Buried under gear

[Eric***]

So lately, I've been thinking about my guitar stuff, feeling a little self-conscious about the amount of gear I have. I have amassed a significant number of pedals (13 at last count) and guitars (7 if you count bass and acoustic), and at best, I use one of them at any time.

I might count myself lucky to have such a wealth of nice guitars, but honestly, I feel a little self-indulgent. So I guess it brings up the question: what the right amount of gear to own? Is there a point at which there's no justification for owning more stuff? Does the role of music in your life dictate how much stuff you can reasonably own, or is it all about your internal level of austerity?

I'm one step above couch surfing these days, so I can't set up all of my stuff anyway, but 3 amps, 5 electrics, an acoustic, a bass, and a load of pedals seems like an awful lot of stuff for someone who doesn't gig. I'm considering going down to maybe 3 electrics, an acoustic, a delay, OD, distortion, reverb, tuner, looper and selling off an amph while I'm at it.

So am I crazy? Should I just be happy in my riches? Does anyone ever relate to the stuff that I'm saying? I suppose not, given the demographic here. Maybe you can chalk this up to random musings.

[bcdon***]

There is no right answer. If you think you have too many guitars/pedals sale them off. You are the ultimate judge as to what might be 'too much' for you. Simple as that.

[Tig***]

Some might call you crazy, but around here, you're normal and average!

As long as you're managing your responsibilities and finances while balancing your purchases, who can fault you?

[Bookkeeper's Son]

I'm curious, Eric - do you use all of it regularly? I have only 1 acoustic, 2 electrics, and 1 amp, and sometimes I wonder if that's even too much because I don't play all that much. If I had more, it would seem kinda dumb to me.

[Tig***]

I have only 1 acoustic, 2 electrics, and 1 amp, and sometimes I wonder if that's even too much because I don't play all that much. If I had more, it would seem kinda dumb to me.

Careful with your posting... If any of our wives read this, we're in deep trouble!

[Bookkeeper's Son]

Sorry, Tig - I forgot about the PW crowd.

[Tig***]

Yo, you're the one with only 3 guitars and 1 amp!
PW my arse... well, maybe just a bit...

(edit: not sure what happened to my typo earlier)

[Retro Hound]

I always did think the Hello Kitty was unnecessary.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

Luckily, the wife has nothing to do with how much gear I do or don't have - she is an intelligent, confident, and assertive woman, but not a nag. We don't tell each other what is permissable.

[Spudman***]

There, um, is, um, no such thing, as, um, too much.

The point really is to get instruments, pedals and amphs that you love and enjoy playing. If they are paid for and not in the way around the house too much then keep them and play them when you feel like it. I absolutely love going into my closet and pulling out 4 or 5 guitars that I haven't played in a year. I really appreciate what I have, am glad that I got it don't feel the urge to go out and buy it because I've already have it.

But if your house starts looking like an episode of Hoarders then you might want to seek professional help.

[Zip]

Until the corner of your bedroom looks like this -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...y/IMG_0275.jpg
Don't worry about it, you're OK.....

[deeaa*]

I have often pondered the same, Eric.

I realize I enjoy buying and getting material things and gadgets hugely, but now and then I also get this feeling when I have gotten new stuff...a kind of moral hangover.
Sometimes it has been rather bad, even. I remember way back when I was a student, I got some extra money, and I blew it all and then some just to get dual SLI graphics cards (Voodoo 2 at that time, the predecessor of the modern SLI idea back in the 90's)...I felt terrible for days after spending all that money purely for gaming enjoyment, and something I really did not need. Despite it was no problem, it really was 'extra' money.

Back to guitars. I try to keep it down some. I have only ten at the moment, and really that means only four really good electrics, plus one I'm pondering of either rebuilding completely and converting to hardtail, and two acoustics, a bass and two self-made curiosities.

But, is that too much? I have this need to ditch something, and it's almost as big an itch as to get something new, and/or to rebuild that Yamaha into a clone of my Davette.

Pedals - that's easy...I've sold off all of them except the wah and the tuner plus a noisegate. I don't need the rest with the JVM. Oh actually I kept the Marshall compressor though, I figured it might come in handy some day. But I don't need the OD pedals etc. any more, so off they go. Why keep them? Over the years I have owned likely at least three dozen pedals, and I have likely made more money selling them off than buying them - I pretty much buy all my gear second-hand and only when good opportunity arises, like a pedal for $20 I know I can sell some day for $50. And I have.

Lately I have actually been pretty much exclusively playing the modded Prophecy SG I got quite recently. It's a helluva nice guitar now, and I suppose since I played gibson scale for well over a decade in bands, I just feel right at home with it, and the neck and everything is just perfect for me.

Thus I have pondered getting another SG, and if I do...it'd have to be another Prophecy, an EX this time though. Because Gibsons just don't compare - at least I haven't met a comparable model with such a fast neck and 24 frets with Gibson, and IMO it would make no sense to buy a $1500 guitar and then swap the pickups anyway...so a Prophecy would seem to be the only one to get.

However, that would land me again with way too many guitars.

- I can't sell the hotrod Squire; nice as it is, it's my punk beater nobody will pay good money for, plus I definitely want to keep a maple neck axe.
- I cant see the Stratoblaster; it's a superb Strat with a great neck my good friend built - again resale value is way low compared to how great a guitar it is.
- I definitely can't sell the Davette, since it's pretty much a perfect guitar 4 me, if strat scale though - still it is the most stable and easy-playing and unique guitar I could have.
- Won't sell the Prophecy either, as it's becoming my main axe rapidly
- Can't sell the handmade ones of course, rather keep them as ornaments if nothing else.

That leaves the Floyd-equipped Yamaha beater...I don't really need it. It could fetch maybe $160 or something. I could sell it, or swap for a nice 3/4 size electric in hopes either of the boys will at some point get into playing ...but then again it has a great neck, and it would make for a great base for putting in a thick maple cap for instance and hardtail coversion, sand and re-lacquer the neck and all, some fret work...would make a great project and I'm sure it would become a great guitar indeed...just like the davette, only this one is Gibson scale to boot!

So I guess I'm keeping it for that time I get a terrible urge to build something again.

Sigh.

I suppose I have sufficiently proven myself I don't have too many guitars and could use another Prophecy as well :-)

[piebaldpython***]

As long as you're managing your responsibilities and finances while balancing your purchases, who can fault you?

+1.......In my case, while I didn't have much time to play, the $$$$$'s (thanks to mucho OT) were available to get some awesome drool-worthy custom made lap steels. Ya know, for the future when the OT dries up and I've got more time to PLAY.

[Eric***]

I'm curious, Eric - do you use all of it regularly? I have only 1 acoustic, 2 electrics, and 1 amp, and sometimes I wonder if that's even too much because I don't play all that much. If I had more, it would seem kinda dumb to me.

No, and that's part of the issue. Part of it is that right now my wife and I are in temporary living conditions (staying with friends), so it's impossible to set everything up and therefore impossible to play them all. But even if I did have it all accessible, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't play all of the guitars.

What I'd probably like to do is to have 2 electrics and an acoustic with 2 amps and the basics for pedals (listed in the original posting). But deeaa's post articulates it perfectly: you can always make a case for why you need to keep all of your guitars, and the more customized they are, the more difficult it is to sell them, since they won't sell for anything. But then you're left with a bunch of guitars, some of which you rarely play.

What I think will end up happening is I'll just hold the line until we have our own place and I can set everything up. After that, I'll look at what I rarely/never play and make some decisions at that point. I guess there are worse problems in the world than having too many guitars, but it does make me feel a little self-indulgent.

[Katastrophe]

So am I crazy? Should I just be happy in my riches? Does anyone ever relate to the stuff that I'm saying? I suppose not, given the demographic here. Maybe you can chalk this up to random musings.

Question #1: Yes.
Question #2: Yes.
Question #3: Yes.

Keep what ya got, until some other GAS inducing item comes along. Then you can sell it off, and get new gear without having to come up with extra cash.

[Spudman***]

Keep what ya got, until some other GAS inducing item comes along. Then you can sell it off, and get new gear without having to come up with extra cash.

Sagely words indeed.

[riverrick]

I can really relate to this subject Eric. I'm sure I have way too much gear. For being an old man who just sits in his room and plays, never gigs and only jams with a nephew once in a great while. The wife says you can only play one at a time. So why do you need another guitar??? 18 at present. Not to mention I don't know how may pedals. To clean up some of the pedal clutter I got a Line 6 M5 modeler. With that said still have 9 pedals plus a looper. The guitars are works of art to me. Sure there are some get played more than others. At the moment 2 are in cases and don't get played at all. All the rest are on display. And there are times that I get to feeling guilty about all this material stuff. But what the heck. Life is short. And at this stage of my life this is what I want to do. Was hoping one of my grand kids would take up guitar, in fact gave him one of my Teles some pedals, & an amp. He got into it for a while but not so much now. So Eric you have to do what feels right for you. I sometimes think about selling some of them, but I'm sure I would regret it down the road.

[deeaa*]

I have started to think I'm not really an indulgent person at all, but quite contrary. I may be a bit of a miser actually, despite I like to buy all kinds of new toys now and then.

But, I seem to be quite strict on myself on what can or can I not afford. I mean, we're not rich by any standards, we make maybe a tad over 100k a year and that's more than we have in mortgages and loans and way way less than the values of the properties we own, so we're quite OK in that respect with no worries, although at the end of each month I'm always down to using my Mastercard for even daily purchases. And I can't seem to justify getting a newer car. My current one is 12 years old and has 350k on the clock but it works fine. Not getting the neighbors jealous, but works. And I would certainly like a nice, rather new car, something I'd really like myself, if only once in my life. Every week I'm eyeing how much does a nice '09 or '10 BMW 320 or 520 diesel engine Station Wagon cost at the moment, as that's the car I'm set on currently as my next ride, if I can afford it some day.

Still, I'd simply hate to buy a car with loaned money, because I've calculated if I buy a car that costs, say, 25k, and loan most of it, the final amount is like 34k at the end that I've paid for it, even with the lowest interests out there. That's pretty insane to me, I can rather wait for a few years and save up for a new car, and when the old one breaks, I'll buy such a car I have money down for, with no need for financing. I just fear it'll be much less than I have saved up at that time.

Same with guitars. I could buy most any guitar I wanted if I really wanted. When I was a student, I bought a guitar that cost my year's salary basically, and felt fine about it, but now I'm cringing to buy stuff that costs the equal amount of money I spend on lunches in a matter of weeks. Strange.

Somehow I seem to get tighter and tighter with the money every passing year, and less and less inclined to pay for guitars etc. and rather spend more money in home improvements really. I guess I'm just getting old.

[Ch0jin]

In one respect you are fortunate to have this dilemma, as I'm sure you are aware.

One of the guys I jam with (and one from the past) buys and sells gear so abruptly due to financial constraints I never really know what he's going to show up with next. First jam he brought a bass rig. Second jam a guitar rig. "Umm, What happened to the bass gear?" "Oh I sold all that, needed the cash".....