ok... I'll do this by decade:
1980s: played a short scale electric bass - which years later I found out the bridge needed to be moved back to increase the scale length by a solid 2 inches so it would intonate properly and eventually converted to fretless, but in it's original state, that instrument with 4 low electric guitar E strings, a recorder through delay units, various found percussion and junked instruments, including a cello with a broken headstock and found acoustic guitar - this was all during my stint as a very minor player within the downtown NYC experimental art/music/noise scene when I was involved with the performance art project Third Uncle.
1990s: proper electric bass guitars, including Steinberger, Fender, Rickenbacker, and Ibanez - also two Ovation Magnum bass guitars set up C G D A also keyboards Roland JX3P with controller, Yamaha DX-7
2000s: interest in aquiring a Stick started around now, converted/set up various instruments to bass/melody tuning of my own choosing, including a 6 string Tune, also a 5 string Syme Guitar, and both Ovations mentioned above [logic being - if I can't do it on 4, 5, or 6 stings I certainly won't do it on 10]
2010s: interest in aquiring a Stick really peaked now, as I was done with playing in bands and wanted to focus more on doing compositions like I was doing in the mid/late 1980s, and also see about doing soundtrack work.
Within the last few years: aquired a Warr Phalanx after missing out on an Ironwood SE had for sale, but found the Phalanx unplayable due to table top sized neck - since converted to a blaster beam, with actually works quite well and took very minimal work to make happen !! then got two M. Megatars one the Toneweaver originally tuned in major 3rds but now in an open tuning, and a regular M.Megatar set up in classic Grand Stick tuning.
At this time - I really got into very simple - primative celtic instruments, and gave the folks at Musicmakers a ton of business buying lutes, table top hammer dulcimers, small folk harps, etc... then I pushed things even further and aquired an auroharp and regular zither - those I play with mallets.
Just this year, in March I took delivery of an instrument Grace turned me on to, the Stickbass set up as two bass guitars, one in 4ths one in 5ths - which I seem to recall being Graces idea for me right after I missed out on that original Ironwood I wanted [I since did aquire 2 of them] and that - the Stickbass realy opened things up for me from a rythym standpoint.
Today, I focus on a Bajinn tuned to [I think] a C major scale.
Since I never learned how to properly play any instrument, which I still consider a mixed blessing... while I love my Ironwoods - there's no way I could ever do anything worthy of presentation here within this community, I'd be laughed at for all of eternity - however - I do find the Sticks to be very beneficial for my own medative compositions, something I do with my various harps and the Bajinn quite well with my own style of repetitive playing.
So, that's it - how I came to the Stick.
Again, I'm not sure if instruments played properly would apply to me, since I am horribly self taught [*and that's even stretching it!!] but then again, what I did pull off in the past people still talk about, however I'm confident with various differing opinions !!
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