The I promise I will not buy more gear-thread (HaRd MoDe 2017)

[ghettosynth]

For me, a big part of this is a deeper exploration into the nature of so-called addictions. And while I haven't set this up to recruit you all as test subjects (I really see this as a great challenge, in and of itself), I'd be surprised if a few others didn't discover that GAS is, in many instances, nothing more than distraction

Yep!

I'm not climbing on board your list because I know there are several things that I will buy immediately if they go on the right sale this year. That said, I agree with your general sentiment completely. I see quite a bit of weird justification on KVR.

For the last few years though I've been exceedingly disciplined. I only broke character this season to do an intentional major upgrade of my tools. Even when you think about it though, it's still easy to buy things that you don't really need.

[Bombadil]

I've edited the first post to reflect the wildcard option.

Now for a roll-call: Who is still in?

I am. I actually canceled the order on the AKG C414 XLII, so either that or another mic would be my 'wild card' gear purchase for 2017. Just didn't feel the need to spend nearly €800 right now, and I have mics.

Welcome back to the light side. Name added!

GAS is fascinating. No sooner had I completed my guitar collection, after much trial and error (not to mention growing despair and impatience from my wife) then my mind locked onto microphones. So, I took a step back and decided to wait. This thread actually played some part in my canceling the mic.

Do I NEED a new mic?

No.

Do not pass Go, do not collect 200 Dinerii.

Simple.

For me, a big part of this is a deeper exploration into the nature of so-called addictions. And while I haven't set this up to recruit you all as test subjects (I really see this as a great challenge, in and of itself), I'd be surprised if a few others didn't discover that GAS is, in many instances, nothing more than distraction

It is a form of 'Displacement Behavior.' I've noted it in myself for a while now. Instead of making music, I obsess on a piece of gear that will make everything groovy, or so I fantasize. Well, I have a great DAW, great computer, great audio interface, great guitar collection, decent collection of soft-synths and sample libraries, a couple of good mics, yet I was still searching for that *one* piece of gear that would help unleash my creative genius.

lol.

I now know better. I did more music with:
A Tascam Porta-Studio 4 Track cassette:
3 guitars and a bass;
Radio Shack mics and mixer;
A DX-7 or acoustic piano.

It comes down to:

If I can't make the music I want to make with what I have, I should give up. Life vicissitudes have left me a lot less passionate about music than I used to be. No new toy is going to be the magic bullet that re-ignites my passion.

So, to paraphrase from the 'Shawshank Redemption:'
Get busy making music, or get busy selling your stuff.'

[incubus]

Meh!

Denying gas is like denying air. And with shipping prices these days, selling your stuff is worse than giving it away.

[Bombadil]

Meh!

Denying gas is like denying air. And with shipping prices these days, selling your stuff is worse than giving it away.

I choose to look at it as 'embracing sanity.' I can only estimate how many guitars have gone through here before I've settled on my collection. The number is ridiculous. Coincidentally, we didn't have a proper vacation during this interval. Last year we did, and I have have to say that it was better for my spirit than another Martin/Gibson/Whatever. We aren't rich, and I've monopolized our discretionary income with my insanity. Enough. Some guys get a trophy wife, or a Corvette for their mid-life crisis; I went nuts on guitars and other music stuff. Now I can fade into my dotage with all the toys I can possibly want.

As for shipping, stuff I have sold has been almost always here within Germany, and DHL, at least here, is cheap and reliable. I can ship a guitar carton up to 10 kgs for €11. Not that I am going to be selling many more guitars.

[incubus]

I wish I was that guy. I really do. But I'm not. That being said, I'm light-years from where I was. I know EXACTLY what I want. Not that that is readily available, but I do know what I want and I know what I don't/do like about what I have.

After the last (one of many Music Man mishaps) for some odd reason, I'm far happier with what I have vs wanting. I like to post stuff on the "my next guitar" thread even if I'm not buying it though (which I'm pretty sure some people interpret as I'm going to get it).

When a good price or a sale comes along, I buy it. Saying blankly "I'm not buying anything else" won't work for me personally. For those it does, kudos. You have my respect.

[ghettosynth]

I'm gonna buy some more shit, justsayin! Got some new shit yesterday, gonna probably get some new shit tomorrow.

[Bombadil]

I wish I was that guy. I really do. But I'm not. That being said, I'm light-years from where I was. I know EXACTLY what I want. Not that that is readily available, but I do know what I want and I know what I don't/do like about what I have.

After the last (one of many Music Man mishaps) for some odd reason, I'm far happier with what I have vs wanting. I like to post stuff on the "my next guitar" thread even if I'm not buying it though (which I'm pretty sure some people interpret as I'm going to get it).

When a good price or a sale comes along, I buy it. Saying blankly "I'm not buying anything else" won't work for me personally. For those it does, kudos. You have my respect.

Well, thanks. It is a process. I completely understand about 'good deals' but my wife pointed out, succinctly, that there will always be a great deal out there, and if I focus on that, I'll never be free from my own version of this nuttiness. It is a buyers' market. Same goes for 2for1 software deals. Yet, in my old age, I've come to play acoustic guitars more than my electrics. Being spoiled for guitars at this point means, for me, that any acoustic guitar that isn't >€1,000 isn't going to cut it. Actually, that figure is probably closer to €2,000. That is a lot of money to spend on something I don't actually 'need.'

Anyways, it's only for 2017. And we're going on a nice 3 week holiday again this summer. I think I'll cope.

OTOH, I could have a squirrel moment, and go 'OOOHH LOOK!!' And press 'order' on something before my brain kicks in to remind me that I made a vow on a BBS......

Impulse buying. It is so easy in these days of practically instant gratification, especially for something like software, where you give your CC and personal info, and start downloading right away.

Thomann, the leading online shop here in Europe, has gotten its share of orders from me, only for me to email them frantically a few hours later asking them to CANCEL! CANCEL! That actually was the case with the AKG C414 XLII that I was going to get.

Impulse control is half the battle for me.

[ghettosynth]

I wish I was that guy. I really do. But I'm not. That being said, I'm light-years from where I was. I know EXACTLY what I want. Not that that is readily available, but I do know what I want and I know what I don't/do like about what I have.

After the last (one of many Music Man mishaps) for some odd reason, I'm far happier with what I have vs wanting. I like to post stuff on the "my next guitar" thread even if I'm not buying it though (which I'm pretty sure some people interpret as I'm going to get it).

When a good price or a sale comes along, I buy it. Saying blankly "I'm not buying anything else" won't work for me personally. For those it does, kudos. You have my respect.

Well, thanks. It is a process. I completely understand about 'good deals' but my wife pointed out, succinctly, that there will always be a great deal out there, and if I focus on that, I'll never be free from my own version of this nuttiness. It is a buyers' market. Same goes for 2for1 software deals.

This is true and I think that there is some place that lies between impulsive response to every good deal that comes along and a healthy attitude about taking advantage of things that you want when a good deal comes along.

If you need something, you often can't, and I don't even think that you should, wait. You just pay the price maybe with a slight vendor discount or something.

Wanting things is a different story though. It's easy to say that I don't "need" the things that I want, but it in some ways has a similar effect on you as denying yourself a vacation.

That said....

Impulse buying. It is so easy in these days of practically instant gratification, especially for something like software, where you give your CC and personal info, and start downloading right away.

Thomann, the leading online shop here in Europe, has gotten its share of orders from me, only for me to email them frantically a few hours later asking them to CANCEL! CANCEL! That actually was the case with the AKG C414 XLII that I was going to get.

Impulse control is half the battle for me.

Right? It is, and I think that it took a few years of almost hard mode for me to really start to see things in a bit more healthy way. I may joke about things, and, not going to lie, I picked up a bunch of new things this season including a few things that I wished I hadn't bought. They were minor though, and overall, I don't regret my broad upgrade of tools. If you go back in time though, you can see that I've made comments about just saying no to every deal that comes along. However, I've been in almost hard mode for the last three or four years or so. I think that my only purchase in 2015 was Hybrid EQ that I spent about $15 on. Don't quote me on that, there might have been one or two other small purchases, but I've been really disciplined.

I recognize that we can be more susceptible to impulsive buys when we are in the buying mode. We are more susceptible to FOMO and are perhaps more likely to just click on buy because we've already spent so much and it's just X more.

I kid around on KVR, but, the reality is that I'm almost back into hard mode myself. If I can fix my broken monitor, I won't be buying new monitors, if I can't I'll have to, it's a need, not a want.

I will buy Adaptiverb if and when it goes on sale, and not before. So if it doesn't go on sale for < $100 this year, I'll go without.

I will use my Waves coupon if they have a good sale on two plugins that I like sometime this year, if not, that can wait until they do.

For me, the trick was recognizing that I'm going into this FOMO mode and actively disciplining myself to get out of it when I've spent my budget on things that inspire me. I'm kind of back into "just say no" mode at this point and I'm going to be stingy again for a half a year or so.

Over the next few months I'll consider what I want to spend on music this year and will probably plan to spend the majority of that budget on things that I find "inspiring" during this years Black Friday season.

So, yeah, I can't join you guys in full on "hard mode" for this year, but I do agree with the general sentiment of taking a disciplined and balanced approach to spending money on music gear.

[Bombadil]

Yeah. I've assessed my needs regarding musical 'stuff,' and and concluded that, for what I do, I don't need anymore right now. 'Want' has its own complications, at least for my guitars. Our flat isn't huge, and there are guitar cases and gigbags stuck in every nook and cranny. And, again, my 'wants' are not really a €100 piece of software or two or three; I would like a Lowden git, or a Yamaha SA2000, but that ain't gonna happen. Besides, I've got the travel bug now. Last summer, I saw the ocean for the first time since 1977. I hadn't felt so good since I was a kid.

It's good to get off the 'hunt,' though. My iPad has now stopped spamming me with yummy guitars.....

[ghettosynth]

Yeah. I've assessed my needs regarding musical 'stuff,' and and concluded that, for what I do, I don't need anymore right now. 'Want' has its own complications, at least for my guitars. Our flat isn't huge, and there are guitar cases and gigbags stuck in every nook and cranny. And, again, my 'wants' are not really a €100 piece of software or two or three; I would like a Lowden git, or a Yamaha SA2000, but that ain't gonna happen. Besides, I've got the travel bug now. Last summer, I saw the ocean for the first time since 1977. I hadn't felt so good since I was a kid.

It's good to get off the 'hunt,' though. My iPad has now stopped spamming me with yummy guitars.....

I hear ya. My neighbor pulled a guitar amp out of the trash and gave it to my better half to give to me if I wanted to fix it and keep it. It took me an hour or so to get it running again and then she got this look on her face, turned to me and said "did I just bring more gear intot the house?" Why yes you did dear, yes you did.

[chk071]

I almost bought some gear in 2017. Almost.

[Michael L]

Everyone is so different. I am doing this to shift from looking 'outward' because I need something, to looking 'inward' because I have all I need.

[incubus]

Which is really cool. Pretty harmless though unless you are going into debt (or worse)

Remember kiddies, there is no such thing as "gas" if you can afford it

[Michael L]

Remember kiddies, there is no such thing as "gas" if you can afford it

...and no such thing as HaRd MoDe if you can't

Nice video! I like that he plays that 'very rare guitar' every night.
Here's one backatcha, from Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir:

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Great job, guys.

STAGE TWO !!!!