Do I have GAS? Help me out!

BuddytheReow

BuddytheReow

Moderator
Alright, guys. I'm at a crossroads and I either need you to push me off the cliff or hold me back. Not sure which yet, lol.

Anyways, I've been squirreling away some cash for a while and just recently got a small bonus from work (sign on bonus). I've got enough now to do whatever I want with it. The problem is I don't know what I want. I posted a thread a little while ago since I was interested in building an amp. I don't actually need or really want another amp. I really just want to build it, but the price point is what's keeping me at bay on this. Secondly, over the past 3-6 months I've spent the majority of my playing time on bass and building up my chops. I've only picked up the guitar maybe a handful of times this year. I've got a Yamaha TRBX304 and am happy with it, but I'd like to compare tones to another universal bass (P Bass, J Bass, or Sting Ray). I guess the question here is should I buy one or use my DIY skills to try and put one together? I would go the Warmoth route on this one rather than a kit simply due to the QC of the kit I did a few years ago. Again, I don't really NEED another bass yet (mine is only a year old and finally gave it a good clean/shine last night), but it would be nice to have. Am I overthinking this? Do I have GAS? Do I leave this alone and just build another dozen pedals? What are your thoughts?

BuddytheReow
 
During Covid, I tried a DIY kit from Solo Musig Gear ... to it seems good, but I am not an expert at all. What I liked is that they had some really cheap kits, lefty please, and the main goal was to occupy myself at something and the outcome was not much important. I play that bass since then. Maybe I should upgrade the electronics on it, do a full setup and post build report. :unsure: But I'm also tempted by the new Fender Player Plus active PJ...


Edit : Here is the one I built... maybe I just like building things.
20200817_134925.jpg
 
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I’m a J bass fan. I have not a O and a J. The PBass have a very distinct sound. To me, it doesn’t fit every occasion, but to some it might. If you’re uncertain, buy a used MIM. If it’s not your thing, it will be easy to sell. If you were to build one, I’d go with an ash body. It’s heavy but very much worth it.
 
jimilee said:
I’m a J bass fan. I have not a O and a J. The PBass have a very distinct sound. To me, it doesn’t fit every occasion, but to some it might. If you’re uncertain, buy a used MIM. If it’s not your thing, it will be easy to sell. If you were to build one, I’d go with an ash body. It’s heavy but very much worth it.
Click to expand...
MIM?
 
I picked up that same PBass that Nic did around same time, same reason but gave it EMG passive guts and purple.. sounds better than I can play!!!
MIM's are ok but fender sells the higher output guts under 'tex-mex' or texas special' and occaisionally the normal p=ups for under 130, so any quality kits/parts like solo's/warmouths can be brought up to mid grade for half price..
 
Deperduci said:
I picked up that same PBass that Nic did around same time, same reason but gave it EMG passive guts and purple.. sounds better than I can play!!!
MIM's are ok but fender sells the higher output guts under 'tex-mex' or texas special' and occaisionally the normal p=ups for under 130, so any quality kits/parts like solo's/warmouths can be brought up to mid grade for half price..
Click to expand...
Totally agree. I was just going by the didn’t know if it was what he wanted thing. I’m all for an American Standard.
 
Solo has some pretty good stuff! The Sting Ray is calling my name, but that won’t ship to the US. The PJ bass looks interesting and a good price. I agree I can always upgrade the hardware. I was hesitant about a kit build since the one I put together is horribly intonated (it’s from The Fret Wire) and would need to route the bridge cavity more (floyd rose) to bring it in line.
 
If I went Warmoth we’re talking nearly a grand for the body and neck alone. Plus the hardware which should be, what, $200? From what I read online it really isn't that much cheaper to build from a kit once you upgrade the hardware.
 
Nic said:
During Covid, I tried a DIY kit from Solo Musig Gear ... to it seems good, but I am not an expert at all. What I liked is that they had some really cheap kits, lefty please, and the main goal was to occupy myself at something and the outcome was not much important. I play that bass since then. Maybe I should upgrade the electronics on it, do a full setup and post build report. :unsure: But I'm also tempted by the new Fender Player Plus active PJ...


Edit : Here is the one I built... maybe I just like building things.
View attachment 50450
Click to expand...
How did you get that finish?
 
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My first bass was a MIM jazz. I avoided p basses for a long time but then I was gifted one and over the course of like 6 months it became my no. 1. At the time I mostly played a fretless 5 string a friend made, a baritone I made, and an electric upright also of my making. The p bass beat out 3 instruments that were literally crafted by my hands(2 out of 3) for my hands. P bass is a thing for a reason.
 
Mentaltossflycoon said:
My first bass was a MIM jazz. I avoided p basses for a long time but then I was gifted one and over the course of like 6 months it became my no. 1. At the time I mostly played a fretless 5 string a friend made, a baritone I made, and an electric upright also of my making. The p bass beat out 3 instruments that were literally crafted by my hands(2 out of 3) for my hands. P bass is a thing for a reason.
Click to expand...
Totally agree, it’s got “that” sound. I put split Ps in two of mine.
 
BuddytheReow said:
Alright, guys. I'm at a crossroads and I either need you to push me off the cliff or hold me back. Not sure which yet, lol.

Anyways, I've been squirreling away some cash for a while and just recently got a small bonus from work (sign on bonus). I've got enough now to do whatever I want with it. The problem is I don't know what I want. I posted a thread a little while ago since I was interested in building an amp. I don't actually need or really want another amp. I really just want to build it, but the price point is what's keeping me at bay on this. Secondly, over the past 3-6 months I've spent the majority of my playing time on bass and building up my chops. I've only picked up the guitar maybe a handful of times this year. I've got a Yamaha TRBX304 and am happy with it, but I'd like to compare tones to another universal bass (P Bass, J Bass, or Sting Ray). I guess the question here is should I buy one or use my DIY skills to try and put one together? I would go the Warmoth route on this one rather than a kit simply due to the QC of the kit I did a few years ago. Again, I don't really NEED another bass yet (mine is only a year old and finally gave it a good clean/shine last night), but it would be nice to have. Am I overthinking this? Do I have GAS? Do I leave this alone and just build another dozen pedals? What are your thoughts?

BuddytheReow
Click to expand...
Sorry, if you have to ask, then you don't have GAS. :ROFLMAO:
Save your shekels until something comes along that makes you quiver and tremble at the thought of not buying it. THAT's GAS!

(GAS expert here...........:))
 
BuddytheReow said:
Solo has some pretty good stuff! The Sting Ray is calling my name, but that won’t ship to the US. The PJ bass looks interesting and a good price. I agree I can always upgrade the hardware. I was hesitant about a kit build since the one I put together is horribly intonated (it’s from The Fret Wire) and would need to route the bridge cavity more (floyd rose) to bring it in line.
Click to expand...
That's the problem.. my blue E335 bass I think I posted before was a fretwire kit... can't get the neck angle right for enough shiites to save Muhammed.. might be why they closed up shop either bad sources or trying to hide from the gripes for now.

It's like sanity, if you know you're crazy it just means you have a problem, not that your nutz 😉
 
Deperduci said:
That's the problem.. my blue E335 bass I think I posted before was a fretwire kit... can't get the neck angle right for enough shiites to save Muhammed.. might be why they closed up shop either bad sources or trying to hide from the gripes for now.

It's like sanity, if you know you're crazy it just means you have a problem, not that your nutz 😉
Click to expand...
So, I bought a bad kit. Sigh...
 
G.A.S.
by Walter Becker
(appeared originally in Guitar Player)

I have decided to break my long standing editorial silence to draw the attention of the musical community at large and guitar players and guitar owners in particular to a grave situation whose tragic dimension is constantly expanding and is in fact threatening to engulf us all. Picture this:

I am in the family room of a well appointed home in the North Hollywood area of the San Fernando Valley which is the neighborhood favored by many if not most of the top studios players in the L.A. basin. Every third house on this block belongs to a session player and contains a demo studio full of midi gear. This is the home of well known and endlessly talented picker of long acquaintance who for obvious reasons must remain nameless*. The gent in question is a devoted husband and a doting father, but right now there is no family in the family room; there's no room for the family in the family room. All horizontal surfaces are covered by guitars - acoustics, electrics, lap steels, old ones, new ones, weird little ukulelelike things with no proper names - and, as I sit strumming the last treasure to be produced for my delectation, my pal disappears out of the room asking if he'd ever showed me his Delvecchio which I gather is some sort of Brazilian rosewood dobro- and mind you this roomful of strings and frets are only the ones that he has sitting around the house and ALMOST NEVER USES AT THE GIG -

Or consider this:

I'm working at a studio in town with another well known session cat who has had roughly the same readily identifiable and winning sound for the last twelve years or so - but I've noticed that he never shows up for a call with the same guitar twice - true, they all sound about the same but for some reason these excellent sounding (and looking) axes are constantly falling out of favor and being replaced by sonically indistinguishable ones - and further probing reveals that each one of these guitars has been extensively modified and remodified using the latest space age (or is it now post space age) materials and techniques ("this bridge here is made of unobtanium - so rare you can't get any of it anywhere"), only to be rejected and discarded AFTER TWO WEEKS OR LESS-

What's up with these guys?

It's called G.A.S. - Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. You undoubtedly know someone who has it. Reading this rag, you probably have it yourself. Or will have it someday soon or would like to have it. You may think it's cool. But it's not cool. Not anymore. How many Strats do you need to be happy? How many Strat copies, each extensively modified to be able to produce the variations in tone that once would have required maybe four different guitars? How many knobs and switches does that Strat need? Consider this: I am settling up my account for yet another mod to my custom semi solid all Koa Strat clone with the rewound Fender low impedance hum canceling pickups and the Pau Ferro neck, at the shop of a well-known luthier-to-the-stars type guy who says to me, "Stick around, Buzzard should be through any time now - he comes in every Saturday about this time to drop off and pick up guitars -" word is out that Buzzard is going to be the Poster Boy for G.A.S. this year- and now it's Guitar Modification Syndrome, a dangerous complication to the original syndrome, that seems in more advanced cases to be doing most of the damage. In fact I am told by said luthier (one of several who work on Buzzard's and my guitars, since evidently no one luthier can create an ax that will satisfy our jaded sensibilities) that the Buzzard recently returned with a freshly modified guitar that he had impulsively hacked up with a butter knife or some other semiblunt instrument, in a crude and spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to Modify the Modifications - and this THE DAY AFTER HE GOT THE GUITAR OUT OF THE SHOP -

The horror stories could fill this whole magazine (not a bad idea) but what matters most at this time of crisis is, What can be done to stamp out this menace before it makes YOUR life a living hell? Here are a couple of ideas which should be reviewed by any sufferer on the brink of yet another G.A.S. attack:

1. Consider for a moment the karmic implications of owning all those guitars. Picture yourself dragging your ass through eternity with all those guitars strapped to your back. In hardshell cases, not gig bags.

2. Who's gonna tune those buggers? Who's gonna change the strings? (this won't work for guys who are buying and selling with great frequency, i.e., if you don't keep them long enough to change the strings)

3. Imagine that your wife finds out how many guitars you actually have ("Is that another new guitar?" "Oh, no, honey - this one's about twenty five years old!")

4. Pretend you are a clarinet player - how many clarinets do you own?

5. Ask yourself: would I like to be thought of and remembered as a guitar player or as a guitar owner?

6. Imagine that you are in whatever vintage guitar shop you visit frequently and are dealing with the owner of the shop. He is of course severely stricken with G.A.S. Now imagine that you are taking on his personality,with each new purchase you become more and more like him. This one exercise, done properly, will do more to stem the tide of new G.A.S. sufferers than anything else I can think of right now.
 
I’m largely in agreement with @MichaelW, you have maybe some slight heart burn, or more precisely wallet burning hole in pocket, rather than GAS.

That said, rather than looking for another “universal” bass, why not think about something a bit specialized? 5 strings, or fretless, or a hollow body? And, as we all know, financially, it makes more sense to buy something and then sell it if it doesn’t mesh—but those of us that like making things screw it and build what we want, knowing we’ll never recoup our investment.

With Warmoth, if you’re willing to buy unfinished necks and bodies, you can save a good bit. Both builds I’ve done have hand rubbed oil finishes (on super light weight swamp ash bodies), and it requires no equipment and $30 in supplies to do. (And, I actually have access to a full spray booth, and have painted a number of guitars for friends over the years. I had planned on lacquering the first one, decided to try the oil finish and didn’t even consider paint on the second one.)
 
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