Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
How Do You Guys Handle GAS?
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
Being a student helps. But apart from that its knowing that what you have can do the business.
For me, not knowing how great other basses can be is key.
so...ignorance is bliss.
For me, not knowing how great other basses can be is key.
so...ignorance is bliss.
gas... it hurts... especially in my case... since my day job also isn't gas-proof... im a photojournalist/freelance commercial photographer... so if im not gassing for bass gear... im gassing for cameras, lenses, lights, etc. i find myself shooting projects and using the money i earned to buy basses... or gig relentlessly to buy camera equipment... it just never stops... 
I used to give in freely, but now I can't. I now buy method books to work out of. I have quite a few bass guitar and trombone method books that I play through. They really help me get new ideas and they help me to break out of old patterns. Cello method books are also good, and since I started playing basses with a B-string I've bought a few tuba method books.
I hope this helps,
Art
I hope this helps,
Art
My cure for GAS is simple ..... for the past several years I have been buying and selling basses "for profit", and for the short time I have the basses in my hands I get to play them. Usually, after playing a "for sale" a little bit, it makes me realize that my main basses are great and I'm content.
I seek out basses that are being sold for a lower than average price (brand doesn't matter to me), I do the usual set-up, string change, cleaning, etc and then sell the bass for more than I paid for it. Sometimes it's only a little profit, occasionally I make pretty decent money.
All the profit from the buy/sell thing gets set aside .... that's how I can pay for the occasional custom order or whatever. Try it, you'll like it .... and it really helps to keep the GAS to a minimum ....
I seek out basses that are being sold for a lower than average price (brand doesn't matter to me), I do the usual set-up, string change, cleaning, etc and then sell the bass for more than I paid for it. Sometimes it's only a little profit, occasionally I make pretty decent money.
All the profit from the buy/sell thing gets set aside .... that's how I can pay for the occasional custom order or whatever. Try it, you'll like it .... and it really helps to keep the GAS to a minimum ....
Buy a house, get married and have kids. It doesn't stop the GAS, but it should make you really assess your situation before buying.
Staying out of places like this is a big factor as well. It's amazing how much stuff I couldn't live without when I started frequenting these forums.
Staying out of places like this is a big factor as well. It's amazing how much stuff I couldn't live without when I started frequenting these forums.
TB, and Bass Guitar Player fan the GAS in me more than anything else. Have you noticed that the more often you buy the less satisfaction you get from the gear? The law of diminishing returns. I haven't bought a new bass in about 5 yrs and I sold my 5502 and wish I had it back! G.A.S is what keeps a lot of boutique builders in business. My problem is that I've never been comfortable working with more that 1 bass at a time. So, I see the others sitting around collecting dust and I think. "If I sell the Lakland I can buy the SVP-Pro" knowing all the time that I already own a F1-X and a POD Pro. I have managed to hold on to my white SR-5 my red SR-5 fretless, my American Standard P-bass and my 4 str Jazz American deluxe. But I think the Jazz Deluxe's days may be numbered.
Winemule said:Think of your bass as a tool; a tool that you use to reach your musical goals. Don't buy a new tool until you have fully exploited the potential of the tool you already have.
Think of this as Pepto Bismol for your GAS...
This is the same method my parents used when I was younger in regards to video games. Didn't get a new video game until I beat the one I had.
How do I handle GAS?
CHARGE IT!!!
Seriously, I ask myself three times over three days do I really need it. I have to be able to justify my purchases to myself. The wife doesn't care what I buy as long as the bills get paid and I play her favorite songs.
And since I also play keyboards (yamaha, korg, alesis), live sound (speakers, amps, mixers, etc.) and record (software, computers, controllers, mikes, midi modules, monitors, sound proofing, etc.) it can get out of control really quickly.
Then I look at people like Sting
(I know, I know) who has made like a billion dollars with a fifty year old bass, or Marcus Miller with essentially one bass, I start to wonder what's most important.
So, I'm down to 5 basses now and one or two of those will probably be sold to finance a DJ5 and I'll be done.
At some point I'll get another preamp (current one is noisy).
But for now it's time for me to work towards my billion dollars...
SuperT
PS: TB constantly pours GAS onto a flame, but let's not forget about eBay, with it's endless stream of deals that simply can't be passed on...
PSS: Actually let's place the blame where it really should be - Al Gore - and his little invention called the internet!!!
CHARGE IT!!!
Seriously, I ask myself three times over three days do I really need it. I have to be able to justify my purchases to myself. The wife doesn't care what I buy as long as the bills get paid and I play her favorite songs.
And since I also play keyboards (yamaha, korg, alesis), live sound (speakers, amps, mixers, etc.) and record (software, computers, controllers, mikes, midi modules, monitors, sound proofing, etc.) it can get out of control really quickly.
Then I look at people like Sting
(I know, I know) who has made like a billion dollars with a fifty year old bass, or Marcus Miller with essentially one bass, I start to wonder what's most important.So, I'm down to 5 basses now and one or two of those will probably be sold to finance a DJ5 and I'll be done.
At some point I'll get another preamp (current one is noisy).
But for now it's time for me to work towards my billion dollars...
SuperT
PS: TB constantly pours GAS onto a flame, but let's not forget about eBay, with it's endless stream of deals that simply can't be passed on...
PSS: Actually let's place the blame where it really should be - Al Gore - and his little invention called the internet!!!
I did this for a year or two, played a lot of basses I'd never have gotten to take home, played a few exotics and pretty much broke even for the whole deal (I certainly did not net a profit, once you evened out the profitable sales with the large and small baths I took). I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
I also invested in a very high-priced exotic at one point. Found myself with a bass that, while a real work of art, was still not exactly what I liked to play and I couldn't afford to risk damaging it on a gig. I was very glad to have been through the custom-building process (I learned a lot) but also very glad to be rid of it the day it sold (It was a much higher class bass than I am a bass player...).
Since then, I've dabbled in refinishing and modding trashed vintage instruments and have created a couple of axes to keep. I still have a couple more ideas for things I'd like to build, but they represent big projects, so I'll pace myself.
Like someone observed earlier, the more I gig, the less I GAS. I guess that's true for me too: GAS happens to me more often when I'm not really focusing on playing.
Luckily for me, I have more important things to save money for than basses. Like...say....a car.
It has been hard to not spend money on basses lately. Every time I play my Peavey alone, it always sounds thin, especially on the lower strings, but when I play with my band, it sounds huge and full. I just have to keep reminding myself of how good it sounds in a band situation, and concentrate on just being a better bass player.
I need to stop playing that Yamaha BB415 at the music store
It has been hard to not spend money on basses lately. Every time I play my Peavey alone, it always sounds thin, especially on the lower strings, but when I play with my band, it sounds huge and full. I just have to keep reminding myself of how good it sounds in a band situation, and concentrate on just being a better bass player.
I need to stop playing that Yamaha BB415 at the music store
Dan Knowlton said:
Well someone already took my answer. I worry about explaining my purchase to the wife later and it usually involves something for her as well.
I am too dumb to get GAS...
I am lucky these days - I have 2 main basses that I love (MIA Jazz V and MMSR5) and don't really GAS for another at this time. I am enamoured with my rig (Good old SVT II PRO + 810e) and I am fortunate to be pretty dumb about racks, effects, and other stuff - so I don't get GAS for 'gear' these days.
The only thing I am 'jonesing' to do is make a bass like the gorgeous LeCompte's and others that I see you guys making here... I long to design it, shop for the wood, shape it, assemble it, install the guts and the frets... oooohhhhh...... so I suppose my GAS is more along the lines of tools and a workspace, which I really can't afford so my 'built-in happiness protector' doesn't allow me to think about it. It is like a pressure valve... when the GAS builds up, the pressure valve quietly releases it and I am left unaffected. Those around me, however...
I don't get GAS ... uh ... yet ...
I am lucky these days - I have 2 main basses that I love (MIA Jazz V and MMSR5) and don't really GAS for another at this time. I am enamoured with my rig (Good old SVT II PRO + 810e) and I am fortunate to be pretty dumb about racks, effects, and other stuff - so I don't get GAS for 'gear' these days.
The only thing I am 'jonesing' to do is make a bass like the gorgeous LeCompte's and others that I see you guys making here... I long to design it, shop for the wood, shape it, assemble it, install the guts and the frets... oooohhhhh...... so I suppose my GAS is more along the lines of tools and a workspace, which I really can't afford so my 'built-in happiness protector' doesn't allow me to think about it. It is like a pressure valve... when the GAS builds up, the pressure valve quietly releases it and I am left unaffected. Those around me, however...
I don't get GAS ... uh ... yet ...
A trick Larry Burkette (financial author, he's awesome!) recommends is to put your "most wanted" item on your purchase list. Then the rule is, you can't buy it for 60 days. If at any point a different item becomes your "most wanted" non-essential, the 60 days start over. But if you make it 60 days, then use your savings (not credit) to buy it.
And no... I don't claim to have stuck to this.
And no... I don't claim to have stuck to this.
Do y'all think Guitar players get GAS like we do? With all the Different Guitars out there, I'd have to imagine that they have support groups for this.
Dr. Cheese said:I honestly think that part of my problem is paying too much attention to others instead of following my own mind.
A poster on another thread (I forget who it was) said that these forums mess with your head and make it seem like you never have what you want. We nit pick over things too. For many of us, buying a new bass seems like the thing to do rather than adapting to what we have and being happy with it.
