How do you stop the urge to buy new guitars

[progrmr]

I have a new guitar for about a week, then I find myself looking at other guitars and wanting to buy!

It's like GAS out of control - no good reason, everything I have is freakin' great. Why the desire to buy more? I know what will happen - I'll have it for a week, and want to buy something else...I ain't rich so that can't continue lol!

How do you all avoid this urge? Or do you just buy anything you want??

 

[Beerman]

I get that way not only with guitars but with building computers. I don't need no more stinking computers!
However, if you have a wife (sorry about this ladies in attendance) who buys too many shoes and purses, a sure cure (warning, rationalization ahead) is to match each shoe color with a guitar. That way it goes with the wife's purse and shoes.
I just look at my paycheck and the fact that I have to pay for most of my kids college and it's usually enough to stop me. Or I tell myself to practice more with what I have an earn it.
I saved a good chunk of change not eating out. My wife is a great cook and loves to cook so why spend the $$$ on eating out. I also try to drink a little less but the Beerman can't drink that water beer. He needs ream-man beer and the money is well worth it.

 

[progrmr]

So I googled "how to stop buying guitars" and found this link to Robert's web site!! lol

http://www.dolphinstreet.com/blog/practicing-buying-guitar.php

 

[Eric]

I have this same issue, but I've kept it in check reasonably well as of late. I think a helpful thing for me is to get excited, not pull the trigger, and see if it's still there a week later.

It also helps quite a bit to be honest with my wife and tell her what I'm interested in. She'll usually ask if it's something I've been looking at for a long time, and whether it's a good deal, what need it would fill, etc. She knows I need support in my decision-making, so she'll try to walk through the process with me.

But probably the most useful thing is that I keep a hobby account where I give myself a weekly allowance of money. That way, what I can spend on gear is set. If I want something else, I'll sell something to free up money for it if I don't have enough. I can always dip into the main funds, but I know that's bad and I feel guilty for doing it.

I have fairly nice gear with which I'm happy, so I don't usually want to sell off my existing stuff. So I just sit with what I have.

Man, that whole thing didn't seem very cohesive, but those are the tactics I employ. They seem to work reasonably well for now. Good luck with taming the churn cycle.

 

[Tig]

Bwaaaaa-Haaaaa-haaa! You came here to get answers? :rollover

That's like going to a crack house asking how to kick the habit!






// OK, my personal answer is simple... Marry a woman who will never get it about GAS, yet love and respect her enough to not empty the savings account to go buy new toys. It is a bitter-sweet kinda' thing.

 

[Jx2]

Me I trade and trade and trade. And 90% of my trades are done with the same core group of guys. Which is great, I bought a Squier Jagmaster some 5-6 years ago. I traded it to my buddy who traded it to another buddy and it was on, that guitar was passed around like a bottle of Jack on a Van Halen tour bus.

A quick run down since basically August.

Bought Washburn V
Traded Washburn for Epiphone LP

Bought Schecter Daimen 6(a 2nd model)
Traded for Hamer SATP90
Traded Hamer for Epiphone Dot Stuidio

Bought Dean Deceiver X
Traded Dean for Monster Cables and $$$$

Bought Fender Champion 600 amp

Bought Randal Solid State Half Stack
Traded for Gretch Acoustic and some pedals
Traded Gretch for GK half stak and 5 string Peavey bass

Bought cheap resonator guitar and Dean Hillsboro.

Great thing is all but 2 guitars are still obtainable through my circle of friends.

 

[Retro Hound]

I have an account set aside for "splurges" and if there's no money, I don't buy. I can sell or trade stuff until the account gets built back up. I suppose that if there's an "emergency," like a Gretch for $350, then I'll make an exception and use the house budget until I can pay it back. But then I have to listen to the wife (who is not a shopper or a collector so I get no sympathy there) until it's paid back.

 

[poodlesrule]

As a newbie, I sometimes find that behavior trait disturbing, yet (almost) fall into the same pattern. Somehow I expect a guitar owner to cherish the thing for a little while...

The era of cheap and serviceable guitars may be to blame, in contrast with the old days' need to save a good amount of hard-earned money to put down on a "special" treat?

Three styles of pick-ups, etc.. Oops I forgot the thing about amphs... and the pedals.

Hey, I have been drinking... it's my birthday!
And where did I spend money today: hardware at Lowes, and (important) vitamin supplements at the fancy market...sigh. To be honest I did stop by Daddys Junk Music and gawked. I saw a nice used Vox VT30...

 

[marnold]

For me it was finally finding a guitar that I don't feel the need to mod to make it serviceable. Yeah, I did add a treble bleed cap and a trem stop to my Jackson, but I don't think those things really count. My Charvel just needed a lot of work and I really didn't like the neck. My Fender played great, but I really missed a neck pickup. My Floyd was nice (and taught me that I really like FR-style bridges) but I was concerned that I might not be able to keep getting the special strings for the Speedloader system.

Most every time I think about another guitar I think about minor (or not-so-minor) things I'd do to it. If I sit back and think about it, I'd be trying to make it more like my Jackson. What's the point if I've already got one? The only thing I might like is a hardtail Rhoads or Dinky so that I can mess around with some different tunings. That's not very pressing, though.

Actually, since I got my Jet City, I really haven't had amph or guitar GAS--at least nothing that made me think seriously about whipping out ye olde credit card.

 

[NWBasser]

Hey, I have been drinking... it's my birthday!
QUOTE]

:beer:

and

:hbday

 

[bcdon]

Hey, I have been drinking... it's my birthday!
And where did I spend money today: hardware at Lowes, and (important) vitamin supplements at the fancy market...sigh. To be honest I did stop by Daddys Junk Music and gawked. I saw a nice used Vox VT30...

:beer: Happy Birthday!! I hope you don't save drinking just for special occasions.

 

[MAXIFUNK]

Hey, I have been drinking... it's my birthday!
QUOTE]

:beer:

and

:hbday

Happy bday

 

[MAXIFUNK]

I have always had gas for one thing or another in my life depending on what I was into at the time.

Bass Guitars and gear. At one point in the 80's I had 5 Basses I bought for over 3k each.

Car- foreign and domestic I had plenty.

Home Audio gear---- I still have gas in this area all the time.
Martin Logan, Krell, Macintosh etc etc installed systems for many people. My Martin Logan CLS and Prodigy speakers still sound fantastic pumping through my Krell and Lexicon gear. My B&W gear through my Rotel gear are a match made in heaven. (Rotel the best bang for your buck in high end audio gear).

Women when I was single and on the road.

GAS LIVES FOREVER IT NEVER DIES IT JUST MOVES ONTO NEW TOYS....
CD'S, DVD'S, AUDIO GEAR, CARS, BOATS, MOTORCYCLES it is genetic to MALE DNA!!!!

My mom used to always say "BOY'S LOVE FOR TOYS LAST UNTIL THE DAY THEY DIE. THEY JUST GET MORE COSTLY AS THEY AGE AND ALMOST MATURE!!!

 

[Spudman]

You know.....
















...that something I've never thought about. Hmmmm.

 

[kiteman]

Whenever I have gas I take Extra Strength Tums. oke

 

[sumitomo]

The best way to stop the urge to buy a guitar is simple,Buy a guitar and then there is no more urge to buy one,well at least that one,Oh! but look at that one and over there LOOK at THAT ONE!!!NO LOOK OVER THERE AT THAT ONE WOW!There everwhere,tell 'em to stop it leave me alone,No OH! Look at that one.See no more urge.Simple!! Sumi

 

[Jimi75]

Meditation, Yoga, lots of talking to a shrink, but still these are no guearantees...:happy

Man, I just stopped buying guitars. My 76 Strast was the last one I bought and currently I think about selling some guitars. Sometimes it's wise to take a look behind the curtain and to see that there's more than playing guitar in life ;-)

 

[ZMAN]

You know.....










...that something I've never thought about. Hmmmm.

My first thought was don't ask Spudman!
I agree with what Maxi said. I have done that all my life. Camera, Knives, Diecast cars, Muscle cars, Tools. I think it is imprinted in the Male DNA.
That is what I tell my wife anyway.
I have a lot of guitars and I swore I would not buy any more gear, and I managed to sneak in a Super Champ XD, and I am currently negotiating a trade for a Gibson Les Paul. (exactly like one I had and traded).
I find like in buying cars, the only way to defeat the Gas is to wait a couple of days before pulling the trigger. It gives time for reality to set in.
The only problem I have now is parting with guitars or amps.
The other thing I know is that Guitar makers know this. They are constantly coming up with the same product but slightly different. Colors, pickups, hardware. The rationale is it will cost me X to change my guitar, so why not just buy a new one. That one got me 9 Strats.
The only thing I find is that now that I know all this I can curb the Gas!
Yea Right!

 

[Algonquin]

'It's not having what you want, It's wanting what you've got'

 

[syo]

Must say, I've never gone from buying a new guitar to wanting another in a week. I don't have quite that kind of CAGAS (Chronically Accelerated GAS). Still, when I feel I'm gassing before I should, I usually ease the pressure with an amp or recording gear/software.

But probably the biggest curb to guitar gas for me has been to start my own guitar co. I have so many guitars, guitar parts, prototypes etc. lying around that the thought of more guitars taking up more space isn't to0 attractive to me. Guess I'm not cut out to follow in Spudman's footsteps after all. What is it now 50+?!

 

[Tig]

You know.....
...that something I've never thought about. Hmmmm.

Good thing these guys aren't into bikes, or even worse, racing them.
Guitars and amphs are cheap compared to carbon fiber and titanium bikes, wheels, etc. Unlike guitars (except for Gibson's mighty Firebird X!), bikes actually get better every year or two, or at least that's what the marketing tells us.

 

[Spudman]

Damn Tig! Those are sweet. :drool:

 

[Algonquin]

I find telling my wife of my intentions prior to heading out the door to buy something helps curb my GAS...
--> Her :spank <-- Me

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Running out of available funds always works for me.

The one thing I won't do is buy a guitar I can't pay for without a doable sale of something I can part with, or having the full cash on hand.

 

[Commodore 64]

Buy cheap *** ones and take them apart and put them back together. I gotta take some pics of the SX Tele I got from Eric.

It's been fret leveled, gotten some locking tuners, and been retrofitted with a P-90 in the neck and SC-sized bucker in the bridge.

It's like having a whole 'nother guitar!

 

[Eric]

Buy cheap *** ones and take them apart and put them back together. I gotta take some pics of the SX Tele I got from Eric.

Yeah you do -- I want to see this thing now!

 

[Duffy]

Degassing

I have been much more selective in what guitars and amps I buy and have been concentrating on substantially upgrading my collection, instead of buying a lot of less expensive guitars. My latest purchase, an Epiphone LP Custom in black is one of my best playing and sounding and definitely looking guitars. I play it thru a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe mostly. I might get a SuperSonic someday, as one near me is available new for about half price in blonde.

So being more selective and concentrating on upgrading my collection of guitars and amps has helped a lot. I'm finding that with the nicer stuff I'm more satisfied and don't feel the need to get a lot of new stuff except certain things that I'm focusing on.

My latest amp is an Egnater Tweaker head. An outstanding amp thru my cabs.

Another thing I have been doing is upgrading the pickups and electronics in some of my favorite less high quality guitars with things like Seymour Duncan pickups and Fender Custom Shop pickups. These are relatively inexpensive and can make a very big improvement in the sound and looks of your favorite instruments. Plus you learn a lot when you start hot rodding your guitars.

Nice tube amps are definitely nice and having at least one would be very satisfying. The sound is, in my experience, way improved over the solid state amps. My Hot Rod Deluxe and LP Custom combination produces a sound that blooms when you strike a note, and it has very satisfying natural breakup on the clean channel. Amps like that require a concentrated selection process and a consideral sum, but the payoff is very rewarding when you get something good, within your means.

I also buy a lot of other things besides guitars, that I have been wanting. Like a 46 inch Sony TV and a PS3 and games, power and hand tools.

 

[Spudman]

So in other words there is no curbing urges for you?

I have been much more selective in what guitars and amps I buy and have been concentrating on substantially upgrading my collection, instead of buying a lot of less expensive guitars. My latest purchase, an Epiphone LP Custom in black is one of my best playing and sounding and definitely looking guitars. I play it thru a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe mostly. I might get a SuperSonic someday, as one near me is available new for about half price in blonde.

So being more selective and concentrating on upgrading my collection of guitars and amps has helped a lot. I'm finding that with the nicer stuff I'm more satisfied and don't feel the need to get a lot of new stuff except certain things that I'm focusing on.

My latest amp is an Egnater Tweaker head. An outstanding amp thru my cabs.

Another thing I have been doing is upgrading the pickups and electronics in some of my favorite less high quality guitars with things like Seymour Duncan pickups and Fender Custom Shop pickups. These are relatively inexpensive and can make a very big improvement in the sound and looks of your favorite instruments. Plus you learn a lot when you start hot rodding your guitars.

Nice tube amps are definitely nice and having at least one would be very satisfying. The sound is, in my experience, way improved over the solid state amps. My Hot Rod Deluxe and LP Custom combination produces a sound that blooms when you strike a note, and it has very satisfying natural breakup on the clean channel. Amps like that require a concentrated selection process and a consideral sum, but the payoff is very rewarding when you get something good, within your means.

I also buy a lot of other things besides guitars, that I have been wanting. Like a 46 inch Sony TV and a PS3 and games, power and hand tools.

 

[progrmr]

I just spent my "extra" cash on a fender blues junior. Man that's a great sounding amp. That should keep me away from guitars for a couple weeks...I hope!

 

[Duffy]

Gas

Spud, I have the urges to upgrade my equipment and get other types of things, but I am trying to be more selective in my purchases, and I try to get the best quality I can afford. I have significantly upgraded my equipment recently.

So I guess I don't so much succumb to my urges as I plan well thought out upgrade purchases, and I negotiate, often, outstanding deals.

When I get the urge to buy something real expensive, I usually curb myself and find something much more reasonable and negotiate the best deal.