Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by postqualia_1 » Fri Jan 27, 2023 7:41 pm

ryandennis wrote:
Fri Jan 27, 2023 7:26 pm
I have the reverse problem, I have accumulated so many niche pieces of gear just to nail a specific sound and would hate to get rid of them because of how difficult they were to find in the first place at affordable prices. I do think I could use a bigger apartment to house it all in at times though :whistle: .
Yeah, I feel that. I recently got my CIJ JM, and I felt pretty reluctant to part with any of my existing guitars, but I wanted to trim it down a little bit. In the end I did sell this 70s classic series strat I liked, even though I knew it would be expensive/defficult to get one just like that again (especially in perfect condition). But holding onto it was taking up too much space, and the guy I sold it to seemed pretty happy with it, so that helped a bit. 3 electrics, a bass, and an acoustic seems to be the sweet spot for me (plus a couple of amps).

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by JSett » Sun Feb 19, 2023 2:06 am

Well, over a year from starting this (now 287 post-long) thread, I think I've finally got to a point I can stick with and satisfies the mentality I wanted to get into my brain. Last night's sales took me down to 3 electrics, 1 bass and 1 acoustic. And a Ukelele, if course

Image

There's the Guild in a case tucked away for GaryPtaszek when he's ready but I'm not counting that. A couple of really fucked £20 guitars in the attic too. Pedals have been cut down to >20 in the house. Amps are minimal too.

Feels good.
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by Chippertheripper » Sun Feb 19, 2023 3:53 am

I’m a little jealous, if I’m being honest. To be comfortable and satisfied is the ultimate goal.
Cheers.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Sun Feb 19, 2023 4:05 am

Congratulations on your clear-out - I imagine it feels like a good dose of decongestant.

I've got as far as putting two of my more desirable/expensive guitars into a local shop for a commission sale. That and trying to sell one of my 2 x 12 combos on here and elsewhere, all without success so far.

I have a guitar parts problem in that I have at least two, maybe three or four partsmaster projects on the back-burner, leading to numerous 'donor' guitars I can't,er, part with for the foreseeable future....but I'm heading in the right direction, a couple of baby steps at a time.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by JSett » Sun Feb 19, 2023 4:26 am

Thanks all. It's been a journey. From a point of close to 20 guitars, 10 amps, 15 cabs and around 100 pedals...it's wavered up and down over the last 2 years, with many cool as hell guitars in my possession, this is a much more sensible amount.

You've all seen every guitar that's come and gone, and I've documented each one thoroughly and learned a lot in the process.

My only true regret is selling my 66 Vibrolux Reverb. That was such a beautiful amp. Oh well.

I'm going to float a 4th place on Electrics and have that slot for things just for fun, rather than trying to find things that will 'revolutionise' my enjoyment of the guitar as an instrument. I might buy a baritone, then a tenor, a Les Paul, then a *insert oddball here*. With no pressure to keep or sell it'll be a nice feeling.
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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by Flurko » Sun Feb 19, 2023 4:36 am

We've moved into our new apartment in late November, and most of my guitars have stayed in the gigbags since, except the Jazzmaster I use in one band and the 7-string I use in the other (which is not the metal band, surprisingly).
I am too attached to guitars I don't really play, and can't sell the ones I want to because they're too crappy :D
-my Epiphone SG was my first guitar and belonged to my brother, so has to stay
-my long scale bass has a body built with my other brother and has been an evolving project for the last decade, so I can't really sell it too, even though I don't play it anymore since I've bought a
-Squier bronco, which is just a fun bass
-my Gibson acoustic is a lovely instrument that I will keep, but because it's the only expensive guitar I have it lives in the case and I'm rarely bothered to take it out for a quick strum.
-a friend gave me a cheap red strat, but it has found a place as a current modding project.
-i still need to sell my 6string bass conversion which I never play and looks bad, my plywood Les Paul which is fun but not great playing, and my cheap bass which needs it's pickups fixed before selling, all under 100€ sales that are not happening.
And now we're planning to install the guitar rack in the living room so only guitars I'm proud to keep should stay here !

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Sun Feb 19, 2023 7:54 am

Suggested successor to the Word Association thread:
johnnysomersett wrote:
Sun Feb 19, 2023 4:26 am
I might buy a baritone, then a tenor, a Les Paul, then a *Parker Fly*

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by JSett » Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:14 am

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Sun Feb 19, 2023 7:54 am
Suggested successor to the Word Association thread:
johnnysomersett wrote:
Sun Feb 19, 2023 4:26 am
I might buy a baritone, then a tenor, a Les Paul, then a *Parker Fly*
I played a Fly once. Really quite a revolutionary idea for it's time. Looks wack though
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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:42 am

johnnysomersett wrote:
Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:14 am
UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Sun Feb 19, 2023 7:54 am
Suggested successor to the Word Association thread:
johnnysomersett wrote:
Sun Feb 19, 2023 4:26 am
I might buy a baritone, then a tenor, a Les Paul, then a *Parker Fly*
I played a Fly once. Really quite a revolutionary idea for it's time. Looks wack though
It sprang to mind as I read bits of this thread I'd previously missed and somebody mentioned the 5-watt World guy, who I think concluded they were the perfect guitar (for him) at one point.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:59 am

@johnnysomersett

I have to ask, how easy was it to go from "around 100 pedals" to however many you have now?

For every £1000+ guitar I've bought since I moved past 1 acoustic, 1 electric, 1 bass, I've probably bought about 40-50 pedals, a fair few of which I've sold then bought again for far more than I paid first time around. My current mindset is that I'd be foolish to let any of them go if I don't really need the money, as prices of everything guitar-related are increasing at way above the rate of inflation, plus pedals don't take up too much space relatively speaking.

Okay, I'll admit it - my pedal habit has now supplanted my guitar habit, to the point that I'm slightly worried about what I'll start chasing once I've got all the MIJ Boss pedals I would ever realistically cough up for, plus all the Chinese micro equivalents of them and every other classic pedal I kind of want to play with but don't really want to spend too much money on. Should I already be snapping up every bargain older DOD I see in tandem which my other collections, for instance?

I'm aware that having 3 CE-2s is probably two more than I need, but what would be the point in selling the least desirable (Taiwanese) one at this point, only to watch it double or triple in value in the next few years? You'd think the Waza range would've driven down the price of discontinued pedals, but it doesn't look that way; it just adds another pedal to your wants list. :fp:

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by JSett » Sun Feb 19, 2023 10:05 am

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Sun Feb 19, 2023 8:59 am
@johnnysomersett

I have to ask, how easy was it to go from "around 100 pedals" to however many you have now?

For every £1000+ guitar I've bought since I moved past 1 acoustic, 1 electric, 1 bass, I've probably bought about 40-50 pedals, a fair few of which I've sold then bought again for far more than I paid first time around. My current mindset is that I'd be foolish to let any of them go if I don't really need the money, as prices of everything guitar-related are increasing at way above the rate of inflation, plus pedals don't take up too much space relatively speaking.

Okay, I'll admit it - my pedal habit has now supplanted my guitar habit, to the point that I'm slightly worried about what I'll start chasing once I've got all the MIJ Boss pedals I would ever realistically cough up for, plus all the Chinese micro equivalents of them and every other classic pedal I kind of want to play with but don't really want to spend too much money on. Should I already be snapping up every bargain older DOD I see in tandem which my other collections, for instance?

I'm aware that having 3 CE-2s is probably two more than I need, but what would be the point in selling the least desirable (Taiwanese) one at this point, only to watch it double or triple in value in the next few years? You'd think the Waza range would've driven down the price of discontinued pedals, but it doesn't look that way; it just adds another pedal to your wants list. :fp:
So, I was in a similar position...many, many multiples of the same thing. I have a strange need to eliminate things that I can't find use of from my house though so it wasn't a hard clearout. I had, at one point, 6 Rats (of which 4 were identical), 3 HM-2's, 2 CE-2's, 4 digital delays (that all sound exactly the same), maybe 8 variations of Big Muffs, 5 kinds of Ampeg Scrambler including clones...the list goes on.

I was collecting old Boss pedals and decided to cash out on a bunch during the pandemic madness. I got over £500 for a low-serial Slow Gear, £350 for a VB-2, £250 for a first year OD-1, £180 for a first year DS-1 etc etc. Those all helped pay for the vintage guitars I was buying. There's a few I should have kept but they market was so buoyant that I took advantage of it.

I also gave away a lot of pedals to friends to balance the karma.

I basically looked at the pile and put everything I was keeping for no other reason than just the act of 'possessing' it up for sale. My Analogman SunFace killed off all my desire for Fuzz Faces and Big Muffs so they all went. I only wanted one nice Whiteface RAT for home and my old one I've had since a kid...so all the others went on sale.

BUT, I have a plan for pedals. I'm going to try and get a small collection of 'first editions' of key pedals in music history and my own tastes. An OG Fuzzface, a '69 Scrambler, Rams Head Muff, 1st year DS-1 (again), 1st year RAT (again), etc etc and just have them all in a little display and for me to use occasionally. I have priced it up and it's not going to be a cheap enterprise...but it's less consuming of space that guitars tend to eat up.
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by postqualia_1 » Wed Mar 15, 2023 6:12 pm

Once again I'm gonna resurrect this thread, which I've found very interesting/thoughtful/inspiring. I'm trimming my guitar collection down a bit more, to my CIJ Jazzmaster, an old MIM jazz bass, and an MIA Tele. I'm selling my beater acoustic and Squier JM. I already sold my Princeton, so I just have one guitar amp now--an ealy 80s JC-120, along with my old bass practice amp which I'm holding onto.

I recently invested in a second synthesizer (one of the roland boutiques to go with my ms-20) and a vintage drum machine (boss dr-55), so I'm mostly downsizing a bit because I just don't have the space for everything. I have a small room in a shared house. I realized that if I don't have an instrument out of its case and ready to go, I won't use it very often, and I just don't have space to keep more than 3 guitars out and ready to play.

I've got 10 or so pedals, and of those, I might even get rid of a few more. other than a tuner and looper, i mostly just play through my Rat, rv-6, and dd-3. i don't really need a chorus pedal, because the jc-120 chorus sounds so fantastic. I have a couple other reverbs, a dd-7, ce-5, and ocd that i don't really use right now.

After having bought and sold loads of stuff in the past year and a half, i've settled on a small collection of essentials that will allow me to do everything I want musically, but not take up too much of my very limited living and storage space. It was cool to get to try a bunch of stuff, but I'm happy with what I settled on now.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by EddyCharles » Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:34 am

After downsizing three active collections (one being guitars) in order to move into a senior living facility I can honestly say it has been a pleasant surprise to find myself unfettered of the "stuff". I don't know what led me into the collector mode in the first place! Maintaining a conditioned storage space for my collections alone was a pain.

At this stage in my life I have to say choose your activities carefully.

Ed

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by Larsongs » Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:47 am

Do you minimalists also live in minimalist small dwellings? And, do you drive those tiny Cars? Just curious.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by javier-san » Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:49 am

Larsongs wrote:
Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:47 am
Do you minimalists also live in minimalist small dwellings? And, do you drive those tiny Cars? Just curious.
here we go, again...

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