Goofy thread on being obsessed with new guitars

[deke]

When it comes to guitars I am like a Hollywood movie star and marriages. Flittering from one obsession to another. I play all kind of music and that does not help. A while back as I was trying to get more serious about getting back to playing jazz, I was pretty happy with my Ibanez PM2. I acquired it used for a steal from a Guitar Center of all places. With flat wounds and my trusty 1970s Princeton Reverb it sounded great, played great and I really enjoyed every session as I worked through various standards. Then, the wandering eye (or ear, or hands?) struck. I was obsessed with the idea of a new jazz box. I read the reviews, I watched the videos, I looked over all the guitars for sale at almost every online source known to human kind. Days turned into weeks. I could not stop thinking about it. One day I found a pristine used Peerless Monarch (with humbucker routed in) and took the plunge. It was instant love. We could not be separated. The Ibanez sat alone, rejected and collecting dust (though I am clean and take care of all my guitars). Today I picked up the Ibanez after at least 6 months. Amazingly it was almost perfectly in tune. I started playing it and it felt great, sounded great. Different than the Monarch which is also great, but still great. Perhaps I needed the new guitar to help me realize how nice the old guitar really is?

How do others handle their "gear acquisition syndrome" and you can't stop obsessing over a new guitar? Is it really our fault? With so many cool guitars out there, each with their own thing, how can this be avoided? Financial responsibility aside, why not just give in to it?

[Laro]

Start by falling in love only with very high-end archtop guitars from world-renowned luthiers, that should quickly calm your GAS!

In any case, there are always a thousand good reasons to be interested in a new guitar...

[Skip Ellis]

I just don't do it. I have all the guitars I need to do what I do. If a new requirement comes along, I'll either build or buy what I need. At the moment, I do not have or need a nylon string guitar but if I got a gig requiring one, I would do my due diligence and get one. In the past, I paid $1800 for a pedal steel for a theater gig - 8 shows a week for 6 weeks = 48 shows @ $70 per show = $3360; I then sold the steel for $2800 - profit (not counting gas for 10 mile trip to theater) = $4360 and I had a great time and played with some great musicians. I don't understand having guitars that don't get played (although I have a couple that I'd like to sell) - they're not alive and don't get lonesome but I don't like having $$$ tied up in things that aren't earning money. Now that I'm 78 and not really gigging anymore, I'm doing some serious downsizing to one amp and, at the most, three guitars - more than likely two. It's just deciding on the two that's hard; probably be either a Gretsch Nashville Classic for my Chet stuff....or .....a nice Ibanez GB10 and the Martin 000-18 that I already have. My Teles don't really count 'cause I build them whenever I want a different one.

[Stringswinger]

Being true to one guitar means being untrue to all the rest......

[John A.]

I do obsess a bit, and digitally window shop a lot. But i don’t often pull the trigger. Why not? As a practical matter, I have limited space and I’ve held myself to a 1-in-1-out rule for a long time. I’m at the point now where I’ve traded my way up to guitars that I wouldn’t want to part with. There’s potentially one more move I might make, but then I’m done for the foreseeable future.

Practicality aside, I think it’s better for me musically to maintain deep familiarity with a manageable number of guitars than to spread my attention thinly across more. Psychologically I think it’s healthier not to overfeed my consumerist impulses.

Specifically regarding archtops, I’m definitely done buying. One is enough, and the one I have is as good as I’ll ever be able to discern.

[StoneWaller]

Simple. Be poor. Buy a guitar above your paygrade. That way when the new shiny gnaws at you the only way you can afford it is to suffer through the pain in the ass of selling or trading... with the likely financial loss and the eventual and inevitable "you know, that actually was a really sweet player."

[AllanAllen]

I dunno, I like my epiphone broadway. The only guitar I thought was better was the Gibson Chuck Berry reissue from a few years ago. But at $10,000 I was out for a number of reasons.

[Doctor Jeff]

Best advice for avoiding GAS—don’t read this part of the forum.

I’ve probably gotten a half dozen guitars because I read about them on the forum, started researching, and the next thing you know—voila, a new guitar. Many of these guitars I had never heard of before.

The Epiphone Joe Pass, Peerless Sunset, and Cordoba Stage come to mind.

Also the ES-175 I got a few years ago was advertised on the forum. It is the one guitar I wouldn’t want to part with, though my Gretsch 6117 reissue is a close second.

[drbhrb]

For me it’s usually just a matter of waiting a few weeks before pulling the trigger. The desire always goes away. Ultimately a new box or plank of wood to play jazz on is not going to make me sound any better

[Cunamara]

That's the answer for me too. If I buy this guitar, am I going to be able to play better than I do now? The answer, of course, is no. So I let it wait, the impulse goes away. But I regularly get kind of obsessed with various guitars on the local Craigslist, on this forum, on Reverb, etc. I just wait it out. I have seven guitars already. How many more are going to make me a better player?

But there is this Heritage 535 on Craiglist just a "little" ways south of me in Des Moines…

[BreckerFan]

I feel like there's a point where there's no more room for improvement. I have 5 great guitars and I already feel like I can't play them all enough to truly appreciate them. So whenever I go to a guitar store and see x beautiful vintage archtop there's infatuation but then I think about 1. How much I like what I have and 2. Whether this one would be that much different from what I have. Usually that's enough to back me off a ledge lol.

[enalnitram]

I have recognized in myself, I get obsessed in multiple ways:
1. Playing music
2. Tweaking, modding, fixing my gear and guitars
3. Looking at pics online and reading about gear I don't have.

I already have 3 guitars that I love, and that I can play all the styles that I like on. I just remind myself it's all about #1

[jads57]

My Motto has always been “One Wife,Many Guitars!” I’ now at a point where I try only to own instruments that are actually used for gigging. But even then it’s still hard! Have fun!

[nyc chaz]

As long as you are not going into debt and can afford it,buy as many guitars as you want.You only live once,can't buy them when you are dead and gone.

[mr quick]

I used to have GAS until I got what was my dream guitar at the time, and realized that it actually satiated that desire. Over the years, I had a few moments of GAS again, but I've become something of a pragmatist and I enjoy commitment. I have this Gibson guitar that I play my very best on, so I don't see any point in having something that doesn't do that. In fact, I'm picking it up from the luthier today after installing a strat pickup in the middle, so that I don't have to have a strat.

I would rather have one or four best friends than a thousand acquaintances, to put it that way.

[WilliamScott]

There’s potentially one more move I might make, but then I’m done for the foreseeable future.

.

Reminds me of this song.

[John A.]

Reminds me of this song.

I did say "for the foreseeable future," not "forever" ...

... Anybody have a crossover nylon they're willing to trade for a guitalele and a some cash?