Why do I bother?

[Burns-bass]

For the last 5 years every gig or session I’ve done I have used the same bass. We’re looking at about 100 gigs or more, possibly double the practices and thousand of hours at home.

 

If I have to choose, it’s that one. I bought it new after careful selection and it’s been a good friend to me. 
 

I’m still interested in buying new basses but I know that when it comes to gigging or practising or anything else I won’t take it or ever use it. My wife asked why I have a lot of guitars but only ever use that one, and I struggled to answer.

 

Does anyone else suffer from this strange affliction?

Edited March 5 by Burns-bass

[Buddster]

The affliction of a wife who asks why i have so many basses, but don't use them? 

Yes, I do. 

Not sure she'd understand even if I could explain it. 

 

But to your point, yes I have a favorite I play and gig that feels right, but I like the others. 

Edited March 5 by Buddster

[Burns-bass]

4 minutes ago, Buddster said:

The affliction of a wife who asks why i have so many basses, but don't use them? 

Yes, I do. 

Not sure she'd understand even if I could explain it. 

 

But to your point, yes I have a favorite I play and gig that feels right, but I like the others. 

I should add, it wasn’t in some kind of cliched nagging housewife way, it was a genuine question. (She is financially better off then me and we respect our independence on these things.)

[Buddster]

Yes, I agree, my wife is completely understanding of me having different ones, even if she doesn't know why. 

[chris_b]

No.

 

I played the same bass for 26 years and I've owned my current 2 for 12  and 8 years. I played the bass before these for 14 years.

 

I need to be a better bassist and owning more basses won't achieve that.

[Burns-bass]

4 minutes ago, chris_b said:

No.

 

I played the same bass for 26 years and I've owned my current 2 for 12  and 8 years. I played the bass before these for 14 years.

 

I need to be a better bassist and owning more basses won't achieve that.

I think a visual representation of this would be easier to understand but ultimately you’ve reinforced things. 

[bassbiscuits]

I only had one bass (a P bass) for many years but now I have a couple of spares and I find my tastes vary over time so it’s nice to explore and experiment with new sounds etc. 

 

If I’m not using something at all I tend to sell it. No point having something that doesn’t fit in. 

[Lozz196]

I stuck with Precisions for gigging for years (though am now on Mustangs due to back issues). Over that period I also had Jazzes, Stingrays, PJ basses, active basses etc but only ever used the Precisions for gigs/band use. Nothing wrong with having a variety of instruments for noodling on at home. Up to the individual if they think it’s a waste or not.
 

I do agree with Chris’ point though, having loads of basses won’t make me a better player, no matter how much I’d like that to be true.

[dclaassen]

It’s a tool…we tend to use the best tool for the job.

[BreadBin]

I have my number one (a Yamaha 5-string I got for a bargain price) which is genuinely the only one I need. I have a really nice jazz type thing that I use for drop-D stuff, a Harley Benton 5-string fretless and a Stagg EUB.

Everything else (about a dozen or so) are unusual or have an interesting story. They all sound quite different and it's good to have them available if I want to create a specific sound, alternatively they are just pretty things to hang on the wall and are generally not expensive. I think the most I've paid is £400.

[OliverBlackman]

I could definitely get by on my 4 string P bass. But the satisfaction of wishing for a sound and having a bass that can deliver it is worth more than a holiday for a week (insert other not as fun as bass ways to waste money) to me.

[Burns-bass]

11 minutes ago, OliverBlackman said:

I could definitely get by on my 4 string P bass. But the satisfaction of wishing for a sound and having a bass that can deliver it is worth more than a holiday for a week (insert other not as fun as bass ways to waste money) to me.

I think this encapsulates it. But after a few weeks playing in the house I go back to the one I’ve always used.

 

It’s harmless fun as the instruments retain their value (by and large) but it’s ultimately pointless.

 

I’ve spent my entire musical career owning hundreds of basses but basically only really playing 3.

[JimChjones]

I still have my first bass (OP, its a much butchered 1962 Burns) which hasn't been out of whichever house I live in to play in over 40 years. There's some sentimental value there but also probably sod all monetary value. There certainly wasn't any 40 years ago!

[Bluewine]

4 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

For the last 5 years every gig or session I’ve done I have used the same bass. We’re looking at about 100 gigs or more, possibly double the practices and thousand of hours at home.

 

If I have to choose, it’s that one. I bought it new after careful selection and it’s been a good friend to me. 
 

I’m still interested in buying new basses but I know that when it comes to gigging or practising or anything else I won’t take it or ever use it. My wife asked why I have a lot of guitars but only ever use that one, and I struggled to answer.

 

Does anyone else suffer from this strange affliction?

 

Just to name a few, I have a cool, Gibson Gold Top Bass, a 1991 Gibson Thunderbird,and  two 2005 MIJ Fender P 1951 reissues. 

 

The only bass I gig is my 1993 made in America G&L ASAT bass (active pre amp). It's really the ultra narrow neck (maple with tons of Birdseye). The active pre amp is really nice. Maybe the big coil pick ups. The slab Tele body style.

 

Daryl

Edited March 6 by Bluewine

[miles'tone]

When I played in a regularly gigging band I had one Jazz bass and an upright. 

Now I'm not in a band I've got 6 bass guitars (plus the upright) and I hardly play any of them. 

I've definitely been compensating. Like a fool.

 

[BigRedX]

At one point I had over 50 guitars and basses, as well as a very well equipped home studio in its own dedicated decent-sized room.

 

These days I'm down to 9 basses and guitars and 3 of those are only still here because I haven't got around to selling them. My studio is Logic running on my Mac that I also use for my day job.

 

It was nice to have lots of instruments and studio toys, but many of them never got any real use, and TBH these days I feel I would be better off saving up the money and getting a decent amount of studio time with a good producer for my band instead.

[neepheid]

This is the exact opposite to me. I deliberately rotate all my basses. Basses I don't play get sold.

[Rodders]

I have at least 10, some at home, others at a rehearsal space or parents house. I like the idea of playing different basses but ultimately 99% of the time I gig with a P bass with flats. 

Fretless appeals to me greatly so I have four but I don't get the chance play it live often. 

[SimonK]

I gig with two MM Stingrays, one fretless but both with the same onboard 3EQ preamp. That way the signal I get from the two of them into my board and amp is pretty similar so I don't need to tweak when changing basses (and likewise when awkward sound engineer insist on their own DI before my board!). I am, however, in the market for a five string, but can't work out whether to just get a Stingray V for the same reason, or branch out to other brands that may require some thinking about the pedal board!

 

With my guitar rig I switch between single coils, P90s and humbuckers all the time, knowing that the signal on the latter in particular will be much hotter, but I think the fact that bass is expected to be cleaner means having radically different outputs feels less appropriate/useful with bass.

[BillyBass]

16 minutes ago, neepheid said:

This is the exact opposite to me. I deliberately rotate all my basses. Basses I don't play get sold.

This is, sort of, what I do.  I only started gigging last year but used 5 basses over 10 gigs.  I've been working out what suits me.  

 

I can see me selling a few more this year.

[Rich]

Absolutely same as the OP. In my bass-drobe are the perfect tools for the bands I'm in. Tonally I've got pretty much all the bases covered (pardon the intentional pun) that I need to, with the possibly exception of 'fretted Stingray'. I do.not.need any more basses, at all. Yet still I look at them, still I covet them, still I occasionally buy them even when I can't afford them (looking at you, Status). And the irony from the above is that I never look at/covet Stingrays.

Edited March 6 by Rich

[Jonesy]

38 minutes ago, neepheid said:

This is the exact opposite to me. I deliberately rotate all my basses. Basses I don't play get sold.

 

This is mostly me........I've got one bass that I have to use for one band I'm in because we play in drop C and then the others I rotate. I do have a couple of favourites for the other band, but try to rotate and give everything a bit of love. Although I have to admit that there's one bass I don't use much that I'm finding hard to sell at the mo. It's fun to play, but doesn't cut through so well with us having keys in the band. Every time I think about selling it, I pick it up and fall in love with it again. Then there's another that's hard to come by on these shores and I think if I sell it and want it back, it'd be hard to replace. That's what I tell myself to stop me selling them anyway 😂 

[No lust in Jazz]

I have three P basses. I have a Jazz and a Roscoe 5 String and I have five short scale Basses.

 

If I had to I could live with any one of them. Typically rotate through them, practicing, rehearsing and gigging the same one for a couple of months and then on a whim feel the need to switch to a different bass. 

[BlueMoon]

Yes....the same as the OP.

 

I have far too many basses. I've tried rotating them to ensure that they all get play time.....but, the preference of most of the bands I play with is for a P bass.

 

I noodle on the others at home, however. My better half just rolls her eyes when the topic of "how many guitars have you got?" is raised by unsuspecting visitors.

[OliverBlackman]

I’ve tried rotating at gigs before and had 2 jazz basses that I could not get to sound good in the room, a Tokai and a Sire V7. These weren’t bad basses, but I didn’t have enough experience with them in that environment, whereas the P bass never had a bad gig.

 

Ps. when I was at ACM, the players with the best sound only had one or two instruments but were incredibly comfortable with them. Yet Mr gear addict over here often struggled to make the most of an instrument.

Edited March 6 by OliverBlackman