G.A.S. is a sickness that we encourage!

[Woodinblack]

38 minutes ago, gjones said:

The guy with 50+ basses was either mentally ill, or was buying the instruments as an investment. 

You would be pretty hard pressed to get a decent return on investment with a bass, unless you got something very rare very cheap or you got lucky on some brand going crazy (sort of a Wal thing).

Maybe 20 years ago when a lot of things were unwanted it would have worked, but not now so much.

There are so many better options.

38 minutes ago, gjones said:

The fact is, certain brands of guitars and basses, if bought secondhand,  hold their value. They keep up with inflation and if you sell them in later years you might actually make a profit.

No, historically some particular year and model of certain brands have held their value, most haven't. Even your pre-cbs fender if you work out the price now to the equivalent price when bought haven't gained much.

No, if you want lots of basses, have loads of basses, if you want investments there are better places to look.

[Killed_by_Death]

6 hours ago, Al Krow said:

If it becomes an addiction that you can't control and it's causing you financial problems, we'll that's an entirely different matter. 

It's exactly The Matter, & why I used an example that unfortunately got everyone on the 'why do you care about their spending?' tangent.

How many families can't put their kids in college, because of all the money that's been blown on G.A.S.?

I'd wager it's more than we'd be comfortable knowing.

Yet we encourage it, every chance we get, THAT is my point.

 

5 hours ago, gjones said:

The guy with 50+ basses was either mentally ill, or was buying the instruments as an investment. 

Exactly, except about the investment, because they're all bottom-tier stuff.

I pretend to be happy for the person, but I'm just hiding my derision. You can't just blurt out: "You have a problem dude, a serious problem!"

Online it's like a badge of courage for the owners, hey look at my room FULL of pricey stuff, LOL!

'Which of my XX basses should I take to the show?' threads, humble bragging?

 

If a person can afford to have a large collection w/o affecting their ability to provide for their family, of course there's no issue.

but I've seen the posts from guys commenting about how they should stop G.A.S.-ing so they can afford to put their kid through college (everyone still encourages them to keep buying, except me)

College debt lasts for decades if you take out those loans.

 

[Al Krow]

7 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

...but I've seen the posts from guys commenting about how they should stop G.A.S.-ing so they can afford to put their kid through college (everyone still encourages them to keep buying, except me)

I'll have to confess I've not come across that issue on BC. Maybe because we don't have the same amount of college costs for our kids as you guys do in the USA and student loans are freely available.

But obviously if folk are struggling with money issues, their mates should not be encouraging them to spend money they don't have. If they do, they're not really true mates. I can't fault you at all for trying to put their deeper interests at heart in such circumstances. But, at the end of the day, they need to be willing to listen - you shouldn't blame yourself if they don't.

[krispn]

Very few people on BC will discourage a person from buying a new piece of gear. The odd voice of “invest the money in lessons and a good teacher” may get the occasional like but the rule of thumb is to encourage the purchase. It’s probably why most folk vocalise it on here so the wave of encouragement propels the purchase, the NBD/NAD threads etc the praise and adulation for having the new gear etc. It’s the celebration and belonging a piece of new gear can afford someone when lived via a forum which folks might enjoy

My statement is an observation not a judgement on whether it’s good or bad just the way a lot of this happens. Just read the effusive threads on the gear pages or the amount of “This looks like the next best thing” threads which ultimately fizzle because the next namm cycle comes around or the next gear fad kicks in. Or see the new gear thread and all the positive chat followed by the for sale ad 3 months later.

Most of us have done it - it’s just funny to see folk repeat the well worn path of buying heaps of stuff they won’t use with all the rationalisation in between to end up with a 4 string p bass😀

 

 

 

[tegs07]

Personally I have found if you buy stuff secondhand and at a reasonable price you will get back what you paid for it give or take a couple of quid. Over a long period you may even make a fair bit.

Compulsive buying particularly new stuff on the other hand is another matter.

[JapanAxe]

I‘ve had a fair amount of practice at buying (and selling on) music gear, consequently I have a clear idea of what is likely to work for me. I also have pretty much all the stuff I want. I won’t claim to be GAS-free, but it doesn’t loom large in my thinking.

After one particular purchase the initial euphoria was quickly replaced by buyer’s remorse. Fortunately the more I used the item the more I liked it, but did make me question the whole GAS-powered buying process.

I’ve found a substitute in building my own kit, mainly valve amps. This is much more fulfilling and possibly cheaper but it does bring its own problems - I can’t easily sell on surplus builds, and I end up GASing after tools and test equipment!

[tegs07]

6 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

You would be pretty hard pressed to get a decent return on investment with a bass, unless you got something very rare very cheap or you got lucky on some brand going crazy (sort of a Wal thing).

Maybe 20 years ago when a lot of things were unwanted it would have worked, but not now so much.

There are so many better options.

No, historically some particular year and model of certain brands have held their value, most haven't. Even your pre-cbs fender if you work out the price now to the equivalent price when bought haven't gained much.

No, if you want lots of basses, have loads of basses, if you want investments there are better places to look.

Met a guy recently who sold a pre CBS strat for £35K bought a camper van and spent lockdown living in it & off the profits. I doubt that the big names Musicman, Rickenbacker, Etc are going to dip below inflation if bought second hand. Cash in the bank on the other hand will be decimated over the long term.

[Lozz196]

41 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

Personally I have found if you buy stuff secondhand and at a reasonable price you will get back what you paid for it give or take a couple of quid. Over a long period you may even make a fair bit.

Compulsive buying particularly new stuff on the other hand is another matter.

Agree, over the last few weeks I’ve sold 3 basses and 2 guitars, only took a hit on the one that I bought new, the rest all went for approx what I paid for them.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Killed_by_Death said:

but I've seen the posts from guys commenting about how they should stop G.A.S.-ing so they can afford to put their kid through college (everyone still encourages them to keep buying, except me)

Wouldn't complaints about the TB membership be more fruitfully placed on TB? 

[LukeFRC]

16 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Wouldn't complaints about the TB membership be more fruitfully placed on TB? 

Instant banning that would probably be!

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, tegs07 said:

Met a guy recently who sold a pre CBS strat for £35K bought a camper van and spent lockdown living in it & off the profits. I doubt that the big names Musicman, Rickenbacker, Etc are going to dip below inflation if bought second hand. Cash in the bank on the other hand will be decimated over the long term.

As I said, you could do that, you probably can't any more. Also if he bought a house in the same year he bought the cbs strat, he would have probably made 350k and have a much better camper van, or bought Bitcoin 10 years ago and be flying to his mansion in a private jet.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

1 hour ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Wouldn't complaints about the TB membership be more fruitfully placed on TB? 

You should hop right over there & try it on, let us know how it goes.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

1 hour ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Wouldn't complaints about the TB membership be more fruitfully placed on TB? 

You should hop right over there & try it on, let us know how it goes.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

Instant banning that would probably be!

Not instant, but if you go against one of the most prolific posters with the worst case of G.A.S., then that person will be on the lookout if you happen to mock the cultural slang they enjoy using.

 

[tegs07]

11 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

As I said, you could do that, you probably can't any more. Also if he bought a house in the same year he bought the cbs strat, he would have probably made 350k and have a much better camper van, or bought Bitcoin 10 years ago and be flying to his mansion in a private jet.

 

Yes very droll. As you point out some assets outpace inflation and are therefore investments. I agree that instruments are unlikely to make returns anywhere near early Fenders but there is a big difference between an investment and a get rich quick scheme. If you had 2 grand spare you could put it in the bank, get 0.6% or so return on it when real inflation is running at 3/4% and lose £40 to £60 a year or so or buy that secondhand Ricky or whatever you have always wanted enjoy it for several years and most likely make a modest return on it when it sells. There are better investments as you say but most of us can afford one house if we are lucky and fine art, classic cars and old wines are not possible let alone gambling on crypto currency’s.

[krispn]

Here’s a good example of the GAS thing. Rhett Shull had a video up the other week of his signature model guitar, his own choices and preferences as you’d expect with no expense spared. It’s about $6,000. Today a video pops up on you tube from him titled “I bought a cheap guitar and I love it!” 

I like reading the for sale ads where someone has rushed out to buy a 5 string for a new project which ‘needs’ a 5’er only for that project to fold a few weeks later or buying the new rig for a new band with the same outcome. The person posts a NBD thread to see the same gear in the for sale thread weeks later. The things we tell ourselves eh!

[Al Krow]

Tbf we can equally buy gear simply 'cos we're curious and going in with eyes open that it may not be "the one" or not even better than stuff we already have. Provided we're buying used and look after the kit while it's in our hands, we shouldn't lose too much on it. 

A lot of us thought @Paul S nailed that point with his post, early on in this thread. 

[nilebodgers]

On 15/02/2021 at 09:53, nilebodgers said:

That is a perceptive comment. I've got a big birthday coming up soon and I'm thinking of buying myself a really nice USA Fender Jazz to replace my ratty MIM Jazz. The thing is - would I play it, or just carry on playing my old one and look at the shiny occasionally and feel a bit oppressed by having an expensive thing I'm not using?

I'm talking to myself LOL. I bought the USA Jazz, only s/h because an opportunity came up to get just what I wanted at a much better price than new.

The fact is that it plays and sounds better than my old MIM and I quickly realised that I would not have touched that again and have moved it on already rather than have it sitting around unplayed.

[krispn]

The topic could probably have been closed after Pauls's astute comments and most BC posts could be ended equally as quickly if the logical answer came so early in a thread. Equally I stand by my post on the first page and more recently that it's often not about the actual item but the process and the gear we decide we 'need' ultimately we don't.

I was commenting on the impulse to rush out and buy new gear because someone answered an ad for a band or they're having a first rehearsal and buy all the kit. I've seen quite a few ad's like that where someone 'needed' a P bass for a band or a 5'er and it is for sale weeks later, that kinda thing.

Sure buy gear, try it out, sell it on and have the knowledge and experience that it did or didn't work for a particular song. I think Paul and I were approaching this from two differing perspectives which ultimately overlap and create a venn diagram which covers both our points ( and likely ends up with a P bass in the middle for the gear I need part versus the gear I have and the gear I want at opposite sides of the diagram.

Edited April 25, 2021 by krispn

[LukeFRC]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

A lot of us thought @Paul S nailed that point with his post, early on in this thread. 

I thought that a lot of us thought I had nailed it with my GAS classification list. One of my greatest basschat posts that!

[Al Krow]

12 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

I thought that a lot of us thought I had nailed it with my GAS classification list. One of my greatest basschat posts that!

No question it was a truly excellent post - even if you say so yourself 😂

Should you update it, though, to add a "Curiosity killed the cat" category to cover Paul S's well put point?

And a "Think they need it 'cos they've started a new project" category to include krispn's observation?

[Henrythe8]

Ahhhh, GAS is a wonderful thing. 

Being myself a small time haorder, I can relate to the conversation. 

I have only 14 basses, from the Thomann kit up to the Custom Stradi. not up to the point where my children's happiness is on the line, but see, I like the objects. ANd I love to play aound. and experiment. As a failed bassist and a failed luthier, I just have fun modding some bvasses in my garage. 

Some basses can be an investment, I old some basses 2000€ and they pop up at 2800e two years later, some trends make instruments go up in a short period of thime. I've witnessed it as always selling low and buying high, which is not the right way to call it an investment. Like cars. 

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I read a paper by a psychologist about Acquisition Syndrome & they claim it's because our human mind tricks us into thinking we conquered a thing, just by acquiring it.

Right now I have more books than I will likely read before I keel over, but I take a tiny bit if pride in owning every book in the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles.

 

I found that prolific poster's FB profile, the super-GASser, he spends a lot of time in shops recording himself playing basses. That's gained him quite the following.

I can't decided if I want to be friends with him or block him, LOL!

 

[LukeFRC]

48 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

I read a paper by a psychologist about Acquisition Syndrome & they claim it's because our human mind tricks us into thinking we conquered a thing, just by acquiring it.

Right now I have more books than I will likely read before I keel over, but I take a tiny bit if pride in owning every book in the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles.

 

I found that prolific poster's FB profile, the super-GASser, he spends a lot of time in shops recording himself playing basses. That's gained him quite the following.

I can't decided if I want to be friends with him or block him, LOL!

 

there's a thing with Ikea furniture - as we construct it ourselves we have a stronger emotional attachment to it

 

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I put together a bass from parts of 3 basses a couple of years ago, finally sold it a few months ago, which inspired this thread:

I don't generally have emotional attachment to inanimate objects, but I suppose I'm an anomaly.