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Do we really need more than 1 bass (why the GAS)?

Boombass76

Boombass76

Commercial User
Jul 1, 2008
697
26
Denmark
shop.basscollect.com
Disclosures
BassCollect Blog & Shop (founder)
#1
I have not been aware of the GAS phenomenon until recently. For many years, I had just 3 basses - a Fender Jazz 4-string, a Celinder J-Update 5, and a fretless (ok, and a double bass)...

The Fender was my first bass that I couldn't really bring myself to sell even though I considered it from time to time.

The J-Update 5 was my main bass for many years (still is, though I got a second one w/Greengrove).

The fretless has hardly been used.

Then I discovered TB and started checking out all kinds of great basses... I got struck by serious GAS! Now I own approx. 12 basses - "approx." because the come and go much more rapidly than in the past.

...and there are still plenty of nice basses that I would like to try out.

Why? I am perfectly happy with my Celinders and Fenders - do I really need the Atelier? The MTD (apparently, not cause I sold it)? Why do I still want a Fodera? An Alleva Coppolo? A Rob Allen, A.... and the list goes on!

WHY??? :help::help:

Here is the stable (a few has gone and a few is missing...):

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#2
i can see the argument for having a few basses. i have 3- an ATK305, a cheap Lotus P-bass (gonna put flats on it), and a fretless. they serve different functions. I feel that if I kept buying more at some point i would have redundant basses in my stable.
i can't imagine having any more than i've got. I have an irrational love for my ATK. it just feels and plays and sounds the way I want my bass to. Since I got that, I have had no bass GAS. It cured me in that realm.
but hey if you want to have 35 basses, go ahead. i won't stop you or even complain. it's your money!
 
#3
Why? Because there are so many beautiful basses out there. For me, I think it's the search for the perfect bass. I want to try all sorts of basses and see if I can find the perfect fit, perfect tone..etc. Of course all this is subjective because there is no perfect bass for everyone. :)
 
#6
I suppose Art is Art in any form.... why have one piece of art, when you have the money to add to a collection of things you love? the "you should buy a bass to play it" thing sometimes pops up, but I do not follow that opinion, as it always seems even a famous person who has been endorsed and has 30 customs to choose from, they always use #1 for playing, and whatever else for pictures.....

think of it as paintings you start out with one, and 20 years later you have 6 walls filled with them ( and all you can do is stare at them ) --how boring, but still things you love....
 
#10
I approach my bass arsenal as a collection of sonic variety. Each of my basses sounds different. I have 2 P-basses - one with rounds, one with flats. I have a J, and a G&L ASAT hollowbody. With these, I can cover quite a large range of sounds. The one sound I would like to get back in the arsenal is a short-scale hollowbody with flats (a Hofner Club, for example). Do I NEED multiple basses? No. Do I enjoy having a palette of sonic colors to choose from? Yes.
 
#11
Muster up every last thing you could possibly sell to fund your habit. Been there several times: last time I sold a 1970 Subaru 360(quite possibly the most economical car sold in the US EVER, still kicking myself for that one) and my 1963 VW Pickup(single cab super rare, yup, still kicking myself) all to fund my first Fodera, which I sold and yes, I get kicked for that before all of the priors, almost daily. But it was not in vein and helped to fuel the fire. I now have a fantastic double bass that is far greater in value than anything I own. And guess what, I am still trying to buy another one. :D
 
#12
I've got 4, would like about 12 more. Each has it's own voice and personality. I played 3 last night just because I was feeling restless. Settled in finally with my old P copy with flats. This morning, it was a Warmoth J kind of day.
 
#14
Most serious players probably need more than one bass. Maybe not quite as many as 12...

Nothing at all wrong with collecting. But at a certain point - and this is different for every individual - the emphasis really should begin to shift from accumulating tools...to developing and refining one's ability to be productive with the tools one already owns...

:hiding:

MM
 
#18
mkrtu9 said:
I have 3, but will soon simply have 2. I have no "need" for more than 2 at a time. If I want a different one I sell the one I have currently. Greed infects us all.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure that greed is the reason behind having more then 2 or 3 basses. To me, it's about finding different voices, about hearing different ways of expressing the music in your head.

And basses ARE works of art - functional art. I find them inspiring.
 
#19
I don't really want them all, but the older I get and the more money I make, I seem to need about 12,000 of them...

The way I look at it, if my wife needs seven pairs of nearly identical black shoes, then I need at least one of each kind of bass in existence...

:D
 
#20
Hey, great to get some inputs on the topic :)

It's really not that I expected to get cured for GAS, anyway. However, I have nailed it down to the fact that, basically, I am into Jazz type basses - original Fenders or botique models.

Which means that the GAS will probobly not disappear until I have tried out a Fodera NYC (or an fclef) and an Alleva-Coppolo...

(And then there is the issue of a high-end P/J 5-string...:rolleyes:)
 

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