To Cull or Not to Cull...

[NancyJohnson]

12 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Paul, I'll try to do my best to follow that advice. But as much as I try to tell myself that my new Squier really is just as good (well actually an upgrade and an improvement on) the Fender 1962 P I just sold, as I cry myself to sleep each night... 😄 

Honestly though, ion a blind test nobody can tell the difference between the new Squier and a 60 year old Precision.

 

[Woodinblack]

23 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Paul, I'll try to do my best to follow that advice. But as much as I try to tell myself that my new Squier really is just as good (well actually an upgrade and an improvement on) the Fender 1962 P I just sold, as I cry myself to sleep each night... 😄 

It is an upgrade though, ok, you still only have a fender P bass, but now you have a few grand to spend on something decent!

[Al Krow]

6 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Honestly though, ion a blind test nobody can tell the difference between the new Squier and a 60 year old Precision.

If we're doing "honest" now then...truthfully I've actually steered clear of both! 😂

(For complete and open disclosure: I did once have a black Fender Jazz 5er MIM which I bought off a semi pro bassist for £100 when I was a newbie and sold a couple of years later for £400. That definitely felt like an upgrade to me 😀)

[TheGreek]

58 minutes ago, la bam said:

Have a cull.

Then enjoy building the collection back up.

 

Done that....unintentionally...can't resist a bargain

[Reggaebass]

I’ve got 11 basses and looking for a sandberg to add to the collection  so no culling for me 😀 

[BreadBin]

I have 19, there's at least 4 I would happily sell but wouldn't get much for them so not really motivated to bother.

I do enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling I get when I walk in my music room, that feeling is very difficult to put a price on.

[knirirr]

2 hours ago, discreet said:

 And in blind tests, a surprising number of people (bass players included) have no idea what bass is playing, anyway.

The OH (brass player) and I have a fun pastime where, when listening to some jazz, I will ask whether she thinks it's a bass guitar or double bass on this particular track. She will then give the traditional reply of "how am I supposed to know, they sound pretty much the same!" before making the wrong guess. I have, of course, cheated by looking the answer up.

[josie]

19 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

I do enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling I get when I walk in my music room, that feeling is very difficult to put a price on.

This too! One silver lining to moving from a large house to a small flat is that the basses and guitars which used to be squashed into a broom-cupboard "third bedroom" are now pretty much everywhere. The whole place is effectively a music room. Always feels good to come home to 🙂 

[Delberthot]

I've had about 140 basses over the years, give or take one or two. I did it because I saw something I liked and wanted to try it - on some occasions several times over as I've had several Precisions, Stingrays and Rickenbackers.

It's been a lot of fun. I've had some corkers, some that should have been great but turned out to be terrible despite having 4 figure retail prices and it's been a real blast trying out different basses.

The truth is that if we're talking solid bodied basses, you only really need 1. Not a bass for this and a bass for that. The average person in the crowd couldn't give a monkeys if you are using the right bass for the right song as long as it sounds good so that's it. 1. I've been playing in wedding/function bands for the past 25 years and the right bass was the one I had at the time whether it was a Thunderbird or a Yamaha TRB6 fretless. I remember turning up to a wedding gig with a Warwick Thumb NT5 and a Modulus Flea bass. I played an entire rock gig with a 12 string once as well.

If you play in a band that requires an acoustic, upright, uke etc then that's different but solid bodied basses it's 1.

 

That being said, if you have the money to buy them & the space to store them then have as many as you want. have 10 precisions in different colours to suit your outfits or one of each of: a Jazz, Precision, Musicman, Rickenbacker, fretless, 5 string, 6 string, 8 string and 12 string to satisfy yourself that you have 1 of everything.

Don't sell them because you feel you have too many unless it's one that you wouldn't miss

[PatrickJ]

I have a pretty modest collection, just 3 basses.  Think in total I've had six pass through my hands; the only one I regret selling was my Warwick GPS Corvette 5.

2 reasons I regret moving it on, firstly I lost a fair bit of money on the sale but the bigger reason is the nostalgia factor - it was the bass I played my first gig with :(.

I've bought the two 4 string PJ basses over the past six months. Although the 5 string Jazz has been my gigging bass since gig 1 I'm now tempted to move it on as I haven't played it since getting the PJs.  Those things are so damn versatile,  I have one strung with rounds and one with flats.  Our set list no longer has lots of different tunings which was the original reason I went for the five so it now seems a bit redundant.

My only concern would be the resale value of a Mayones guitar.  I wouldn't want to lose a ton of cash on another bass sale (perhaps selling it through the Bass Gallery or some where similar is an option, not sure what they take as commission).

 

Edited October 16, 2018 by PJ-Bassist