Ebay Addiction

I'm such a dork! As you read in the post below, Dave is selling a Lovely, like-new Fender bass because (as is the case of most musicians), he found something he likes more. (Yes, it's a banjo. It's on it's way to Dave as we speak). It was kind of funny because when he saw this particular banjo, he did something that I didn't expect - he called me. He didn't bid on it until he talked to me (man - do I feel special!)

"Kelly!" he exclaimed. He then proceeded to tell me the nuts and bolts story of this banjo. It's not like buying a vintage movie poster or old piece of jewelry - or even a Fender bass for that matter. Banjos are truly instruments for techies - because they can be customized.

Dave is just that sort of techie.... He has a drawer in his house filled with several distinct banjo parts made by banjoists around the country. He knows what each is - and can explain the subtle differences. If it's banjo bridges you'd like to discuss, just call Dave... "This one is kind of arched, Kelly - it keeps the distance of all the strings completely even... This one is a Snuffy Smith Bridge, made by blah-blah-blah. This one is low - so you can really move your fingers...." It's quite an education. Further, you have to know that all banjos have interchangable parts - so you can upgrade a so-so banjo with an expensive tone ring - new pot - or whatever.

The point of this discussion is that Dave found a banjo on ebay that was, in its original form, an okay instrument - BUT. The former owner installed a unique combination of excellent tone ring, new bridge, and a few other things that made the instrument irristible to Dave. "Kelly, it's gonna sing."

As if he needed my permission, he suggested he could sell a few instruments (the Fender is one of them) and just have the banjo at no real "cost." I said ok - like I could tell him other wise (yet was honored to be consulted) - "we" decided we'd put one bid on it and see how the chips would fall. They fell in Dave's favor... because no one else bid on it (because no one understood the combined components made this instrument kind of special.) So he'll have yet another one in his already large collection (A guitar dealer once told me that all guitar players NEED four guitars... I have no idea how that number translates to banjo players, but my guess is it's much, much higher - maybe 8).

Ok. Now I have to get to the part about the Ebay addiction. I thought DAVE had it badly - but it turns out, I may be worse. I was checking his Fender auction - and wanted to see what the current buyer was willing to pay - in other words, I wanted to know his top bid... It wasn't that high...

There's no way of finding this out, however, without actually PLACING a bid, which I did. I was outbid. So I knew there was more... So I bid again....

To make a long story short, I am now the top bidder of Dave's Fender Bass.

Dave was very kind in telling me that if I won it, he'd cut me a deal on shipping...