first two fenders (76P, 87MiJ P/J fretless) because they were my ideal 4-string working pair, with many miles and hours of sentimental value invested
  • I keep my SUB ray4 because it's too cheap to bother selling. I tried to give it to my brother-in-law, but he couldn't commit to practicing and didn't want to just have it around (anyone in Portland want it cheap?)
  • I keep my 70s J reissue because it's nice to look at, plays great, and I always wanted a J to match the P. I used it for a roots rock studio project a couple years back, and I thought it worked really well for that
Not great reasons, but dealing with selling to internet randos is too much of a hassle to bother, mostly. I did sell my L2500 last year; cool bass, but I never played it after I quit a biker band right before the pandemic. I also sold a Rondo 6-string fretless a few years back when I got an Ibby to replace it; good riddance to bad rubbish on that one! I think in both cases I made back as much or more than I paid for them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: shirojiro and Vitrius Humor
#78
1737753057451.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vitrius Humor
#79
GretschWretch said:
Too much unexpected discretionary income. Too much indiscretion spending it.
Click to expand...
Absolutely true. I sold off 3 got down to only 4 and then "had to buy 2 more" won't bore you with the details but similar to you each is "different" somehow. 2 $300ish Squires (1P, 1J), 2 $400ish MIM Fenders (1P, 1J) and 2 $500ish PJs. I had 2 5 strings but sold them in the batch of 3 essentially giving up, knowing I could just go BEAD on one of my many 4 strings
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back