Why have so many basses?

Why own more than one car, pair of shoes, baseball bat, hat, amp, etc. People collect lots of things they can only use one at a time.

 

i'm down to two now, one is for shows and the other one is for recording
after all these years and basses it's kind of a relief to not be scouring pawnshops, vintage places, and guitar center, not to mention all online sales places

 

I def agree with your sentiments and although this topic has been beaten to death,I often keep coming back to the same question, myself. Obviously it's a deeply personal question, and the answer is different for everyone. I think it boils down to the fact that I love a certain era of guitars and basses. Particularly designs from the 50s-70s. It's just fun to play and collect different guitars. I've reached a place in my life where I am fortunate enough to splurge once in a while on a nice instrument. As a result, I have accumulated quite a few over the years.

Is it excessive? Perhaps. Am I a pro gigging musician? Absolutely not. But having the option to plug in a wide variety of instruments when I get home from work in the evening gives me a nice feeling. I try to bond with all instruments I own on some level. Others are just case queens that I am proud to own and bust out every so often. Call it stupid, I guess.

When I was broke, I played an Mim jazz bass for about 10 years and was content. It was my only functional bass. Maybe that has something to do it that too...

Sorry for the rambling, been a long day.

 

The people I know with lots of basses can afford too, mostly accumulated over a period of time but I never really thought of what's to much for the next person-it's a dog trying to keep myself in check.

 

For not being judgmental, that post if pretty judgmental.

Why? Because I want to. It isn't because this one is great for this, and that one is great for that. It is simply because I want to.

 

Because it' s legal? and because they have the money to buy them?

I can play them all!

????????? like most hobbys?????

hoping for some funny stuff to read

may the bass (or all your basses ) be with you

Wise(b)ass

 

I can play all my instruments just fine (except harmonica), to my ears, but I will never play in public or post videos of my playing.
That said, I was ironically just lying here in bed thinking of selling all but 2 of my instruments on Monday morning.

Darn those hobbyists for cluttering up the supply chain!

 

It's lots of fun spending our kids college and retirement funds.

 

Basses are things.

People like things.

So they buy lots of them.

 

Live and let live.

 

Not everyone is at the same income or wealth level that you are. For one person, an American Standard Fender might be a major purchase. For another person, it may be an unattainable luxury. For another person, having a number of American Standard and AVRI basses may be a relatively minor expense.

One guy buys a sports car just for fun — its not his main commuter car nor the minivan the family uses to cart around the kids and such, it’s just an extra car that he always wanted. Say it costs $30,000-ish, like the Nissan 370Z a guy I know bought recently. Another guy dreams of having a couple of basses. Another guy wants a swimming pool. Another guy wants a motor home. Another guy wants a vacation home. Another guy wants to upgrade his house to a McMansion. Another guy blows his money on gambling. Another guy literally pisses away his money year after year on alcohol, perhaps A LOT of money if he’s into, say, fine wines — and he’s praised for his discrimination and taste! That’s all okay, but somebody can’t spend, say, $10,000 on a little collection of nice basses if that’s what makes him happy? I can’t agree with that.

On the other hand, why do some people have a dozen or more potted plants in their house?! I only have two, and for years I only had one plant. I can’t see how some people somehow feel justified having a dozen or more plants. And, I see with many of these hobbyist plant collecting people, their plants aren’t even that green! I worked hard and carefully for years keeping my one plant green; I just can’t understand how somebody could have like 6 plants and some of them have yellowing in their leaves or a withered stem here or there — it just doesn’t make sense to me. The other day I was thinking of getting a 3rd plant and I went to the store and there was no plant of the type I wanted in stock! It’s these hobbyist gardners who can’t even keep the plants they have green and lustrous buying all these plants and messing with the supply for serious plant keepers like me. But i’m not gonna judge

 

There are a great many things that annoy me but the idea of someone owning a lot of basses just isn't one of them.

 

I'm more on the other side of this. I'm a reasonably good player (I played pro for years) over many different styles, so I collected basses that either inspired me in some way, or had a tone or feel that I really dug. I rarely looked at cost, and in my mind a good bass was about fitting in the parameters I outlined above, not the weight of the price.

I also never was a collector per say. I was a working bassist that pretty much lived on the road touring, and the battle scars and the touring life can beat a bass up pretty quick. I don't own any high end botique basses, any pristine vintage case queens, or other exotic one offs that would be so expensive I'd never play them out.

What I do have is a bunch of lower and medium priced basses that in some way spoke to me. For me, the fun is taking a good sounding or feeling bass and modding it to bring out the best of its tone. If it gets a dent or ding when playing on stage or at home, so be it. I have my main and favorite players I've had for years, but I do rotate basses out of the main line up every few months.

I went through a period backing an artist where all I played was five string basses, so I've got some great players. These days I've been playing more four stringers, going back to my roots and really digging my Precision and Jazz style basses. In six months that might change. But with a stable of about 20 basses, I can usually find one that fits the mood I'm in to play. I'm getting the urge to get back into playing fretless more again, so I might have to break out my Jaco sig this week.

If someone wants to collect high end basses and can't play as well as a pro can, who really cares? If they are enjoying the basses that all that matters.

 

I'm reminded of this dude who posts videos of himself playing guitar really well in his parents' basement on a rig that runs in the thousands.
Why doesn't that guy move out of his parents' house?
This is essentially the kind of question you're asking.