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Owning Multiple Basses...


uncle psychosis
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I have 3:
Squier JV-P
Warmoth PJ with a Jazz neck
Warmoth active P with a Jazz neck

The Squier JV-P I have had from new. It hardly ever gets played anymore as I find Jazz necks so much more comfortable, but it will never get sold.
The 2 Warmoths are recent builds. The active is most recent and is likely to get the #1 spot with the passive PJ as a spare for when the #1 fails at a gig.

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[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1340099162' post='1698938']
You make some good points about practicality but with respect you are quite new to BC and it hasn't had time to corrupt you yet. :D

[/quote]

Bwhahahahaha!!!

The Inner Sanctum of Basschat has to be seen to be believed ... the ultimate repository of the world's most sought-after basses, but forever a domain hidden from those with a paltry nine-or-less basses.

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I have two.
I get tetchy when I have more than two.

Some point i'll get a 3rd- a nice jazz bass.
Either an old Tokai, or similar japcrap or ill make one myself. Or more likely just buy someones bitsa.

probably if I have more than two I will get tetchy and sell the jazz
then I will have two

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Think I'm the exception here... just the one bass for me. It does everything I want it to do. I'm not a 'collector'. I find if I have more than one bass at my disposal I get tetchy, grumpy and surly. I drink more, am snappy with the family, get the shakes - and inevitably suffer from runaway scrotal adhesion. The world becomes a darker place, I fret, grumble, worry and shun my friends. Existence becomes an intolerable enigma! Consciousness itself becomes alarming and pointless!

I don't like choosing between two basses! I don't like taking two basses to a gig! :D

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[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1340102243' post='1698996']
See that? Proof that multiple bass ownership leads to tetchiness! :lol:
[/quote]

well for me it's more I can't justify 3.
Actually 2 and a cheapy work for me, but 3 good ones not so much

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1338895224' post='1680628']
I have about 30 basses. I've owned multiple basses ever since one of my very first gigs playing bass when I broke a string in the opening number and h[size=5][b]ad to borrow a totally inappropriate bass [/b][/size]for my style of playing to finish the gig. I do accept that my bass ownership has gone beyond what I need and is now a "collection". At the moment I'm contemplating selling most of my 4-string basses as they no longer get any playing time which should cut the numbers down to under 15.

If I was really serious about slimming down to just what I needed it would still be 6 - a 5-string fretted, 5-string fretless, 10-string (octave pairs) fretted and a backup for each.
[/quote]

What kind of bass did you borrow?

I had a similar thing happen to me and borrowed a bass from a female bass player who had a leopard print strap on this Yamaha bass and the strap was so short it half strangled me.

If I'd had a few minutes to swap straps it wouldn't have been a problem but it was mid gig and my e string snapped

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[quote name='megallica' timestamp='1340103035' post='1699016']
What kind of bass did you borrow?

I had a similar thing happen to me and borrowed a bass from a female bass player who had a leopard print strap on this Yamaha bass and the strap was so short it half strangled me.

If I'd had a few minutes to swap straps it wouldn't have been a problem but it was mid gig and my e string snapped
[/quote]

Knowing BidredX it would have been a fender.

:D

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At the moment, i have 3, though my ideal number is 6, with good reasons which i'm willing to explain to anyone who wants to listen. At the moment, my Ibanez doesn't get played, due to needing electronics, a bridge and a set up. I mostly play the P and bust out the J when i feel like playing a 5 string, or i'm learning stuff for my 2nd band which requires a 5.

Liam

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[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1340099162' post='1698938']
You make some good points about practicality but with respect you are quite new to BC and it hasn't had time to corrupt you yet. :D

I had about 2 decades of GAS free playing where I felt exactly as you do before joining BC... now I have multiple guitars in every single room of the house. I only perhaps gig with a couple of them... the rest are for my pleasure.
[/quote]

Haha, well this is true :)

Although I am not in a position, where I can't afford another bass. I choose not to. I want it, I just don't necessarily need it :)

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I got as far as owning 5, all different but deep down I knew I had favourites and ended playing them more and more. Now I'm down to one fretless and one fretted bass. It was very, very tough to choose between the Spector and the Tanglewater though (for the fretted bass).

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[quote name='megallica' timestamp='1340103035' post='1699016']
What kind of bass did you borrow?

I had a similar thing happen to me and borrowed a bass from a female bass player who had a leopard print strap on this Yamaha bass and the strap was so short it half strangled me.

If I'd had a few minutes to swap straps it wouldn't have been a problem but it was mid gig and my e string snapped
[/quote]

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1340103275' post='1699023']
Knowing BidredX it would have been a fender.

:D
[/quote]

Actually it was a Grant copy of a Hofner Violin Bass.

At the time I was playing a Burns Artist short scale bass strung with round wounds. My influences for playing style and sound were post-punk skinny white boy pseudo funk and Joy Division. I wore my bass just below my chin and had a high-mid biased sound. The owner of the Violin bass was a good 6 inches taller than me and played with his bass just above his knees. His strap had no adjustment so consequently I had to tie a knot in it to try and get the instrument in a suitable plying position for me. Also his sound was heavily influence by Jah Wobble and his bass was strung with flats... About the only thing our two basses had in common was the scale length!

The rest of the set was interesting to say the least...

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I have three, and they all do different things.

I have a jap jazz bass that I just love the feel of and its sounds like a jazz should.
I have a five string active ibanez with musicman pickups that sounds fat and is a five strig with a fairly narrow neck.
I have an active Stingray copy that does the rock thing. It can sound a bit like an old precision but has a thinner and narrower neck

I like [i]the look[/i] of precisions, but I know I dont [i]need [/i]one. I also know it wouldnt fit my hands. I dont buy any more basses because I dont need them.

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[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1340102622' post='1699005']
Ah, so there [b]is[/b] one advantage to being a female bass player then - nothing of the sort can happen to me :D[/quote]

Female bass players have their own problems.
For example: Depending on strap position, possible compression of one (or both) tumblers.

Edited by discreet
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[quote name='pendingrequests' timestamp='1340098287' post='1698927']
To be honest, I have never seen the need to own any more basses than 2 or 3. Certainly a lot of players on here can justify owning so many.

I have been pretty much using my USA Jazz bass for all live and recorded work for 4 years. In this time I have played in a ton of venues and recorded various styles of music.
At any point, in rehearsals or the recording studio has someone said "Eugh, I don't like that bass tone, do you have another bass?"

There has never been a time where I've felt I needed to buy another bass 1. I don't really need to. 2. What's the point if the Jazz is working?

I think people get caught up on changing the bass, rather than concentrating on what they are doing with their fingers.

Again I don't want to offend anyone, I really do not see the point in have over 3 basses. A local session bass player in Belfast I know, who is a extremely busy guy, usually has one bass strapped around him for everything he does and uses it from funk, cover gigs (pop, rock, indie), soul and Motown work.
[/quote]


See my sig below.
And that does not list everything :lol:
But I am not offended. :lol:

In fact, I probably use two basses for 99%, and one for 90%. I could easily just use my MM SUB. Easily.
But the reason I have so many basses is not "necessity". I just... like them. What can I do? :P

If I think "need" I could then justify the SUB or Stingray, the fretless Jazz (or P if I add a jazz pickup to it :lol: but that's another thread ;)), and either another Jazz or P-bass with flats of soem description. Those three basses would cover anything.

The thing is only at home I play and mix basses... live is nearly always the same one.

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[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1340099162' post='1698938']
You make some good points about practicality but with respect you are quite new to BC and it hasn't had time to corrupt you yet. :D

I had about 2 decades of GAS free playing where I felt exactly as you do before joining BC... now I have multiple guitars in every single room of the house. I only perhaps gig with a couple of them... the rest are for my pleasure.
[/quote]


Oh, indeed!!!!

BC has contributed extensively to my GAS.
I was oh so happy with my OLP too :P

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Am now up to 4:

77 US Precision, 2009 MIM Precision as backup
98 EBMM `Ray, 2011 SBMM `Ray as backup

I`d love a Rickenbacker, but wouldn`t use it in either band, and would also love one of the new oversized Gibson Les Pauls, but again, wouldn`t use it in either of my bands, so they will be wants-but-not-gots.

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[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1338848790' post='1680121']
How do you guys deal with having more than one bass? I can't imagine how the guys with 3, 4, 5+ basses cope...
[/quote]
I've got nine Jazzes and two Precisions. I'm a nerdy ego maniac and I cope admirably.

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I've only been playing just over a month and already have two basses and two amps!

Although in my defence I bought a £105 bass/amp cheapy combo from eBay. Realised I LOVED playing, then bought a nice Peavy amp... And due to my ickle hands, I have today bought an Ibanez SR300 due to the narrow neck. I'm loving how it plays and how much more comfortable my hand is.

Ok, I admit, being on here hasn't helped the cause :P

But I now have exactly what I need to enable me to properly develop now :D

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At the risk of getting all pretentious, for most of us who have multiple Basses, it's the act of collecting that we get a rush from. I get just as much pleasure from surveying my collection than I do from playing one...

Very few players will really need more than two or three Basses, but we want a lot more because it makes us feel good. And as long as we can afford it and our children aren't walking to school barefoot, then there's no harm in it. I've just taken possesion of number 10. I decided I needed a cheapie to take away on a school concert tour, so I grabbed a lovely Mike Dirnt Squier. The truth is, I don't need it, but just seeing it with the others makes me really happy. And it's a kickass Bass too.

They all get played tho, except my 1971 Jedsen which I keep purely to scare the children with....

Edited by rushbo
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I'm a believer that one bass is all you need, but I have 4 too many. Well, 3 too many.

Precision with flats for the Motown band, perfection for this, not good for much else.
Currently a 2001 Stingray for everything else and that's a luxurious place where it should stop.

...then there's a 2006 Jazz which was for everything else but should now go; anyone?
a '79 Stingray which I now will very rarely use as its precious and there's the other one.
My ol' Jaydee, single bass for over 25 years, never gets touched nowadays. Shame.

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I have and need just one bass but I want more - it's just bass lust taking hold B) . I think they are just so nice to have around, I could have loads if funds allowed.

I would love a Fender Aerodyne in Gun metal blue next ...I bought a little practice amp to avoid moving my bigger one between rooms so really, one bass per amp makes sense ;)

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