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Technically you only need 2 basses, a Precision and a Jazz. However, you really need a Stingray as well. Then you'll have every tonal palette covered. Oh, wait, but if your Precision has flats for the whole Motown vibe, then you're going to need another Precision with rounds so you can do punk, grunge and rock tone. Actually, you need a Fender Telecaster bass as that has a humbucker pickup and will sound different to anything else. While you're at it, you need a fretless as well and you might as well get a fretless Precision, Jazz and Stingray. Have I mentioned short scale basses, oh no. Ok, so you will also need a short scale bass for when you are older and your neck and shoulders are buggered. So to summarize, you need 1 x Precision with Flats 1 x Precision with Rounds 1 x Precision Fretless 1 x Jazz with Rounds 1 x Jazz Fretless 1 x Stingray 1 x Stingray Fretless 1 x Telecaster bass 1 x Mustang Short Scale So the answer is 9, you need 9 basses. I've used logic, a little bit of science and maybe a little bit of bias 😂

You only need one bass....... Nah.... not really!! 😂🤣😂🤣

I had one bass once. It was about 45 years ago and immediately prior to that I had no basses 😎.

Ok, after some research, I discovered that the bass player was Ladi GEISLER, a guitar player using a technique of his own to get the "knack bass" sound. Check this excerpt from his Wikipedia page : "From composer and big band leader James Last, he bought a late 50s Gibson EB bass guitar, with which he developed his legendary "Knack bass" sound that would become an integral feature in the Easy Listening orchestra of Bert Kaempfert. Later, he used a Fender Jazz Bass model. Most recently, he used a Fender Precision Bass when he was invited to live or recording sessions. Geisler's knack bass sound was a treble staccato bass guitar sound in which the bass string was plucked with a pick and immediately suppressed to cancel out any sustain." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladi_Geisler

My impressions of the members here is that the majority of us are past our midlife crisis and are pretty much financially stable. Many of us have, or have had, high end equipment costing thousands of pounds which realistically won't pay itself off from our income as musicians, however we are at a stage in our lives that we can treat ourselves to quality gear in our hobby/interest. Whether we "need" more than one bass is immaterial - I can't take my money with me when I die so I'm going to do what I "want" to do with it and spend it on the most important person to me - ME!! I don't drink, take drugs, drive a fast car or bike or have wife/children to spend it for me - my gear is possibly my only real eccentricity though to be honest I do hoard a lot of stuff I probably don't "need". Not hurting anybody else though... If I want to buy another bass, I will!!

13 at the moment , and I’m looking at another one because 13 is an odd number 😁

Taken int total, there is no way you can accuse anyone of over playing on this album. Jaco's lines are no busier that James Jamerson's on 90% of the Motown stuff. His melodic inter-playing is exquisite. Even 'Dry Cleaner' is just a slightly funked up 12 bar really. I get that some don't like it but 'overplaying'? Not to my ears. I have been listening to the S&L lp for four decades and it remains my favourite album of all time. I like a lot of Joni but I LOVE the Shadows and Light album because of the band who are, to my ears, one of the most musical enembles ever to have graced a stage. Greater than the sum of it's considerable parts.

"Everything is nice....but more is better"..

I don’t know about needed , but if you can afford it, and it’s something you like, go for it, just because you play at home doesn’t mean to say you can’t have an expensive bass 🙂

It's only a bit more practice that separates us... @Matt P is going for 20" radius and - based on that hand radiusing ebony is a quick very slow way to insanity - I've ordered a couple of extra radius templates for their wonderful radius routing jig. In the meantime, I routed the slot for the trussrod: And, based on the fact that for all the 'nice-to-haves', the one 'must-be-able-to', is that it must be able to fit in the Hiscox case, a quick check: Phew! I will be pondering a while to make sure I haven't forgotten anything before I cut anything, but I'm pretty sure I can cut the side profile of the neck now...

I'm a bass player predominantly, well I used to be back in days. Now I own more guitars than basses. I don't play in any band. I don't smoke or hand my money to pub landlords, so technically I invest.

Realistically you only ‘need’ one bass as long as you like playing it and it’s reliable. Actually you should probably have a spare if you’re a gigging bassist. Oh and then you can have one with rounds and one with flats. However if they’re both P basses for instance then you should probably have a Jazz, well 2 as you’ll need the rounds and flats combo. What about a Ray, EVERYONE has a Ray.... etc... I currently have 15 I think. I use them all and love them all. Do I need them all? Yep. Am I still Gassing after basses...... Yep 😂 Buy what you like/can afford and be happy but always play bass 😁

I think the only option is to fill up your bedroom walls with every conceivable configuration type and colour that you like and budget for some quality wall hangers and space for all the hardcases 😂 Ultimately it’s your decision and your quest for the tone you like. Do you need more? Of course not... do you want more? ... why are you here if you don’t! 😃 most importantly what ever you decide. Enjoy playing.

Ebonizing the fretboard on my BBPH:

Oh dear, I just posted this on the short scale thread. The ebony board on the fsr was the clincher for me

14 then. 😆

I'm old enough to have paid his wages, once. 😎

'Darling, cheese head, I was yards too greasy' 😄

I see those bastards at Lucozade have hijacked my idea for a new hotstep band by using my favorite Ini Kamoze track in their stupid TV adverts. Which was going to be the opening song in my set, but now any millennials in the crowd would be all "Oh, its the Lucozade song!"... so basically thats ****ing ruined it. 😟

I remember the first time I upped the ante and had two basses...I reckon I was 16 or 17. Living it laaaarge. An Ibanez Roadster (RS924) and a Gibson Grabber G-3. One was great, one was terrible but quite aerodynamic on at least three occasions.

Looks like I forgot to post pictures of my Limelight bass. Its a replica of a 1960 Fender Jazz Stack Knob Fretless in Sherwood Green.

Agreed. One of my guitarists often boasts about his fourteen guitars. Problem is most of them are cheap rubbish. He should sell off 12 of them and make sure he has two or three good quality and reliable instruments for the bands he's in. And reliable amps and pedals. IMO of course.

Who doesn't like to own nice things? As long as you can afford it and you've got space, why not! The other way to look at it, if you buy 2nd hand, you'll not be losing money - especially if the basses aren't getting battered from gigging etc! As an aside, I look back and cringe over the years I did some quite massive gigs with no back up bass. Literally one loose wire away from a disaster! From about 2017 onwards, I've always carried a backup. Not worth the risk.

Oh dear. This (normally as a thread) never ends well 😂

Not helpful either, but if one likes "A Swingin' Safari" then one might also like "Zambezi" and "Africaan Beat" off the same album, and at any rate I'd direct one's attention to "Living it up" from "Living it up!". On the positive side, this stuff isn't hard to listen to, and you'll be well-protected from anything artsy. 😀 I lurve it.

You can only play one bass at a time. In nearly 20 years gigging, I've never needed a back up bass (or amp, or pedals).

Unless you subscribe to the less is more school of thought, therefore, less is better. Combine the 2 and we have a nice infinite, self perpetuating loop. (Sorry, I’ve been in the DoI thread and become more obtuse than normal). Get on topic, Ez! Ahem... Downsizing to one is a noble quest and by ordering a bass that covers many bases (pun intended) you could achieve your goal. However, what you could end up with is a very bass that will do everything, but doesn’t do any one brilliantly. You say you gravitate to one bass, what sort of bass is that? Do you pick up the others at all, if so, which one/s and why? It could be that downsizing to 2 would salve your conscience and free up some cash (if required). Perhaps try putting the less used ones away in cases and out of easy reach for a couple months and see if you miss/needed them? Ultimately, this is Basschat and GAS rules. Therefore, don’t downsize, buy more! 😁* *please feel free to ignore paragraphs 1, 2 & 4

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Finally... protection!

It's this: From Guitars and Woods (G&W) in Portugal. The basic set-up with one set of radii (to your choice) is a reasonable cost although the additional radius plates are quite expensive. The new Mk 4 with the bearings is better than this one which sticks a little, but this is still pretty good. Ends up quite expensive if you don't own one of the 3-4 types of palm router that it fits already, of course... You still need around 10 mins sanding with a block to take out the rout lines and you do get loads of ebony chips...but not the dust except for that last 10 mins.

Knowing the type of tone you're after now, I would say just buy one of those Ibanez. You're going to spend a lot of money hacking up that lovely Streamer and not end up with the sound you're looking for, it's just not that kind of bass. Keep an eye out for a second hand Ibanez and spare the Streamer.

Mr Tulip ? many forget it was initially american jazz from a calypso prospective ,, charlie parker , louis jordan , many others, Johnny Ace, a combination that eventually drove the sound into a heavier beat , a darker rolling, more serious at times approach to the basic bubble gum rock n roll pop turn around of the day ,

Think about who is going to pay for it. If you're planning to split the cost between the individual band members, it's a good idea to work out up front what you're going to do when someone leaves, and be completely honest and transparent about it.

I'm in similar reflective mood , which can be dangerous 😼 Havent gigged for years , and won't be doing so anymore . I 'm counting the amount of basses I have in my small flat ..Jack Daniels bass/ dean taxi bass/ Washburn status/ custom headless and fretless bass from my bass / Warwick corvette/ vester fretless Warwick copy . Total =6 I have the JD Bass and Dean Taxi Bass , as wall art . Hard to get hold of, but not hugely expensive in the scheme of things . Probably keep . The Washburn status is the bass that I have gigged with 99% of 5he time It has been made passive and sounds more rock than funk . I nearly sold the Warwick and headless , but decided against at last minute . So the dangerous bit ; I have been getting into recording short bursts of rubbish on GarageBand on bass ,,,plus Moog grandmother and Moog DFAM I haven't picked up the bass for sometime and thinking of having just one . I did think of getting rid of all basses and maybe getting a status bass and having done with it . Maybe a status bass and a status fretless to go with it Then again , I have a fretted / fretless brother and stepsister with my Warwick / vester combination . I miss the scheter 5 string ( I'm a 4 string player ) but when I was in 2 bands I never had time to master it due to concentrating more on rock poses ensuring I put on a show for the punters . I'm probably no help , but you can see a slippery slope can quite easily happen when you only have 1 pair of hands . Syths are also addictive ...and costly

I think for a bedroom player its fine to have one bass, if moneys not an issue its fine to have more too. If you are a gigging player I think you should have two (or more) not necessarily to take two to gigs but there are those rare times you pick up a bass and it doesn't work, if this happened half an hour before you had to leave for a gig there could be trouble. Personally I have a fair bit more than two basses.

Right now I'm listening to one of the best albums ever made....

I think @Spoombung has carried out some research in this area. Personally, my Danelectro Longhorn did this type of tone splendidly.

To be fair, this is isn’t the OP’s conundrum as they don’t gig. Of course, I replied as knee jerk reaction, which was clumsy of me. This is how derailments occur I guess, to quote Vic & Bob, “You wouldn’t let it lie.”

Don't know what your budget is, but generally, if it is an item you can only use one at a time, I think it is wise to spend the same money buying one expensive thing rather than lots of cheap stuff of the same thing.

It has to be the Peavey TNT combo.

The Geoff Love Orchestra - Bond themes. Christmas presents were different in those days.

I really enjoyed my tea & biscuits in my browser instead of the usual cookies and I'll definately divide my forum time between TB and BC! Cheers 🍺

Bit like this! - a 1976 Aria Pro II - another bass I guess I shouldn't have parted with!!!! It was more F*nder than F*nder!

For the budget light is unlikely, so I’d look for a 1x15 Trace combo, plenty powerful enough and space saving too.

You're most welcome, old chap. Please pop in whenever the fancy takes you -- the kettle never goes cold here toodle pip!