Thursday, September 28, 2006
"We're just about ready to begin the robbery proper..." *
A quick note from the editor: these write-ups and descriptions are close to being in chronological order, but not necessarily so. When you are a musician suffering an episode of G.A.S. your memory tends to get a little fractured. With this many in the herd, an accurate acquisition timeline is difficult to establish.
Once they arrive, things happen to them: you need to put your stamp on them, and make them your own. Parts sometimes move between basses. Other parts are replaced. Many are upgraded. All the Fenders have had their "vanilla" neck-plates replaced with the Fender-issued 'F' logo ones. In most cases, I bought chrome bridge and pickup covers (that many consider to be bling), but usually only install the former.
The parts basses usually (but not always) consist of an Fender-built neck. I have American-made ones, Mexican-made ones (referred to as MIM), and some made in Japan (aka MIJ). The bodies are aftermarket ones that I usually (but again, not always) finish myself. The tuners may be Fender brand, or not - sometimes you cannot tell. I have a big preference for DiMarzio pickups, but not all the bases have them.
With this many, you might think I spend a small fortune getting setups done and changing strings. Nuh-uh! I do all my own. Really, if you can drill a headstock to install tuners, you should be able to set the action and intonation on them as well.
Now the question: "How Many?" Well, let's categorize them a bit.
There are 3 five-strings and the rest are four-strings.
There are 4 fretlesses.
(If you've been reading from the start, you know that there's a five-string fretless.)
There is one with active electronics, the rest are passive.
There is 1 "home-built", one non-Fender (an OLP), and the rest are what I would call "Fenders".
The active bass and the OLP each have one double-pickup; all the rest have either a standard "Precision" pickup or two (but not always!!) "Jazz" pickups.
The number of maple vs rosewood fretboards is about equal. The number of "natural" finished ones does not accurately reflect the fact that it is, far and away, my favourite.
They all have hard-shell cases and their own straps and cables.
So, the final answer? 16.
And yes, I play them *all*. No one gets left out of the "rotation".
* Raising Arizona
Once they arrive, things happen to them: you need to put your stamp on them, and make them your own. Parts sometimes move between basses. Other parts are replaced. Many are upgraded. All the Fenders have had their "vanilla" neck-plates replaced with the Fender-issued 'F' logo ones. In most cases, I bought chrome bridge and pickup covers (that many consider to be bling), but usually only install the former.
The parts basses usually (but not always) consist of an Fender-built neck. I have American-made ones, Mexican-made ones (referred to as MIM), and some made in Japan (aka MIJ). The bodies are aftermarket ones that I usually (but again, not always) finish myself. The tuners may be Fender brand, or not - sometimes you cannot tell. I have a big preference for DiMarzio pickups, but not all the bases have them.
With this many, you might think I spend a small fortune getting setups done and changing strings. Nuh-uh! I do all my own. Really, if you can drill a headstock to install tuners, you should be able to set the action and intonation on them as well.
Now the question: "How Many?" Well, let's categorize them a bit.
There are 3 five-strings and the rest are four-strings.
There are 4 fretlesses.
(If you've been reading from the start, you know that there's a five-string fretless.)
There is one with active electronics, the rest are passive.
There is 1 "home-built", one non-Fender (an OLP), and the rest are what I would call "Fenders".
The active bass and the OLP each have one double-pickup; all the rest have either a standard "Precision" pickup or two (but not always!!) "Jazz" pickups.
The number of maple vs rosewood fretboards is about equal. The number of "natural" finished ones does not accurately reflect the fact that it is, far and away, my favourite.
They all have hard-shell cases and their own straps and cables.
So, the final answer? 16.
And yes, I play them *all*. No one gets left out of the "rotation".
* Raising Arizona
