LeftyBassist.com

As I’m getting older I seem to think a little differently. I am feeling my mortality and all the news as of late of pro bass player and other celebrates passing away makes me wonder what the heck is going to happen to all my gear when I take my dirt nap.
I’m married with two daughters none of whom know what the heck I own or what it’s all worth. I tell my wife everything is around $100 I figure one of the guys I met here will try to contact my family and say they will pay $500.00 for everything as a favor . Little does my wife know if I didn’t have my musical gear we could have paid our mortgage off 5 years a go and bought a yacht?
All those basses, amps, keyboards, and various other mixers monitors and cables were a fortune. Oh well you guys might see some great lefty basses for nothing on eBay one day….

Im thinking a safety deposit box with a note with all the prices wouldnt be a bad idea...

Mortality?
My brother-in-law's wife recently gave away (literally) his collection of vintage classic European bicycles. She finally got rid of "all those old ten speeds" in the basement corner. They are still married.
Last Christmas he pulled me aside and instructed: "If I unexpectedly kick off make sure my wife doesn't touch my guitars."

Does that make you wonder what kind of valuable stuff your wife is hiding from you, saying it's $100? You could both be sitting on gold mines and not know it!

...and the brand, model name and serial numbers and specific marks by which your instruments can be identified as yours

thankfully I have nothing to hide from my WONDERFUL wife when it comes to gear. She could care less if a semitrailer showed up one day packed to the gills with gear, as long as she can maneouver around the house.

That being said, she knows where it all is, what it's worth and whom she needs to contact among my local musician buds should I suddenly kick the bucket.

I have a funny feeling that she isn't going to sell any of it after I pass unless she is forced to.

Ouch! that one must have hurt.

a.k.a. your sister...?

I have places/plans for all my gear. Some basses given to family/friends (including some people on this board), the rest get liquidated to give my family some $$.

my thoughts exactly!

I think I'd disown her too if she did that to me, though I have every reason to believe my wife would undersell my stuff too just to "get it out of here".

I was thinking about this very topic the other day, getting all philosophical (and depressed) about the fact that we don't really "own" anything, we simply rent it for the duration of our lives. So, in theory, the closer you are to mortality the less time you presumably have to enjoy your toys, unforeseen accidents notwithstanding. Compound that with the fact that if you do live to a ripe old age the odds of you being able to even enjoy your instruments the way you used to when you were younger are slim as well given the higher potential for crippling ailments such as arthritis, etc, and your time with your toys is even less.

Consider that before you plunk down a few grand on another instrument, as amortized over whatever your lifespan could amount to a ridiculous amount of overspending.

My plans are similar. I have all of my instruments well-documented by serial #, age, condition, description, and approximate value. Every year or so I update any pertinent info. My "hope", if I may be morbid would be that I stick around long enough to liquidate them for my family rather than leave it up to them to do it, however.

The bright side of this, I think, is hoping that your favorite instrument will have a history long after you are gone. Have you ever seen a classical orchestra that only plays original instruments? Some of the instruments are 300 or 400 years old! They'd been around long before their current owners were born and will be around, in theory, for long after they're gone. Think of the stories it could tell if it talked. They even made a movie about this called The Red Violin with Samuel L Jackson.

I guess the best thing we can do to start this process along is to get our stuff into what we hope are the right hands before we die.

what's funny and something typical of me is leaving behind a bunch of killer basses left handed. Like having killer video in Beta format....

or a live recording of Jaco's first Weather Report audition on 8-track or 1/4" reel-to-reel

not only do I have gear, but there's also all the tools (somewhat easy to price) and exotic woods (impossible to price) racked in the shop. maybe she'll have a "fire" sale