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Just for Laughs ─ Compulsive Buyers

You know you buy too much gear when...

Do you feel at home browsing gear online or at the store right around the corner? Buying, selling, exchanging ─ it's all in your nature, it's almost an obsession. You know you buy too much gear when...

  • You sold the last thing you bought before even trying it out.
  • You bought Cubase 8 when it came out, even though you still haven’t installed version 7.
  • The last pedal you bought is still wrapped in cellophane, two weeks later.
  • You always have at least four classified ads running.
  • The guy at the local music store knows you by name and always asks about your family.
  • Other customers in the store think you are a sales assistant.
  • You have four tuners on your pedalboard.
  • You have already bought something and sold it only to buy it again some time later.
  • Your monthly gear allowance is equivalent to the GDP of some countries.
  • You visit your local music store every first day of the month and eat black beans and tortillas until you get your next paycheck.
  • You need to rent a storage room to put all the stuff you’ve bought.
  • You’ve set up some gear at your parent’s country house because you don’t have enough room at your place.
  • Every time you buy new gear you tell your spouse that “this one’s really it” and you won’t ever need anything else again in your life.
  • You have more than two ring modulators.
  • You keep gear catalogs in the bathroom.
  • You buy custom-made boxes and furniture to fit your gear in.
  • The only difference between your home studio and a professional one is that you don’t make any money with it.
  • You don’t have a good relationship with your banker.
  • You have bought at least one instrument you don’t know how to play and said to yourself “you never know when it might come in handy…”
  • Your have more than 2 TB of software on your HDD.
  • You bought a DI because you think “it’s a nice object.”
  • Recabling your home studio takes more than a day’s work.
  • You have a room dedicated exclusively to your synths.
  • You have bought at least one instrument at a secondhand store just because you didn’t know the brand.
  • You have bought at least one device just because it wasn’t expensive.
  • You gave a distortion pedal to your mom for her birthday.
  • If you break a string on your guitar, you buy another guitar, and tell yourself: “It’s good to have both, because they are complementary.”
  • You have never decided between Fender and Gibson. You’re damn right, why should you choose?
     
  • fenderbender88 10 posts
    fenderbender88
    New AFfiliate
    Posted on 01/09/2015 at 06:49:19
    Quote:
    [*]You have bought at least one device just because it wasn't expensive.

    Waves CLA-76 compressors for $79, retail $400? Well I already have 5 compressors, but why not!! :lol:

    Quote:
    [*]You have never decided between Fender and Gibson. You're damn right, why should you choose?

    Lies!!!! Fender for life! Much more beautiful, both to the eyes and ears (ya, I said it)
  • DebErney 8 posts
    DebErney
    New AFfiliate
    Posted on 01/10/2015 at 09:22:42
    OMG. I definitely buy too much gear. when I ask about a guitar that I don't see in the store, it is always there the next time I return.
    The guitar I've been looking at, last week, is now perched at the front door of the store when I come in.
    I definitely fit this description. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

    THANK GOD FOR EBAY. Since I've been selling on EBAY, I've been able to afford a whole lot more. Things I used to trade in for 1/4 the price I paid, I'm now selling for 1/2 to 1/3 of what I paid. If you haven't tried EBay for reselling used gear I highly recommend it. BUYING is a different story. I hate to purchase something as NEW only to get it smudged with finger prints and not sealed when I get it. WHO DOESNT WIPE THE GEAR DOWN BEFORE SELLING IT???? Especially if your going to advertise that's it's new and un-opened. Usually the gear I'm looking for is only $50 or so below retail new. I'd rather pay the extra $50 and get something with a warranty.
  • stevey_z 6 posts
    stevey_z
    New AFfiliate
    Posted on 01/10/2015 at 10:01:18
    Tell me about it.

    I got amazon gift cards over the holidays. I've already gotten everything I need (that'll fit in my tiny apartment) yet I'm still browsing through instruments and pro audio just looking for something to catch my eye.

    I try and steer clear of plugins. It's an unhealthy addiction :)
  • keykrazy 2 posts
    keykrazy
    New AFfiliate
    Posted on 01/11/2015 at 07:32:21
    Fellow G.A.S. sufferer here!

    I check my eBay list *daily*. Had to unsubscribe from Musician Friend's "Stupid Deal of the Day" emails. Too tempting! Etsy? Aw, hell no! :non: Used to think driving halfway across the state to buy a $30 item i saw on craigslist was "a good way to spend a Saturday". I'm often reading reviews of gear i already own.

    Currently i own 29 keyboards -- this is not counting melodicas, rackmounted gear or tone modules. When my last band when on a hiatus i was kinda freaking about where i would put all the gear. There are multiple two- or three-tier writing areas around the house; looking around the bedroom i count 9 keyboards, there's a two-tier setup in the living room, and a housemate has a two-tier synth rack in his bedroom because one day he mentioned he was "thinking about learning to play piano one day".

    There are multiple guitars hanging on the walls: a bass, a cigar box guitar, a dulcimer, a mandolin, a uke, and a plain ol' electric. I kinda want to ask the cigar box geetar builder what he'd charge to make me a 2nd one but pitched to D instead of G. Was on an Indian instrument kick for a bit and ended up with a tumbi and a bulbul tarang.

    There are probably 20+ guitar pedals in this room alone, about 7 drum machines in the house, and i see 6 grooveboxes from where i'm sitting... I once remember buying a sequencer expander cartridge only to release i already had once it arrived. Lately i've been on this "let's just repair old gear instead of buying new stuff" kick and now i have three different instrument repair places i visit. Once forgot about a keyboard i had left at one of them until i noticed on the banking website that there was a charge from them for storage of said 'board. :|

    Fortunately i can play all these instruments fairly well except the tumbi or didgeridoo. (Well OK, there's just one little thing i play on the mandolin or dulcimer, but...) The rain stick? No problem! Think i'll pick up the tumbi today and re-visit those youtube vid's on it...

    Oh yeah, and there's a Twilight Zone episode where a wax museum closes and an employee puts the wax figures in his basement with an a/c going to keep them at the optimum temperature and whatnot. That one really hit home when i first saw it. :(

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