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How far does your bass geekery go?


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Look, the fact we're on here means we're all bass geeks to some extent but how far does it go? Do you ever take a bass with you into the khazi/bathroom, have basses hanging on the walls where other folk would have pictures, have the wife / mistress/life companion on one side of you in the bed and be cuddling a  bass on the other,  regularly clean them while the other half is nuzzling up to you on the sofa, spend at least half your monthly disposable income on bass related stuff, have t-shirts with images of semi-obscure bass players, go on holiday with one  and what else?  As for myself I'm actually a drum geek and always take my sticks and practice pad everywhere..even on holiday and to work 😀

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Haha! Excellent topic. :)

We're a two-bassists household, so we have a lot of bass gear!

I can often be seen going around the house dusting those basses that are on stands, as opposed to in cases. Sometimes I wipe them down with a damp cloth, if they're particularly grubby! I include fingerboards and the 'underside' of the strings. I have a large makeup brush (I don't 'do' makeup, anyway) to dust pickups, bridges and headstock tuners.

I keep an eye on the state of my basses' fingerboards and oil them when necessary, even if I'm not changing the strings. Same with cleaning the frets.

On the basses I use most, I regularly check action/truss rod, saddle height, nut height (on the Warwicks) and intonation. I have been known to be OCD enough to tighten a tuner's screw if that tuner is slightly looser than the others.

I have changed hardware on a couple of basses, and turned an electric upright from righty to lefty, but I don't feel confident enough to change pickups, or to do heavy duty cosmetic work such as sanding down the lacquer and changing the body colour.

I'm @Happy Jack's strings and general setup tech... 😎

Edited by Silvia Bluejay
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2 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

I'm @Happy Jack's string and general setup tech... 😎

@Happy Jack is a lucky guy, marrying a bassist who can set up his basses too!

I'm not much of a bass geek but I seem to have upped my time spent with my lovely basses. I keep a log (like James T Kirk 😀) of practices, rehearsals and gigs and this year I've gone up from about 13-14 times a month playing to 19-20 times a month.

That can range from the 2hrs at gigs and rehearsals to the 20 mins to an hour home practice.

If I had the discipline I would get up an hour earlier and practice every morning before the kids get up!

 

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I have a bass cave where my basses hang on the wall and the one i'm currently using sits on a floor stand next to my amp.

I have bass player T shirts as well i'm afraid.

I'm not a fanatic for cleaning them all but will clean when changing strings every 2-3 mths on the bass i'm using most. Some basses have Elixir strings and don't get played very often so maybe 3-4yrs .

My Warwick and Overwater fretless get the necks oiled or waxed every 1-2yrs. Is that enough in a centrally heated room ?

I don't take basses on holiday but i will always take my set list in the car. I love driving holidays cause i'm also a car geek :laugh1:

Dave

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I have a '64P - so every time I pick it up I remember the feeling I got when I first played it and the wonderful mojo transforms me to another world.  Then I realise I should be in a band and my time would be better spent trying to find a band to play in : (.

I also play drums and get called to play drums more than bass, which is somewhat irritating (but I'm still grateful) as I'm a better bass player!  So, bass geekery is a long way off.  I went through a bass geek phase but I'm over that now.

Peace Davo

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Better than I was. I have an upright bass in the corner of the living room, along with a couple of bass guitars and there is also a bass guitar in the bedroom. The rest are in cases and I do rotate them a bit. I usually take a bass on breaks with me too. My coffee table even has the Geddy Lee book and most of my bookshelves are full of bass books. I'm sure I'm far from the worst offender / winner of this thread but I am certainly up there.

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7 hours ago, Raymondo said:

I have a bass. I bought it in 1992 (ish)

I have changed the strings a few times and I took it for a "set up" once ,a long time ago.

occasionally I clean it.

That's it really.:ph34r:

I also have a bass I bought in 1990

I have changed the strings many times. It was set up when I bought it in 1990

It has Jimmy Page's phone number in the neck pocket (we phoned it, spoke to Jimmy who denied it was ever his and told us never to phone him again)

I never clean it

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20 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

Look, the fact we're on here means we're all bass geeks to some extent but how far does it go? Do you ever take a bass with you into the khazi/bathroom, have basses hanging on the walls where other folk would have pictures, have the wife / mistress/life companion on one side of you in the bed and be cuddling a  bass on the other,  regularly clean them while the other half is nuzzling up to you on the sofa, spend at least half your monthly disposable income on bass related stuff, have t-shirts with images of semi-obscure bass players, go on holiday with one  and what else?  As for myself I'm actually a drum geek and always take my sticks and practice pad everywhere..even on holiday and to work 😀

When I used to have an office job, many years ago, whereas everyone else had photographs of their children on their desks, I had pictures of my basses. I kinda did it on purpose at first to see if anyone would notice.. but they kinda looked cool, so I left them there.

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Ok, last one.. I had some branding designed (as you can see in my avatar and signature). I never met the designer, nor did I even speak to him before he came up with the design you can see. He only looked at my social media for a few minutes and summed up in these logos. They remain unchanged from that day other than adding colour. That is how much bass geek I am lol!!!!

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36 minutes ago, Dood said:

Ok, last one.. I had some branding designed (as you can see in my avatar and signature). I never met the designer, nor did I even speak to him before he came up with the design you can see. He only looked at my social media for a few minutes and summed up in these logos. They remain unchanged from that day other than adding colour. That is how much bass geek I am lol!!!!

Think that says it all Dood. The ultimate bass geek :laugh1:

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57 minutes ago, Dood said:

Ok, last one.. I had some branding designed (as you can see in my avatar and signature). I never met the designer, nor did I even speak to him before he came up with the design you can see. He only looked at my social media for a few minutes and summed up in these logos. They remain unchanged from that day other than adding colour. That is how much bass geek I am lol!!!!

I bet we'd find you've got a hex core if we took a cross section through you.

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My only bit of geekery is that I like large speakers.

After a period of ownership of a weedy little 12W Marshall practice amp I got a Laney combo with a twelve inch cone.  Then I got the Ashdown with a fifteen.  I then bought a Trace Elliot extension cab with an eighteen inch driver.

If I ever gigged I'd have to get some lightweight gear.

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21 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

Look, the fact we're on here means we're all bass geeks to some extent but how far does it go? Do you ever take a bass with you into the khazi/bathroom, have basses hanging on the walls where other folk would have pictures, have the wife / mistress/life companion on one side of you in the bed and be cuddling a  bass on the other,  regularly clean them while the other half is nuzzling up to you on the sofa, spend at least half your monthly disposable income on bass related stuff, have t-shirts with images of semi-obscure bass players, go on holiday with one  and what else?  As for myself I'm actually a drum geek and always take my sticks and practice pad everywhere..even on holiday and to work 😀

The ability to swan about the town with a pair of sticks in hand, or poking out of the back pocket, is the ONLY cool thing about being a drummer... in fact, I see no reason why non-drummers shouldn't carry drum sticks if they want to.

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