This is something we have discussed a lot across the forums but I thought it would make an interesting topic.
There’s a couple philosophies towards how those of us not on an unlimited budget may focus our instrument investments. One school of thought diversifies and buys many different types of instruments to have a broad collection.
The other extreme are those that may iterate for a while, but find what they like and then go deep and invest a lot on a few (or one) instrument.
Most people live somewhere in between. @Al1885 is a great outlier for the first approach, and I am as well for the second.
I thought this would be fun to discuss a bit to see where others were at.
So after owning seven basses over time, I have been down to two basses as an equilibrium point for a long time, and have reached the pinnacle of two lines of basses I adore. I find myself seriously considering going even deeper and going all in on a single instrument.
I don’t recommend this to others. I am the poster child of “don’t do as I say or as I do, just do you.” All the same, having tried many, many basses, I think I am real close to the pinnacle for me. and it feels right to go all in on that.
WDYT? How do you approach your instrument spending?
I guess that I’ll start it off by asking you to define wide vs deep a little better? You and Al are pretty much extremes imo.
I went through a few basses early on and found my taste. I have 3 now and I have distinct purposes for all 3. That said, I can think of 2 possibly 3 more (bass VI, 734a, and possibly an L-2000) that I want keeping all that I currently have. Would 5 or 6 be considered the Al approach, the Howard approach or somewhere in between?
I think I am still in the “iteration” phase, even after 6 years… But, clearly, my instruments have become “better”, at least more expensive, and I am also definitely zeroing in on what I like and what I don’t like.
That said, I bought a used Harley-Benton jazz bass for 70 bucks on a whim last year… just to immediately question my sanity and my ability to make good judgements. It’s not that 70 bucks will kill me, it’s more that I have one more bass hanging around I won’t use.
I own 8 basses now. I could NOT make it work with just one, but - being forced at gunpoint - I could settle for two. What I think/hope I will end up with is four, though: two 4-strings, one 5-string and one fretless (which happens to be a fiver).
Now… I have the HARDEST time parting with already acquired basses! It’s something I struggle with a lot
Back in the day … I used to have the sickness… LOL
5 - basses
4 - guitars - ( 1 was a Gretsch Electromatic, and one was a Gibson Custom Explorer Robot autotuning )
Fx floorboards for both guitar and bass , basically all the toys.
This time 'round … Prolly gonna keep this Jackson for my trainer / clunker … then when I find something that catches my eye, I may get one more. I do like having at least 1 professional grade instrument, once I get back in the pocket
I’ve owned A LOT of guitars and basses throughout my life. That said, I’m neither sentimental about things nor a hoarder collector. In fact, I can’t even recall how I came to be without the many instruments I’ve owned. One day, they were just gone and life went on.
Currently, I own seven basses and six custom accoustic steel string guitars.
I enjoy having extreme quality instruments, with their relative degree of quality being determined strictly by my own estimation, regardless of public opinion or consensus.
That said, if I were ever forced to choose, I could settle on one bass and one guitar. But, luckily, I don’t need to choose at the moment, so the moment lingers, and all remains well.
Interesting! I don’t think I would go down the wide route even if I could afford it. I just can’t see me playing more than maybe three or four maximum. I currently have an acoustic guitar (the only guitar I’ve ever had and I’ve had it for over forty years but never really got any good!), an
acoustic bass (my first bass selected for a number of probably invalid reasons), a cheapish learning electric bass and a year on I bought a more expensive one, which is what I mostly play now.
I do, of course, lust after other basses but I don’t really see the need for any more at least for now. If I do go further it will mainly be to get better quality. So I guess that puts me firmly in the deep camp not the wide.
Like I said, I presented Al and I as extremes. And even those aren’t entirely accurate; I have owned a bunch of instruments over time, and Al has certainly gone plenty deep.
But I think over time we learn what we like, and if we are lucky, we can invest in that - and there’s a couple different approaches there that I think are fun to constrast.
i actually had you and Mike in mind too, especially with your common manufacturer interest, and you’re both part of why I posted this
So, extending on your initial “hypothesis”, one could argue that someone like you has arrived at a point where you exactly know what you want and what type of instrument you like to play on. Whereas, someone like Al, is still “searching”, exploring all possible options, finding satisfying results with many different instruments.
But, that’s probably just another hypothesis…
Some of us have converged on a brand/manufacturer - either because we stumbled on them once and were convinced of the features/quality, or because we had been “fans” of that brand for a while, or because countless others use these basses and all of them can’t be wrong (including reviewers), or - let’s face it - because one of our idols plays that brand/model. Going down that road is not always a guarantee for satisfying results either, though, and so the search continues.
So, yeah, I can still dream of trying out brands like Wal, MTD, Ken Smith, Alembic, … but it’s not something I actively pursue, not least indeed because I think I found a manufacturer who makes instruments with my name on them, which are also still within my financial means.
(Really though, almost every Jabba I see, I want to have, but that is something between me and my therapist to work out )
Nope, not in my case. A P bass is going to sound like a P bass and with all the things that you can EQ and change, there are just some characteristics that you can’t really change.
Now even if you’re in a band, playing live shows… nobody is going to care about those things. Not the crowd, not the rest of the band. Is the bass there? Is it hitting on 1? Is it making the crowd shake their booties? That’s the kind of stuff everyone else is going to notice. That all can be done with 1 bass.
I have a Squier CV 70’s P bass and I have a Fender American Performer P bass. they both have the same bridge and same pickup (the Fender does have a bridge pickup too) and same strings. Honestly I prefer my Squier. I think I have 9 or 10 basses and just ordered another this morning. But if I had to choose just one it would be my Squier P bass. But I like to have a variety for no good reason at all.
Ultimately I would like to end up with a Mark Hoppus signature Jaguar and a Simon Gallup signature ultra spitfire Schecter and a P-nut signature Warwick 5 string.
Our band leader always says, “I just want to build a band that’s good enough to make people happy. We are all going to screw up but if folks have a great time then we did our job”
Still growing my collection, but I fully expect to land somewhere in the middle. I like things that have a specific niche or use case, and I want quality within that.
I have an Ibanez and a Sire that are both Jazz bass territory.
I want a P-bass with flats.
I want something Stingray family (whether EB, Sterling, or Sire) and/or a G&L L-2000
Eventually I expect I’ll want a fretless.
That’s a tough one. Not sure I’d even break those down in those levels. You’ve also got a BIG gap between “Intermediate” and “Pro”.
There are also a lot of things where like… a $1,500 Ibanez or Sire will almost certainly be as nice or nicer than a $2,000 Fender or EB.
I feel like there is a sweet spot range of ~$700 - $1,800.
Below that, you’ll probably see big jumps in quality as you spend more money.
Above that, you’ll see very diminishing returns. You’ll mostly be paying for a premium name, or for something boutique or custom/semi custom.
My wife says I have one bass for each song I can play, but she’s wrong: I have 7 basses and can play only 3 songs😅
As a beginner I thought I will have a better or faster learning experience by buying new, „better“ instruments. I hadn’t. The only thing making this journey better is practicing no matter ob wich bass.
The bass I use most is still my 200€ Ibanez. It sounds great and I don’t have to be careful with it. The second bass I don’t want to miss is my JC Shecter tuned in drop D. All the other basses are more or less wall decoration and I don’t plan to buy more, except one top tier Ibanez, someday when I reach the intermediate status
I could get down to two basses, my Offbeat and my Pawn Shop Mustang. Maybe throw in the Stingray as that’s really good with distortion for rock/metal.
I have a hard time parting with really good instruments, I need to do it though. My goal is to be down to five. The above three plus a fretless and the Squire Mustang with the Novak pickups.
)
