Gear minimalism as a thought process...

[JSett]

72 Jazzmaster left tonight. Just got the 2011 JM to go and I'm down to my desired 3-electric situation

[BoringPostcards]

72 Jazzmaster left tonight. Just got the 2011 JM to go and I'm down to my desired 3-electric situation

What are the current three? Did you keep the RIC360?

[JSett]

72 Jazzmaster left tonight. Just got the 2011 JM to go and I'm down to my desired 3-electric situation

What are the current three? Did you keep the RIC360?

I did keep it, yes. This is the current lineup...



(Surplus JM66BB not included).

The Rick made the cut, but I'm definitely still bonding with it. It sounds different enough from my others to be a little jarring sonically if I plug it in immediately afterwards but I don't get the same thing if I pick it up first. Aural familiarity I guess.

[Embenny]

I get that. As they say, comparison is the thief of joy. I have one Flying V in particular that I absolutely hate the sound of if I come directly off one of my Fenders, but if I just turn my amp on and pick it up first, I think it sounds great.

It's so weird. It's been that way for months. It took me a little while to figure out why I loved it some days but felt completely underwhelmed by it on others.

Long story short, it's getting new pickups in the hopes that it fits in a little better with the others. I don't want my guitars sounding homogenous or anything, and in fact, my other two Flying Vs with two very different sets of humbuckers don't make me feel that way when swapping guitars around.

I wish I could get down to just 3 guitars like that. There's no reason I couldn't, other than stubbornness and sentimentality.

I'm in a fairly prolonged downsizing phase, at least. The number of guitars has been steadily, if not rapidly, decreasing.

[garyptaszek]

all we need is a tele, jazzmaster, and a hollow body. kudos, lets see how long this lasts...

[JSett]

all we need is a tele, jazzmaster, and a hollow body. kudos, lets see how long this lasts...

Mate, it didn't even last until the morning Although it barely counts as its a £100 steal of a buy and it's mostly to help a friend out by buying his stuff

[JSett]

Creeping back up again. Maybe it's just impossible for me. I was putting some stuff in the attic and was struck by how the amps have been quietly breeding. It would appear I now have:

1967 Bassman & Cab
1965 Vibrochamp
Orange AD5
Orange Super Crush 100
Orange Terror Bass II
Matamp Minimat
1983 Roland Cube 40
1983 Roland Cube 60 Chorus
1982 Roland Cube 60 Bass
90's Hot Rod Deluxe
70's Pignose 7-100
+ various cabs of different sizes and brands.

...which is kind of ridiculous.

Guitars have crept up a little too, what with the Greco LP coming in, and the Fender Mandolin.

[seenoevil II]

I had no idea where to post this, but I didn't want to create a new thread. I think this thread is close enough:

The Paradoxes of Choice and Desire: or, the peril of getting what you always wanted.

So, last night, apropos of nothing, I "shot out" all of my 6 string electric guitars (not including my 12 string electric guitar, my electrified 6 string acoustic, my basses, or any of my other acoustics).

There were 10 of them. Ten. One for each digit.

I was GASing for one of those Epiphone faded Casinos (see the GAS thread) because it seemed like a one-stop-shop, do it all, kind of instrument. And I go through my little armada of electrics and think "Moron! You have 2 of more or less exactly that!" I have my Guild x-175 Manhattan with staple P90's AND my Gretsch Electromatic with P90esque DeArmond reissues. Both have full hollow bodies that project enough for unplugged noodle sessions, and BOTH are in rough enough shape that I can "write off" their resale value and fully commit to their constant use and abuse.

Ok, so maybe the thin line body shape is the X factor here. Well I've got two of those too! My es-335 AND my Epiphone Sheraton II!

So, I'm chewing on this phenomenon, and I make two observations:

1. I love GASing.

This sounds weird, but looking up pictures, reviews, specs etc. on that Epiphone Casino was both incredibly pleasurable, and the most I've felt like myself in a very long time.

I've spent a huge chunk of my free time since I was in high school GASing. I remember using internet explore on my high school's Window's 98 equipped PCs to look up pictures of telecasters.

I remember using my colleges classroom PC's to lurk on OSG during lectures (and pissing off my professor when she realized).

Then in the past few years, I realized I had more spendable money than I had thought, and I turned 30 and realized there was no sense in putting off purchases that I thought I would genuinely enjoy. And I went on a shopping spree. I've dumped so many NGD posts on this forum in the past 3-4 years. It's nuts.

Then I got what I thought would be my grail guitar, my es-335, and, suddenly, I was finished. I was done. There was nothing left to get.

And I unironically, and tragically, think that this loss of purpose, this loss of an interest, has genuinely contributed to a kind of anhedonia I've experienced over the past couple years.

I tried getting into watches, but it felt ridiculous, and after getting a G-shock, I just couldn't be bothered.

2. The thing I wanted from that Casino was what my guitars used to give me in my youth.

There are a few guitars in my armada that have seen orders of magnitude more playing time than the rest. And sure, that's because I liked them very much (and still do), but also because, for long stretches of time, they were the only guitars I had to play (that were fit to purpose). And the bonds I made with these guitars are amazing. The same characteristic strumming wear burrowing into the finish. The same kinds of fret munch wearing away into the nickel steel. The inevitable and often bungled attempt at repair and modification. Finally, the same catastrophic injuries that depreciate their value so low that I have no choice other than dragging them around wherever I go in life (lest I huck them in the garbage).

They weren't one of my guitars, for long periods, they were my guitar- as in, "where's my guitar" or "oh, let me grab my guitar real quick".

I'm somebody who really wants that kind of deep bond with my instruments. I really admire it in other players. I've already gone on about it in this thread, so I won't rattle off another list of players and their familiars. But, as Marge says, I just think they're neat.

When I imagined owning this new Casino, I imagined the same late night playing sessions I used to do on my other guitars when I was young. I imagined putting the same play wear into it that I've already branded into half a dozen instruments. I wanted a familiar pleasure from the past, but all over again.

What's my point?

I've noticed that the pleasure that any one particular guitar can give me gets diminished greatly when I have so many other guitars to compare them to and to choose from.

There's a post somewhere on this forum (I think in the Telecaster Appreciation thread) from about 8-10 years ago, where I describe my telecaster as "my favorite object in the world." Amazing! And it truly was. It felt so right in my hands. The literal amounts of blood and sweat deep in the crevices of that guitar was and remains literally nauseating. But, in a line up with 9 other electric guitars, it didn't garner near that much affection from me.

Later I got my VMJM. Just a cheap Squier modified reissue. Nothing amazing. But it was a Jazzmaster!! I had pined for a Jazzmaster for what felt like forever at to that point in my life. I used to lay in bed and stare at the thing on its stand across the room. I'd trace the wonky lines of its contours and it would fill me with glee. Embarrassing, I know!

Heck, this all started when I wanted to compare my Firebird's set up to other guitars. For about a year now, my Firebird has been my number one. For writing, gigging, everything. And because it's a Gibson, and I had spent a few bucks on it and its swapped pickups, I figured that it must be pretty great. And I did, subjectively in the moments I was playing think that it felt great in the hands and sounded amazing throughout the amp. I'd look at it on its stand, and it would call out to me to be played, so gorgeous are its woody contours and chrome hardware. However, against the sounds and feel of my JM, the sounds of my tele, the looks of my 335, it didn't feel all that special to me anymore.

Then, there are the tragic cases of guitars that I've picked up that, in this shootout, I realized are genuinely fantastic. For instance, the aforementioned Gretsch, an old Hofner reissue. Both are super unique and really cool. I could easily fall in love with them all over again. Instead, they're case queens that nobody seems to want to buy off of me. This brings a kind of guilt. I feel like a dragon pouring over his horde.

The Paradox

This math doesn't add up. Shouldn't it follow that if I have an old Telecaster that I bonded deeply with in my early 20's that brings me great joy AND a Jazzmaster that I played exclusively through the rest of my 20's that brought me great joy AND and exciting new Firebird whose looks and sounds inspire me to create- that these pleasures should all add up and combine into some ecstatic moment, and that, after a shoot out of ten such instruments, I be found by EMTs foaming from the mouth, semi conscious on the floor, like the victims of Jack Nicholson's Joker?

Why is it that the pleasures of these different instruments didn't combine, but rather that they cancelled each other out?


The reality I've left to observe given this situation goes something like:

Wanting is fun, and having is disappointing.

Comparison truly is the thief of joy.

Ruminations

A lot of the abstract pleasure of a guitar is rooted either in the past or the future but not in the present.

I look at my old telecaster and think of all of the fun times we had years ago in garage rock bands. I look at the Casino I'm GASing for, and I imagine what a future of playing it could be like. How it too might look battered and worn with the memories of experience at some point in the future.

Possible Solutions and Realizations

This reality is probably quite normal amongst those who make guitar playing a key part of their lives. I'm a little troubled that my collections has ballooned quite so enormous this early in life. Moving gets increasingly daunting with each acquisition. But, I bet my "body count" is probably right. in the middle of the bell curve (or at least in 1 SD) amongst the OSG set. Further, those professional players and their seemingly magical instruments doubtlessly have piles of guitar that stay at home, or are farmed out to studios, rehearsal spaces, and backlines scattered across the globe (Willy Neslson notwithstanding).

If the problem is choice, then the solution is reducing options. That can either look like selling off instruments (please buy my guitars!). Or maybe, just shrink the frame a little. As I mentioned, I usually have one two guitars out on stands at a time while the rest sleep in case stasis for years at a time. In those times, the guitars on the stands bring me great joy. I can stay in the present, and enjoy the guitar in front of me for all of its qualities.

Conclusions

Don't shootout all of your guitars all at once, ever. Bad idea. Out of sight, out of mind.

...ok, what about the shootout?

Oh, it's the Jazzmaster by a mile. After leveling the frets, refinishing, and swapping out the electrics, it's miles better than everything. To play, to hear. But, it cost my under $200, and it it just eats me up inside that it's better than the Gibsons, so I have to lie to myself and keep it in its case. Plus, JMs are way too popular these days and I'm a contrarian asshole.

[JSett]

Sounds like you're having the same existential crisis I was having when I created this thread, jeez, 18 months and 26 pages ago. I'm still going through it, not gonna lie.

I love the act of GAS-ing for things, I love the researching and digging. The final product being in my hands is almost inconsequential. Despite me trying to be good, I still have to catch and stop myself every couple of days as I realise I'm 'doing it again'.

[sal paradise]

[windmill]

I had no idea where to post this, but I didn't want to create a new thread. I think this thread is close enough:

The Paradoxes of Choice and Desire: or, the peril of getting what you always wanted.

Thanks for this post.
It is interesting that others have the same thoughts about this.

I worked out a while ago that I just like buying things that I like. I like the buying part as much as having whatever it is.

Anyway my suggestion is that you follow Johnny's example and sell a guitar before buying a new one.
firstly - to get used to the idea that letting possessions go will be rewarded with a new one.
secondly - if you dont like the new one, you can always buy the same type of guitar you sold again.

Thanks again for the post

[welshywelsh]

A really well written post which definitely captures what I've been feeling about getting a quality acoustic.

I've spent a good few months watching videos and thinking about what guitars I'd move on to justify buying a £3k acoustic, when prior to that, I have had zero interest in playing anything other than electric guitars. I've enjoyed learning the various model designations (I'm set on a Martin), all the various woods used and seeing the comparisons.

I'm telling myself that it'll open up a whole new avenue of exploration, help with songwriting and by going for quality, it's a guitar for life. I even started a thread on here to help me justify it, because listening to strangers opinions on the internet is always a good idea, right?!

There's definitely a degree of hope in that it'll be the correct decision and I'm still stalling. I did similar with my Bass VI (albeit a much cheaper Squier) and since buying it, it's just sat gathering dust sadly.

[seenoevil II]

I think I am. It's hilarious that I've been up in this thread arguing in favor or gear minimalism. I think I've way over invested in the guitar part of the signal chain. I have only 2 amps, and one is a solid state Quilter that is a shortcut to not having many amps at all.

Don't get me wrong though, I've researched amps to death. Tweed v. Brown v. Black v. Silver v. El84 v. 6l6 v. 6v6 v. 210 v. 212 v. 412 v. 115 .... and I've only scratched the surface. Further, I "get it." Like, the look, the weird pseudo tactile appreciation of turret boards filled with chunky components. I've spent hours and hours seeking a watching comparisons of amps I'll never own. That one Dutch guy on YouTube is amazing. Yet, ultimately I realized that utility was more important to me.

Similar experience with watches. I used to 'reward' myself with watching watch reviews on YouTube, while working on complex tasks. Like "ok 20 more minutes until you can zonk out and watch that bald English guy talk about casios." But again, after I researched, and honed in on my most optimal choice, I got the thing on my wrist and....nothing. I return it within a week. Again, utility wins out, and I sport a solar, atomic, digital.

The searching, the comparing, the learning, the wheeling and dealing. That's really entertaining. And, you know (and I think that this is unabashedly where many on OSG are mentally), there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

However, with guitars, I'm a fool over and over and over times 10. I feel like, after all my research and developing my preferences, that this one, yeah this one will be thee one. It seems that utility and simplicity are values I prefer in other material interests in life. I want to be a stalwart guitar monogamist because that tends to be my deal in other areas of life. But here I am with my bazzillion guitars.

Thanks for the kind words !

Yeah, I totally agree that I need to have a "one in- one out" policy going forward. In fact, I could probably stand to have a "one in- two out" system for a while. Two issues I'm running into are, one, nobody seems to want the more esoteric gear I've picked up over the years- the Hofner, the Gretsch, some of my Guilds. And two, a few of my guitars started life very inexpensive, but then I modified and damaged them in ways that make them virtually worthless. Their only value is sentimental.

I think that this is probably the greatest argument in favor of buying vintage or at least more expensive guitars. They hold their value. Money invested in a vintage guitar is money you can always get back, or, as you're pointing out, turn into another kind of guitar that you're curious about.

Although, as I've said in another thread, I have a preference and penchant for kind of wrecking my guitars. A guitar doesn't feel "mine" until after I've made it somehow unappealing to other people. I remember years ago, I did this gross paint job on my Jazzmaster with acrylic craft paints. I posted it here and people (rightfully) said it was disgusting. Now years later, there are still little flecks and streaks of that paint peeking out here and there, and think the effect is really interesting and gorgeous. Obviously, this makes dealing with vintage and other valuable guitars more difficult.

Oh, man. Are you me? Somewhere on here are pages of a thread where Larry Mal tries to talk me into buying a Gibson acoustic (in fact there are a few such instances where Larry tries to get me to buy gear- oftentimes talking himself into a purchase in the process).

That's a deep and wonderful rabbit hole. I think I've scratched that itch after picking up a vintage guild D25 for a bonkers price. That's my recommendation to anyone wanting a good acoustic. For some reason, vintage Guilds can still be had for really cheap compared to other brands. And they're great instruments. Sadly, that guitar is living in case stasis as I figure out how to repair a botched attempt at a...repair that I did. The guilt alone at damaging a vintage guitar with my lack of skill makes it hard to even look at. But someday soon I'll get back to it and right the ship.

But I totally get what you're saying about believing that you'll have this transformative experience after picking up a seriously expensive instrument. I thought as you did, that having a "nice" acoustic would help me pivot to a new musical identity of singer songwriterdom. I didn't imagine becoming a flat picker or five-finger virtuoso, but still.

It didn't happen. I had a totally amazing dreadnaught in stellar shape that sounds amazing. And yet it spent most of its time in a case as 1. I was afraid of hurting it or exposing it to subpar atmospheric conditions. and 2. Most of the time, a dreadnaught acoustic isn't what I'm itching to play. And even when it is, why go to all the trouble of busting out my "good" guitar when I can mess around on my Yamaha that I don't care if I hurt.

I'll leave you with this anecdote. I was once deep deep in the weeds of acoustic GAS and research. I was going to school on tone woods. I found this amazing video where someone compared a series of Martins that had identical body shapes but were made of different species (mahogany v rosewood). It was a literally tone comparison presented very scientifically. So, I decided I would reduce my bias by literally closing my eyes to listen.

I could hear the difference like night and day. I could hear the rainforest animals that perched in the leaves of the rosewood tress as I imagined its frequency response curve. I could feel the open pores of the mahogany wood, its pungent odor stinging my nostrils. I had become the tone king. I could tell you what side of the mountain the tree was harvested from by hearing a single G chord.

When I opened my eyes, that hadn't switched guitars yet. It was the same guitar. That's when I took a break from my quest.

[welshywelsh]

When I opened my eyes, that hadn't switched guitars yet. It was the same guitar. That's when I took a break from my quest.

Ha, yeah I'm currently at that stage, comparing 0, 00 and 00018 Martins. Every time I've ruled one out (I'm trying to want the 0 most due to it being the smallest) another playing style or mic setup brings the others back in. Really I need to play the 3 back to back in real life, but that'll involve an 8 hour round trip to Coda Music here in the UK, so it's YouTube until I'm like "yep I'm heading to Coda and not leaving empty handed".

[JSett]

1967 Bassman & Cab
1965 Vibrochamp
Orange AD5
Orange Super Crush 100
Orange Terror Bass II
Matamp Minimat
1983 Roland Cube 40
1983 Roland Cube 60 Chorus
1982 Roland Cube 60 Bass
90's Hot Rod Deluxe
70's Pignose 7-100
Victory V30 Jack
Victory V30 Jack Preamp
+ various cabs of different sizes and brands.

...which is kind of ridiculous.

Came back to update this silly list of regret