So this came up in another thread, and as a reformed GASoholic (Gear Acquisition Syndrome for those unafflicted), I figured I'd kick off the thread to see who else played in crap blues/metal/cover bands over the years, and who spent more time thinking about gear than actually playing in bands...
I came to playing bass later in life, having been a terrible drummer as a kid. Not terrible because I didn't have rhythm, but terrible because I was allergic to practising. In my early 30's I was living in Vancouver and most of my friends were musicians of some sort, especially as many were from the East Coast, and I was briefly single again after a long on-again-off-again relationship through my 20's, so picking up an instrument seemed like the natural thing to do. I always liked bass, especially as the bridge between rhythm and melody in a band, so it was a natural fit.
Ended up getting decent enough to play in a variety of garage bands, but never any that played in front of more than about five people as the opener-opener-opener for a buddy's doom metal band that had a CD launch or something. Weirdly, my biggest gig by far was playing bass in my Anglican Church band, in front of between 50-100 people on Sunday morning, lots more if it was Easter or Christmas. That was actually huge fun, against the odds, and I miss that band and the huge amount I learned doing 5-8 different songs every week, even if a lot of the music itself wasn't to my taste.
Anyway, life story aside, I ended up collecting basses, amps, and other gear like I was prepping for a zombie apocalypse where their main vulnerability was low frequencies. At my peak, I think I had 18 basses at one time, with another 10 or so being bought and sold along the way. Here's the most interesting pic I have from when I was at my most obsessive:
From left to right:
- 1976 Fender Precision Bass (sold)
- 2010 Fender American Standard P Bass (sold)
- 1963 Fender Jazz Bass (still have)
- 20?? Frankenfender w/ Nate Mendel body, Fender neck, Hammon Darkstar pickup (still have)
- 1991(?) Fender MIM J Bass w/ custom paint (was an awful purple-y blue), faux vintage hardware (sold)
- 1997 Fender Jazz Noel Redding signature (still have)
- 20?? Frankenfender with Squier maple body (yes), Fender 60th anniversary P neck, EMG Geezer Butler P/J pups (still have)
- 2010 Squier 50s P Bass (sold)
- 2009 Squier Fretless P (gifted to son)
- 197? El Degas (Matsumoku) neck-through double P (sold)
- 197? Univox Precision (gifted to son of buddy)
- 2011 Gibson SG Bass short scale (sold)
- 2017 Dingwall Combustion5 (gifted to son who now plays as main)
- 2012 Gibson Flying V bass (sold)
- 1969 Ampeg Dan Armstrong Lucite bass (sold)
- 2013 Ibanez Fireman Paul Gilbert skinny string (sold)
Not pictured:
- 2010 Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo (traded)
- 198? Washburn Bantam headless bass (in pieces in a bag somewhere)
- 2005 Ibanez Artcore AGB140 semi-hollow (sold)
- 2009 Epiphone SG bass Negative White (gifted to random dude who had gear stolen from UHaul)
- 2016 Epiphone Jack Casady bass (sold)
- 198? Ibanez Iceman guitar (gifted to son)
- 2014 Epiphone Thunderbird Pro IV bass (sold)
- a few others I can't remember (Ibanez SGsomething 5'er, Epi Les Paul Studio POS, a variety of Squier CV and VM instruments)
For the guitar nerds out there, I was bequeathed a Teisco ET460 sharkfin that was incredible but insanely complicated. Gave it to a guitarist buddy who spent a fortune getting the electronics sorted, and it's now floating around Nova Scotia in a variety of hands. It was wasted in my mitts, but he could make it sing like a weird surfy, chimey, Strat/Tele mashup:
I'm not even getting into the various tube monster and vintage amps I bought over the years, but this post is already long enough!
Post up yours! I know there's a variety of cool gear lurking out there...
