Milestone birthday bass

[Rusco]

Hi all

My marvellous better half offered to buy me a 5 string Stingray Special for my 50th (she likes the new snowy white colour 🤷🏼‍♂️). It’s lovely but not sure I’d use a 5 enough to justify and they’re now stupidly expensive (IMHO) for what they are.

So I’m looking for ideas... 

What bass did you add to the collection as a milestone keeper?, you know that one you’d never sell for both musical and sentimental reasons.

A ‘Ricky’ would complete my Fab Four set but I’ve just never got the attraction really.

Big Muse fan so wondered about a Chris W replica Status but I know you’ll laugh 😂

[super al]

10 minutes ago, Rusco said:

Hi all

My marvellous better half offered to buy me a 5 string Stingray Special for my 50th (she likes the new snowy white colour 🤷🏼‍♂️). It’s lovely but not sure I’d use a 5 enough to justify and they’re now stupidly expensive (IMHO) for what they are.

So I’m looking for ideas... 

What bass did you add to the collection as a milestone keeper?, you know that one you’d never sell for both musical and sentimental reasons.

A ‘Ricky’ would complete my Fab Four set but I’ve just never got the attraction really.

Big Muse fan so wondered about a Chris W replica Status but I know you’ll laugh 😂

Your wife sounds like a keeper... I'm fast approaching 50 and no mention of any bass guitars let alone a 5 string from my missus!

I think a stingray 5 would be my choice if I was allowed a lovely new bass on my birthday... actually it would be nice to have a day or 2 just going to music shops to try a few basses out, that in itself would be a novelty these days!

I hope you get what you wish for.

 

[Lozz196]

The bass I’d never sell due to sentimental reasons is due to the history & memories I have from it. I’m sure if someone bought me an expensive bass as a milestone present it would also be a non seller, so I’d go for the instrument I really wanted rather than a generic “classic” so in your case get that Status CW.

[Killed_by_Death]

1 hour ago, Rusco said:

A ‘Ricky’ would complete my Fab Four set but I’ve just never got the attraction really.

until you try a 4004:

 

[AndyTravis]

Just now, Killed_by_Death said:

until you try a 4004:

 

Love that - like the 4004LK without the horrific bits.

[Matt P]

I'm going custom for my 40th, build has just started 

 

Matt

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

44 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Love that - like the 4004LK without the horrific bits.

Steady on old chap. My LK is a thing of beauty 😂.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

2 hours ago, Rusco said:

What bass did you add to the collection as a milestone keeper?, you know that one you’d never sell for both musical and sentimental reasons.

I can't say I'd never sell it as it takes me a while to decide whether it's a keeper or not, but today (ask me tomorrow and it will probably be different) I'll go for a Zon Sonus, or one of the very nice Fodera Monarch's for sale on these here pages, or maybe a Ken Smith Black Tiger. You'll not go far wrong with a CW Status if that's what your considering.

[BassBunny]

I went for an ACG for my 60th bought by my wife.

[nilebodgers]

I might buy myself a Fender USA Jazz for my 60th next year. I don’t like all these coffee table bespoke things, just a really nice quality working bass.

[TheGreek]

Personally, if I was looking for something I was never going to sell I'd think seriously about a custom build. For the money you'd spend on a new MM @Andyjr1515 could build you whatever you wanted.

Check the Build Diaries thread for details of some of his creations.

and here:

 

Edited March 6, 2021 by TheGreek

[inthedoghouse]

Not bass related so please feel free to pass whatever judgement you feel necessary 🙂  The first two were back when I was in a band playing guitar for a few years.

Two milestone purchases after completing chemo.

1: Black MN 70s (reissue) Strat.  This guitar is doubly sentimental, not only for me completing the chemo, but because over months I had become friends with the eBay seller who lived a couple of hundred miles away and we used to send each other clips of our bands.  He sold the Strat to help pay for a Jimmy Page sig LP which he loved; 

I hadn't heard from him for a while when one day a mail arrived from his wife telling me he'd been killed in a road crash in the snow.  She said that (like me) he didn't make friends easily but he used to talk about me a lot.  She had to sell his pride and joy LP to help pay for the funeral.  I think of him each time I look at that guitar and it holds a very special place in my heart.

2: A few years later and more chemo - I bought an SG Standard.

3:  Martin D-28 which has shared many special times with me.

Edited March 6, 2021 by inthedoghouse

[DarkHeart]

I had this Alpher Cobia made for my 50th

[MichaelDean]

I got the Dingwall Combustion in my avatar as an engagement present from my wife. She got a fancy ring so thought I should get something fancy too!

[LukeFRC]

4 hours ago, Rusco said:

Hi all

My marvellous better half offered to buy me a 5 string Stingray Special for my 50th (she likes the new snowy white colour 🤷🏼‍♂️). It’s lovely but not sure I’d use a 5 enough to justify and they’re now stupidly expensive (IMHO) for what they are.

So I’m looking for ideas... 

What bass did you add to the collection as a milestone keeper?, you know that one you’d never sell for both musical and sentimental reasons.

A ‘Ricky’ would complete my Fab Four set but I’ve just never got the attraction really.

Big Muse fan so wondered about a Chris W replica Status but I know you’ll laugh 😂

If you don't know what you want it might not be the best idea to drop a load of cash on something just because it's a siginificant date. 
Unless this thread is all about us encouraging you that you should go for that Status - which you maybe should! 

 

[Geek99]

3 hours ago, Killed_by_Death said:

until you try a 4004:

 

Where does the tractor attach ?

I assume the upper horn cuts the earth and the strings and lower horn sift it and turn it to the side before you start the next furrow ? The frets are for measuring depth of furrow cut ?

is the brown colour from clay soil staining?

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

In all seriousness and to answer the OP's original question more directly, I did have a plan for my 50th birthday regarding a celebratory bass purchase.

I decided on the bass in question a few years before with a view to getting it built for completion around the relevant time. A few e-mails went back and forth between the manufacturer and I regarding options and pricing, but it was going to be a very long wait unless I was willing to accept one of the couple that had already been built. For a number of reasons, I didn't pull the trigger and before I knew it, the moment had passed for a new build to arrive anywhere near on time.

The day of my 50th came and went free of any significant bass purchases. I did buy a few that year, so don't get the violins out, but I didn't get to scratch the particular itch I had....until three years later!

I found my '50th birthday bass' for sale and completely by chance, it had the exact spec I would have chosen - it was like it was meant to be. It was/is in absolutely mint condition and one owner from new - also a lot cheaper than a new one!

[AndyTravis]

21 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Steady on old chap. My LK is a thing of beauty 😂.

Ah, “country pub” chic...

[Muzz]

In answer to the OP, I went to Jon Shuker with a fund of money (less than half what a 4003 will cost) that had been bolstered by all my friends for my 50th, and I wasn't disappointed...it's the definitive keeper...good job it's a brilliant bass, too...the one on the right... :0) 

[TrevorR]

I struggled with this approaching my 50th. What I would really have liked was a YOB bass, maybe a Jazz. But since I’m... erm...   “of pre-CBS vintage” that was never really on. My wife’s big “21st birthday” (again) was also only 6 weeks after mine so in the end we had a joint present commissioned - but in a very different musical direction.

We are big fans of Gordon Giltrap and have got to know him well over the years so we decided to commission a piece of music from him. 
 

I chatted to Gordon about it and he asked us to provide a title (the fulfilled promise is our little boy whom we had adopted a few years earlier). He knew I loved his 70s prog albums so felt inspired to create something a little in that vein. When he came up with the melody he thought it would sound great with a violin doubling the line and it prompted him to get back in touch with Ric Sanders from Fairport whom he’d done an album and tour with many years earlier.

So near my birthday we got a CD with the song featuring both Gordon and Ric. Then it appeared in a more fully arranged version similar to the version above on his next album. Not a bass but still a nice, musical way to mark two big birthdays! 

 

[WinterMute]

On 06/03/2021 at 20:55, BassBunny said:

I went for an ACG for my 60th bought by my wife.

I'm just arranging my ACG build with Alan, not a milestone, I just can't find a fretless 20th Anni SR5 for love nor money...

My best mate bought me my stealthy Bongo 5 for my 50th, the magnificent old sod.

[binky_bass]

10 hours ago, WinterMute said:

I'm just arranging my ACG build with Alan...

You shan't regret it. I've got 2 custom builds from Alan and 2 I bought second hand - they are some of the very best instruments I've played and I've been through many!

[MoonBassAlpha]

Praise indeed! 

[WinterMute]

1 hour ago, binky_bass said:

You shan't regret it. I've got 2 custom builds from Alan and 2 I bought second hand - they are some of the very best instruments I've played and I've been through many!

You're not the first with such hearty praise, I'm really excited to see what he's going to do with the woods we've chosen the the Krell design.

[Deedee]

On 06/03/2021 at 18:39, Rusco said:

Hi all

My marvellous better half offered to buy me a 5 string Stingray Special for my 50th (she likes the new snowy white colour 🤷🏼‍♂️). It’s lovely but not sure I’d use a 5 enough to justify and they’re now stupidly expensive (IMHO) for what they are.

So I’m looking for ideas... 

What bass did you add to the collection as a milestone keeper?, you know that one you’d never sell for both musical and sentimental reasons.

A ‘Ricky’ would complete my Fab Four set but I’ve just never got the attraction really.

Big Muse fan so wondered about a Chris W replica Status but I know you’ll laugh 😂

If it helps, I have a Status CW and it’s definitely a keeper. They’re pretty rare on the used market, so you may have to prepare yourself for an anxious build wait.

Edited March 9, 2021 by Deedee