Not in my adolescent phantasies 
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Donât be so hard on yourselves, last time you lasted almost five days!
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Hahaha - true!
And only cause our planes were so slow that the German Messerschmitts flew right past ours, so we could shoot them down comfortably! Thatâs the most fun story about WW2 ⌠after that it went downhill, unfortunately âŚ
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A few years back, I bought a used Peavey Rudy Sarzo Cirrus 4-string on eBay from a local in-town mom-n-pop store in Canada. When it arrived, to my horror, I discovered that the entire headstock was cracked from the top all the way through down to the nut. There was no cushion protection at all on the top to protect the headstock and the bass had been handled roughly since there were no âfragileâ or âthis side upâ labeling. The seller shipped me another one brand new in the box from Peavey. I still have it.
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Not having money is the problem then I guessâŚ
Anyway I donât understand this dilema: one of the first answers to this post was somone saying heâs retired, has the money, and has no one to give the money to.
Well, you can make someone elseâs dream come true! 
Jokes aside: the investment point I believe is a very strong one. Discuss it with your wife, it could really make sense!
Unless 2K is your financials. If thatâs the case, save enough to be able to support yourselve for at least 6 months (do your math), then save 2K on top, and then initiate the discussion. My 2 cents without knowing nothing about your life situation.
My third cent, just do the right thing.
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Thank you for this advice. This is a good way to evaluate it.
I would rather not spell out my exact financial situation on a semi-public forum. Would you mind me messaging you how things look to discuss the situation?
But the situation is sort of complicated by my wife and I maintaining joint and personal accounts that we use to pay for different things. So my âHow much do I need to support myselfâ could span anywhere from $250/month to $2,000/month depending on how you break things down. Which drastically changes whether Iâve got 6 month +$2,000 or not.
If I counted my non-IRA investment accounts that I could withdraw cash without penalty in a true emergency⌠then Iâve got a couple years worth all by myself.
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Yes, that would never work. Nobody here seriously would use that as an argument. Here in some other threads we sometimes have fun making lists of possible arguments to try to convince partners of why we should get a new bass, and some ideas sometimes can be funny and quite out there, but in reality they are never practical/usable. The best way is just a frank conversation. Sometimes we might assume our partners would be against us buying a new bass, but then when we talk about it, they might surprisingly be ok with it.
That sounds awesome! My husband is a computer programmer too. My father was as well. I didnât know you had a brewery, that sounds cool, and now I know where your username comes from. I once visited a small independent brewery in Helsinki, and they gave me and my colleagues a tour of the whole brewery. I especially enjoying seeing the green hop flowers they use to flavor the beer. Their fragrance was amazing!
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This is excellent advice for anyone, and was given to me at the start of my career. My then mentor called it the âf*** you fundâ. His basic premise was save enough so that if you are ever in a position where you are being asked to do something that you are unwilling to do, you have enough to say fâyou and walk away.
Iâve done this once, about a year before Covid. I had a job with the title, gold braid and pip on the lapel, but worked for a psychopathic CEO (this CEO once publicly demoted a a colleague in a board meeting, it was that kind of toxic). The fâyou fund enabled me to walk. The second time I used it was when Covid actually hit. I was contracting and lost my income. As a family we were fine as the fund was in place. I was able to enjoy 6 months of home educating my daughter (in the UK the schools shut), before looking for a job.
So yes, the fâyou fund, fantastic advice!
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Not be mistaken with a âfund you f#ckâ ⌠something that apparently quite some students do nowadays
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Oh yes it is, it gives you the feeling of freedom and independence and prevents you from having to deal with bullsh*tters at work
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Nothing if not predictable, @Whying_Dutchman!! 
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Iâm also shocked about all those things happening here.
I was raised a Calvinist, and all I encounter is sin & sinners
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Since you are being an adult about this can I make an adult suggestion?
Sit down with your wife, mostly because she has a lot of apprehension. Explain to her what this bass means to you and ask PERMISSION to buy it. Tell her you understand that money and grad school issue and give her a plan to repay the money you spend on the bass over a set amount of time. For example the bass costs $2000 so tell her over the next six months you will put that 2000 back at a rate of $200 every two weeks (just an example find something that fits your budget). Not only having the solid plan will help but if you noticed my math it would end up giving you an extra 400 at the end.
In the end a marriage is a compromise, use that to your advantage to get what you want and give her what she wants.
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Wife and I talked some yesterday. We come back to where I originally was at the start of this thread. I donât actually want to buy this bass at this time. What I really want right now is to be able to test play a Rickenbacker in person to know what I think of them to decide how much I want one in the future. Iâm really trying to convince myself that, âIf itâs that great, Iâd be willing to buy it,â to justify taking up the ownerâs time.
If I decided to buy it, my wife wouldnât fight me, but I know she wouldnât be happy. My desire for this bass is not stronger than her misgivings about it would be.
I got my SBV-550 from Howard several months back. I was genuinely excited and giddy to get that bass. I am not as excited about this Rickenbacker that costs over twice as much.
It was a good conversation that led to discussion about how weâre budgeting for grad school, and how Iâm managing funds.
Iâm okay at managing finances, but I am not someone who can sit down and make a big spreadsheet that neatly budgets for everything. I manage finances by building out a system where I set up different accounts earmarked for different types of expenses to manage how much Iâm able to spend on what. Iâm going to set up another checking account for grad school expenses and set up to shift funds into there. Once that is up and running, Iâll have a clearer idea of how much Iâm able to spend on toys.
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Given the other things you have said, these two quotes really sum it up for me. If youâre trying to talk yourself into wanting it, but youâre not all that excited about it, then you really shouldnât buy it.
Heck, it doesnât sound like this is your âdream bassâ like you called it earlier. A dream bass you donât have to talk yourself into.
Just because you can buy it doesnât mean you have to.
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If itâs convenient and a pleasant hang for both parties, go play the Rick. Otherwise, donât.
Either way, sounds like a done deal to not get this bass, which seems like the prudent thing to do right now.
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I sincerely hope no one took me seriously lol. If so, you can most likely experience bass playing very alone and possibly divorced lolol
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Agree but with a caveat - go to a store and play one if possible. Donât waste a private sellerâs time if youâre not showing up with the cash. Also, you may be more tempted to make the plunge in that more intimate setting. Find one at a store and go test it, or a few, out. I do suggest you try some vintage ones as well for reference
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Thatâs reasonable.
Trying out any bass is a fun thing to do that could at least temporarily scratch an itch, or completely eradicate it if a target bass proves to not be all that. Either way, have fun!
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i made a few posts about that color, super rare and one of the best colors ever when new, but tended to change to a more greenish color when aged. did yours do that? not that the greenish color was bad it was still pretty cool, it just wasnât the same as the original.