No such thing as 'a keeper' - agree?

[chris_b]

I disagree.

I bought my Precision, brand spanking new, with the money I made from my first pro band. It's been with me ever since and it will be the last bass I sell, or more likely my executors will sell!

I guess that makes it a keeper.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I'm a hoarder

Definite keepers:
[list]
[*]'81 Cherry sunburst Precision. My first fender which I've owned from new for almost 30 years. Had to suffer working through the summer at Bejams to save up for it
[*]CIJ mustang. I know these are very easy to find, but after getting the frets dressed at the gallery this is the most comfy bass I have & it feels like home and just has 'my sound'
[*]Sunburst fretless Precison with unlined ebony fingerboard - a Fender inspired bitzer I made from brandoni bits, fender hardware & really cool hipshot lollypops inc xtender.
[/list]

Some I doubt I'll part with
[list]
[*]NS CR5M - I don't play it much but when I do its unlike anything else I have
[*]Natural Epi thunderbird pro-v - Probably too soon to say its a keeper, as I only got it in December, but its great fun to gig with.
[/list]

[Bassassin]

I've accumulated loads of basses & sold more than I own, there are no keepers here.

There are some I've had for donkey's years - my twisted-necked Aria RSB Deluxe, and Hohner B2A I've had from new since the mid-80s, there are some gorgeous, rare & irreplaceable JapCraps, there are some that look like sh!t and play like a dream.

But they've all got their price. Some I might have a pang of regret selling, but I still would for the right reason. I don't know what that is though, it hasn't happened yet.

Jom.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1117146' date='Feb 5 2011, 10:28 PM']Getting back OT, I entirely agree that there's no such thing (for most people) as a genuine keeper but I [i][b]do [/b][/i]think there is such a thing as a "category killer".

If you keep trading and keep trading, eventually you find yourself with a bass that simply isn't worth replacing because there's nothing significantly better out there. Two years ago I never dreamed that I'd end up owning a 1966 Precision; now that I do, it's pretty unlikely that I'll be buying any more Precisions for the foreseeable future.[/quote]
All my basses technically are category killers. The graphite necked Alembic is virtually irreplacable. If I let that go, I'd have a snowballs chance in hell of finding another, let alone another for what I paid for mine now that the US market understands how unusual they are. The '00 Spector NS5CR in natural is irreplacable because no other bass sounds like it. Even another Spector. The rest are technically replacable but still best in their class (in my view).

[Bankai]

What actually makes a keeper is an emotional attachment. Instead people use keeper as a adjective for a bass that is technically good.

[danny-79]

[quote name='Bankai' post='1117323' date='Feb 6 2011, 04:05 AM']What actually makes a keeper is an emotional attachment. Instead people use keeper as a adjective for a bass that is technically good.[/quote]

Excellently put sir !!

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Bankai' post='1117323' date='Feb 6 2011, 04:05 AM']What actually makes a keeper is an emotional attachment. Instead people use keeper as a adjective for a bass that is technically good.[/quote]
Interesting point! I can't logically disagree with it, even though I feel emotionally compelled to.

Emotional dependency vs being happy and grateful for what you have...?

[Machines]

I've only got 2 instruments i've had more than 2 years:

Yamaha RBX775 - Which I defretted 4 years ago, have since refinished it. Bought as a 21st birthday present so won't part with it.
Vintage VP6 - my first guitar (from before I played bass). Emotional attachment is there but also, it's actually pretty damned good.

Others i've generally got bored of and traded/sold.

[JTUK]

Oh, I don't know.

I take a long time to buy as I am a very picky buyer so I don't often make a rash mistake and out gear quickly.
Of my current stable, I can't see me selling apart from the Sei 5 which I have been umming about for ages...
I made the decison that it can go...but over a year later..still have not put it up for sale.
I use my other two constantly and there is currently one in these that I have been looking for for a long time.

I don't think I have ever bought and sold a bass within a year but this place is the place of GAS.

[lojo]

its nice when you here that someone has a special bass, like thier dad brought it for them in 1975 or like a guy i know you brought a new P in the early 80s and has only played that since

but you cant make these things happen or buy knowing it will

yes there are keepers, but i think its more in the circumstance, than a quality that an individual bass owns

you cant sell a keeper, or youd not be selling it unless your starving

[TimR]

[quote name='Bankai' post='1117323' date='Feb 6 2011, 04:05 AM']What actually makes a keeper is an emotional attachment. Instead people use keeper as a adjective for a bass that is technically good.[/quote]

That's more like what I thought Clarky was saying in his OP hence my rambling post earlier [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtopic=121807&view=findpost&p=1117167"]#39[/url]

I thought he was asking what sort of person uses the word keeper?

My basses have all been keepers apart from a 5-string that I rashly bought for £80 and was unplayable due to the neck dive. I bought it purely to see what a five string was like to play and to learn on with a view to possibly spending a lot of money on one in the near future.

But I've never used the term keeper. Maybe because I've never really considered whether I would sell it later. If I'm spending a fair bit of money on a musical instrument I make sure it's right to start with.

[witterth]

Oh My, Oh My.
my first ever stingray a pre EB beauty ask MB1
how could I have been so blind?!? (sob!)

Ive tried to buy it back (at lot more than its worth, cos that guitar kept me away from the dole office TWICE) but the guy who has it says
"no its a keeper"............and dosent play it, hate that phrase....&...
I hate him
W

[Mikey R]

I skipped a few pages, so I dont know if anyones brought this up.

My Bass Collection is a keeper, only because it wouldnt fetch much second hand. Its a great lightweight bass, but since its probably worth just a little more than a burger from a van, I would have to be very down on my luck before I sold it.

[Rich]

[quote name='Bankai' post='1117323' date='Feb 6 2011, 04:05 AM']What actually makes a keeper is an emotional attachment.[/quote]
Both my keepers are. The Shuke was made for me and is like an extension of my body (you, boy, stop sniggering at the back) -- the Wal I've had for 25 years this year, was my first really good bass, almost like a first love, and we've been through a lot of sh*t together.

EDIT: oh christ, now I'm starting to sound like a bloody Country & Western song.

[Muzz]

Well, I've been around the block a few times on this, thinking such and such a bass was 'a keeper', but most have them have gone/are going, even the BB3000A I've had since new in 87. The only thing I'd say is a keeper is the SX/MM FrankenP I've got, mostly for the reason it stands me at £200, I'd probably get half that secondhand (unless someone played it first), and it's far, far too good to sell for that money. There's a great satisfaction for me in such an ideal instrument (for me, I suspect other people's opinions might well be different) costing so little, and as a result it has a personal value to me greater than the £s. Having used it in the studio to such great effect, where I thought its weaknesses would be exposed, has only reinforced this. With such a low financial cost, it'll probably survive the ups and downs of my cashflows - I can't imagine a situation where I'd need £100 THAT badly...

Having said that, I did replace the body and pickups to convert it to a P/J just before Xmas (and I'm currently pondering Wizards for it), so it's more of a philosopher's hammer, I guess...

[theosd]

I had been tinkering around with my Westbury Track 2 (first ever bass given to me by my mum), shielding the cavity, WD40'ing the pots, replacing the knackered old nut and restringing it with flats. Used it for a gig last night for the first time in a couple of years and it felt just like coming home, I was in love with playing all over again. I was considering starting a thread just to announce this to the world but this one'll do - I'll never sell it. Fact

[Beer of the Bass]

I think my home made bass guitar is a keeper, partly because I love the way it sounds, but mostly because it's quite crudely built and weighs 12 1/2 lbs, and is thus unsellable! I put it together in my parents back room when I was 18 (12 years ago) and have slowly improved bits of it since, adding better pickups and bridge, re-shaping the neck and dressing the frets. Most of my other instruments, including my double bass (late 19th century German) I would move on quite happily if something I liked better came along.

[bumnote]

I have had one of my precision now for 42 years After going through a number of different basses when I started and when I got this one it just seemed right.

Ive added and sold other basses over the period, but always kept this one, the next oldest one I have is my 20 anniversary stingray which Ive had for 14 years but I really dont use it that much

[bh2]

I disagree... I've had my Jazz for thirty three years now. It was my first fender and my first decent bass.

I went through a few fashion items, SB1000, Stingray, during which time the Jazz was a case inhabitant.

Now it's my main player... I can't see me ever letting it go.

[Clarky]

Interesting spectrum of views. Where a bass is viewed as a keeper it seems to come down to either (1) some form of emotional attachment (first good bass etc) (2) category killer (as Happy Jack eloquently put it) or (3) its so value-less in the event of a sale there's no point considering selling it!

I imagine if I found a lightweight, lightly mojo'd 1963 (year of birth) oly white Fender Precision that would be it for me in the P stakes and would be a keeper. But I haven't spotted one yet and, if I did, more than likely I couldn't afford it right now!

[casapete]

[quote name='Bankai' post='1117323' date='Feb 6 2011, 04:05 AM']What actually makes a keeper is an emotional attachment. Instead people use keeper as a adjective for a bass that is technically good.[/quote]

This proves your point.

My 63 Precision was originally owned by a good friend who played bass in a band I was in circa late 70's (my guit*r period, sorry!)
He was tragically killed in a car accident late one night on his way home. A couple of years later his widow
got in touch to say she was ready to start letting some of his musical stuff go, and would I be interested.
When I went round to see her, she admitted the bass had since been in the loft, and was subsequently in a sorry state.
She was adamant that it went to someone who had known her husband, and would restore it to use regularly. This I did,
and have now owned it for over 25 years. I could never ever part with it, and have made plans in my will to
ensure it will go to someone else who knows its story on my demise.
So a keeper it is!

[D-COOPER]

I have a G&L SB2 in emerald blue with a birds eye maple neck and ebony board.It also has a pickup selector and tone control and i have to say if i was offered twice what i paid for it i would NOT sell it!! It just feels like the bass iv been waiting for

[Deep Thought]

All depends on circumstances for me. I find it hard to envisage selling my Shuker JJ at the moment, it being a bass I'd long lusted after and never thought I'd be able to own. However I go through phases-I tend to alternate between music and collecting flying jackets (my other great obsession), and it depends what's in favour at the time-I'm currently in a bit of a jacket phase, the band isn't doing much and the weather's cold, so my thoughts are very much with big sheepskin flight jackets at present, and not much with basses and bass kit. My visits here, and number of posts have declined accordingly of late. However in a few months time, when it's too hot for a jacket and we've got more gigs, bass playing will come to the fore again, I'll be on the hunt for new gear and jackets may have to go to finance it. A couple of years ago one of my favourite jackets was sold to pay for my Mex Precision, which is a damn fine bass, but now I'm missing the jacket badly and trying to get my hands on another one. If something came along at the right time which I just had to have, there's no guarantee I could resist flogging the JJ to get it. The real clincher will be if the band folds-if I'm not gigging, I don't know how long I'll be able to justify hanging on to such an expensive bass, plus all the other stuff, when it's not getting any use..

[EssentialTension]

'Keeper' does seem to mean different things to different people and can vary from 'I've had it for two weeks and I have no plan to sell it before tomorrow' to 'My mother bought it for me as a first birthday present in 1951 and I could never part with it even though it's a dog'.

[tino]

[quote name='Clarky' post='1117003' date='Feb 5 2011, 08:36 PM']BC is full of posts stating this bass, that bass blah blah is a keeper. More often than not the very same bass is for sale months or even weeks later. Unless something has a particular emotional attachment or resonance (year of birth, present from wifey at key date etc) surely the concept of a keeper is plain rubbish. After all it's bits of wood and wire and there are a lot of pretty bits of wood and wire out there. I am as guilty as any, having stated first that my 71 Precision would never be sold, then my Fender Pino ( now back in Legion's hands as I wanted his Tony Franklin fretless just that little bit more than the Pino, even though it was the nicest Precision I had ever played).

Agree, disagree?[/quote]
Totally Agree......................................even got a fiver for me muvva...bless her.
Every thing has its price.. YEP EVERYTHING
For sale genuine 1965 USA Fender Jaguar with upgraded pups & 51 Esquire with Callaham modifications or 71 USA Telecaster..................IF the price is right