Oh bassists have nothing on saxophonists…… @jpartogi this I know first hand.
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even worse, would be my guess.
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I suppose it’s kinda common with both bass and guitar players - probably more-so with bass players. Only speaking from my own “guitar” experiences, but I always (still do) have 4 guitars. Two electric, one acoustic, and one classical. When I played with other groups, I would always have both electric guitars - each tuned differently, but the more important reason was to have a spare in case anything happened to one.
As for bass’s, I always take three with me when I play with the group I’m in. One is my main player, one is drop tuned so I can grab it for a quick song change, and the other is my “fast action” bass for playing faster rock songs and also has round wound strings on it so I can get different tones. I suppose this is one of the big reasons many bass players have more bass’s - their all set up differently for different songs…. Well, at least that’s why I have several - I do use every one of them - even my cheap 10 year old $90 Squire….
Keep on Thumpin’!
Lanny
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My problem nowadays, is cycling through the basses to make sure they all get some love.
Which has just panged a bit of guilt that I’ve not picked up my precision for a while 
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OMG. That’s so accurate it’s not even funny.
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OK, can someone explain this to me? Maybe I don’t know exactly how the humbuckers work? Is it possible to have an HH configuration - then turn off one set of coils in each to replicate a JJ configuration? I know having the two identical pickups a set distance apart and the same volume is what give the j-basses their mid-scooped sound - but I thought they both had to be single coils?
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Yes, some basses, like the Schecter CV4 ( or 5) have a toggle switch for each humbucker to change the mode, and you can choose to turn it into a single pickup if you want
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This is how SIMs pickups work, except you can also ‘spilt’ them and get P pickup tones too.
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I approach this this way…
There are 1 or 2 I stick to for all lesson work, seems the more I learn, the better it is to learn it on a very ‘known’ fretboard first.
The others…
Pair bass to song - If I find a song I want to cover or just play with, I cycle through the basses until I find a “fit”. (example - All Star - Smashmouth - tried it on all the basses, sounded best on the MM Stingray).
Pair song to bass - If I really want to play a bass, I try to find a song that ‘fits’ it. (example - Hey You - Pink Floyd for the fretless, etc)
Pull and play - simple exploration on a bass that I haven’t been on in a while, take it out, noodle, see what comes to mind when I play it and maybe a song ‘pairs’ in my head.
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Yes, that’s good advice.
I do similar. If I’m playing one of the bands spookier songs, I’ll use my vintage jazz. If it’s the standard songs, I’ll use my main.
If I’m at home and want to play something really slow and mellow, then definitely always reach for the precision.
If I want to rock out, the ultra P does it perfectly.
If I want to go a little bit out there, I’ll use the double bass.
I just have to rotate them depending on what I want to play.
So many basses, so little time!
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Truth!
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They’re quad coil, aren’t they? You’d almost think you could turn them into a reverse P as well.
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yes they are and if they did a 4-way toggle switch you sure could, or, you could just turn the pickups around too i suppose.
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Feel your pain @quadfather…. What I’ve done is have each of my 6 bass’s set up with different strings and different tunings…. Other than standard tuning of which I have one with rounds and the other with flats, I also have one down tuned by 1/2 (all flat) and another set up as Drop D which has half rounds on it…. The other is my BEAD bass. The other two bass’s are the ones I use to learn songs on - one with rounds, one with flats…. I find that I do use every one of them since they each have different tones, and play much differently from each other…. Since I don’t use pedals (I do use a DI though), having different bass’s set up for different songs is really cool!!
Keep On Thumpin’!
Lanny
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This is why I keep it to two that I’m really happy with 
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Yes that’s a good idea. I’ve been meaning to setup one for BEAD. And then I tinkered with the idea of having one with low action for slapping for when I eventually try to learn that.
Wouldn’t mind trying out some roundwounds on the fretless too, and keep that for slidey slidey stuff.
I only have a compressor and a tuner at home too, all my pedals are at the studio, so it’s all clean at home.
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And following on from that, I just had chordify going after warming up and thought I’d give the pure standard p bass a go. As usual, it’s great for about an hour, and then I want my main, and it immediately feels like I’m 20% more accurate, faster and in time better.
What is it with basses and their fickleness!
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Love my BEAD bass @quadfather…. It don’t get played too awful much, but when it does, it really makes a difference in how the tones in certain songs just kinda “Rock”!!... I’m not a 5 string guy because I kinda don’t care for the fat necks - especially for some of the fast paced rock songs that that “B” string comes in handy for - and - when I play it for those particular songs, I’ve never needed a “G” string……
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It’s us.
I started out really liking skinny necks and now like a wider neck a lot more, but when i get better I might go back the other way, who knows. Better get a few of each just to be sure!
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