why am i always looking for some thing else

I asked myself that same question last week when I found myself returning a bass only to find my trade-in had already been sold.

There are no easy answers for why we have GAS. The one thing I want to try to do is to avoid impulse, "it's a great deal" buys that I end up regretting. I also think that unless you are genuinely unhappy with your bass, trade-ins are recipe for regret. No matter how much you are going to like the new bass, if you liked your old bass at all, you will end up missing it.

I just say take your time and don't jump at the first thing that looks or sounds good, kind of like picking a girl or boyfriend.

 

I know how you feel, I just bought a Warwick. (I had major gas)

 

Eh... such is life.

No matter what our choice may have been, if we desire to things, the one we did not choose is always longed for... even if it were worse.

 

Yeah, it's not smart to whore around on either your partner or your bass!!!! You'll miss them when they are gone.

 

males brains are hard wired to want better.. trust me, buy a ferrari you will want a McLaren F1 and so on.. either stick with what you're 'kinda' happy with (smart) or give in and waste $1000's on an endless quest for perfection..

 

Because one bass can't do it all?
Fretted, fretless, fender style, 5-string, 6-string. ect.
Or we are all just crazy?

 

I keep thinking I should have scraped together the extra few hundred £££ to get a Streamer Stage 1. Damn... :scowl:

 

I felt like that until I finally bought my Thumb.

 

That's the sickness!! Now get down with it!!

 

I felt like that until I finally bought my Bongo.

 

We all do this (so, is it really about male brains?). According to Buddhism, we have this insatiable desire because we live in samsara, the place of longing and dissatisfaction. According to capitalism, it's because we are good little buyers who are easily persuaded to feel that we need something we don't have. Either way, it's based on an idea of humans as vulnerable, needy, and unhappy.
Me? I got lots of basses. But I'm not acquiring new ones anymore and would rather focus on what's cool about the ones I got. Where there's GAS, there's fire! (?!?!)

 

You can't beat GAS... you can only hope to contain it.

 

All I know is, if I spent half as much time practicing over the past few years as I spent reading about, lusting over and searching for new and different basses, I'd be a much better player. I've had to try a lot of different basses to realize that the ones I have are all I'll ever need.

 

True.

 

I have spent a couple years and a lot of money "searching" for "the dream tone" and while it wasn't a waste - I had fun trying many different rigs and basses - in hindsight it wasn't necessary. I am basically back to what I started with. Full circle if you will.

I always thought there was something better, but it turns out I had a pretty darn good bass and rig all along. I think that more of "your sound" lies in the player than the gear. Not that ger doesn't contribute, but not like the player and technique.

 

It's sounds childish, but for me, I like knowing that I have what the guy on TV or the guy in the magazine has. It's cool to pick up a magazine and see that an accomplished player uses what you use.
We also get swayed by our friends. I had no interest in a Ken Smith until a friend insisted that they were the best basses in the world and I would be better with one (I guess I was deprived with my USA Spector five string!!!) Similarly, people here going on about F Basses and Sadowskys really have me eager to play one.

What's funny is that a year ago, everyone was bragging on their Lakland 55-94s and 55-02s. It seems those great basses have dropped in their hotness factor in favor of other basses.

Finally, no matter what others may say, we all like it when others approve of our choices. Anybody who has spent time on these forums knows that the most heated arguments always involved someone criticizing a particular make of bass.

I guess what I'm saying is that I admire people like Steve C who play a bass that may not be the hot ticket of the moment, but who really love what it can do for them. Ultimately, we all have to pick our tools and use our own good judgement. Our basses only have to be good for us, not the next guy.

 

i have reached bass zen. i did a post a few weeks ago about being G.A.Sed out. i have every make and model of bass that dan armstrong made so i am happy. i'm selling everything else. my hofner is going [going to a good home though], 3 foundations are going, gutars, amps everything that aint a dan armstrong, buh bye. i am at peace with the bass world now. it's a good feeling. i require nothing else and want nothing else.

 

You have the sickness. Not everyone has it but it doesn't mean you are freak, it is just a condition that should be kept in check. I suffer from this too, I have to reason with myself constantly when it comes to G.A.S. For instance, I played the sweetest Warwick I have ever played in my life today. It is a custom semi hollow body that is light as a feather and is not a one trick pony. The eq, playability and finish is the best I have ever heard and seen on any Warwick. I have $2,000 burning a hole in my pocket over this one. But I will stick with what I have, this would be an impulse buy. On the other hand, there are only 200 that are being made and this is # 20 or so. See, there I go again.

 

I'm lucky, ever since i got my G&L i havent found another bass that ive thought to be as good. I fear the day that i do