Gear minimalism as a thought process...

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seenoevil II
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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by seenoevil II » Mon Feb 07, 2022 8:07 pm

So, I'm noticing a repeating theme amongst those who don't seem so interested in minimalism in gear. And that is the notion of different sounds as a plus. Comparing different gear to different paint brushes or cooking implements to achieve different and varied effects. I can hear some of you saying "yes, and?" Because this does seem like a rather obvious maxim of musicianship. More tones, more abilities are always better. But, this isn't the animating force behind all gear slingers. I think there is a genuine difference in mentality between different players who broadly fall into two types.

Very imperfect analogy, but it gets to what I'm on about here. The Vintner and The Brewer:

The Brewer is always on the lookout for something new. There grape fruit IPA was a massive success and that may have been down to those special coveted Bavarian hops they tracked down. They love taking various and unexpected combinations of ingredients and combining them in novel ways. Do they brew stouts or Ales or Lagers or Pilsners? Yes. Just yes. Their ingredient stores are vast. Like a chameleon, they will try to create anything. They taste other brewer's beers and immediately start reverse engineering it with their taste buds, thinking how they could recreate it exactly. They will make a beverage to suit an occasion or a meal. Losing their equipment would be a hardship, but also an exciting opportunity to try even more new things.

The Vintner agonizes over the minutia of the simple. They've carefully selected and bread their vines over decades and only now feel they're getting close to good enough. They found a yeast strain that gives them what they want ten years ago and they've be superstitiously guarding that jar of mother for fear of changing it. They've tried seven different coopers trying to find a cask that imparts the flavor they want. There are a million red wines. There are a thousand Cabernets. There are dozens of Napa Cabs. But there's only one of this Vintners Cabs, and they (and they hope you) can identify it at the very first sip. They think about the meals that would pare well with their signature wine. Losing the vineyard would be utterly devastating. They may continue on afterward, but, at least in their own mind, they would feel that a part of themselves died in the process and whatever wine they made in future would be a reinvention of themselves as well as their work.

Most Guitarists are like most real Brewers and Vintners. Most Vintners make a variety of wines and will experiment. Most Brewers settle on a select few recipes that they try to perfect. Similarly, most of us wind up with a few, highly prized and hard won pieces of gear.

I do think an element of this minimalism is identity fusion with certain gear. Some players want to do all sorts of different things with different gear. More is more is better. For others, maybe different pedals or amps or recording rigs could be tried, but if it's truly them who are playing through it, that means it's them and their trusty 335 or Strat or what have you. For them, the boundary of their identity includes certain gear or species of gear (Kevin Shields and JMs for instance).

But the assumption that variety and options are always desirable isn't always true.
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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by blacktiger » Mon Feb 07, 2022 9:06 pm

I have one guitar - a Jazzmaster. I also have a Squier Bass VI that I don’t really use and have been planning to sell. I have zero amps. I do have a few pedals (reverb, chorus, delay, Klon clone, and a couple of fuzzes). That’s really it. Part of it is practical - I live in a two bedroom apartment with my wife and kid. There’s only so much room for stuff. I have been playing JMs for about 30 years. I have owned many different second guitars, but I always just ended up playing the JM anyway. If people want to have a bunch of gear and can afford it, good for them. If gear makes you happy, enjoy your gear. I have a hard time believing that anyone NEEDS a dozen guitars, though. Rowland S. Howard played the same Jag from 1978 until his death. He influenced nearly every guitarist who came after him who was worth influencing (IMO, of course). Hendrix pretty much only played Strats, and in the early days, he only owned a couple. He owned and played some other guitars over the years, but it was mostly Strats. Hendrix was more or less the most influential guitar player of all time. So, you do the math about how important it is to have an arsenal of different guitars. Most of the guys who most everyone else idolizes have done it with fewer guitars than the average OSG member.

TLDR: No one NEEDS a dozen guitars, but if that makes you happy, who cares?
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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by Wucan » Mon Feb 07, 2022 10:25 pm

I can control myself with stuff like amps and pedals, because not using what I don't need just feels like clutter. It also helps that simulated amps and FX plugins are very advanced nowadays so you can have what you want without taking up any room.

Guitars though, it's a tough one because no production model gets me what I really want in guitars so I keep hoarding and flipping through stuff trying to get to the closest ideal guitar. And I'm scared of doing a full custom build because I still suck at guitar + speccing out something then being stuck with something that turned out I didn't want after all.

Some of the stuff I keep is for variety's sake - a 7-string, a floating trem, a traditional strat... but most of it, it's just because I don't really know what I want.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by FrankRay » Tue Feb 08, 2022 1:06 am

My favourite guitarists only ever play one guitar, at least live. I think it's better to try to get every sound you can from one instrument than to use different guitars for different sounds. Like, if you use the rhythm circuit on a jag but turn the tone down it sounds (a bit ) like a les paul. Stuff like that.

I really like the iconography of the guitarist with the single guitar. Roland Howard with his Jag, Robert Smith with his modified Jazzmaster, John Macgeogh with his Yamaha, Bob Mould with his flying V, Bernard Sumner and his Shergold. Keith Levine and his Veleno. Jonny Greenwood and his Telecaster Plus. Much more interesting than guitarists who pick up a new instrument every song. In my opinion. There's something very session musician-y about playing multiple guitars.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by Downsman » Tue Feb 08, 2022 5:27 am

I find it helpful to recognise that unless the only possible way you can make enough money to feed, clothe and house yourself and anyone who depends on you is as a musician, and unless the only possible way you can earn money as a musician is by playing guitar, then you don't need any guitars or gear at all.

So it's then about wants, rather than needs. And we all want different things for different reasons. For me, guitar is several hobbies at once. I think they're beautiful and hang my guitars on the wall of my office and enjoy them the way I'd enjoy artwork. And I enjoy playing all of them. And I enjoy the tech side of modding them, trying out different wiring, pickups, strings etc. And I enjoy reading about them and their history and having that reflected in the guitars I own. And I enjoy making music with other people (though at the moment I play bass not guitar in the only band I'm in). And I enjoy the wheeling dealing side of things, tracking down what I'm looking for, trying to get a good deal on them, and selling without taking a loss.

I find it interesting reading all these different approaches, but I don't believe there is a universal right, or best approach to take. Only what's right or best for you.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by creedclicks » Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:02 am

Interesting thread. I have often though of this, 1 really good guitar, or just 2, 1 with humbuckers and another with single coils, or a JM.
I am down to 1 guitar at the moment, a VM Mustang. Still on the search for the "1 GUITAR".

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by Larsongs » Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:51 am

What do you do if you like Single Coils, Humbuckers, Hilo Trons, Filtertrons, De Armonds, Dyna Sonics, Gold Foils, Toasters & P90’s.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by seenoevil II » Tue Feb 08, 2022 7:44 am

Larsongs wrote:
Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:51 am
What do you do if you like Single Coils, Humbuckers, Hilo Trons, Filtertrons, De Armonds, Dyna Sonics, Gold Foils, Toasters & P90’s.
MINIMALISM ÜBER ALLES!
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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by panoramic » Tue Feb 08, 2022 7:54 am

blacktiger wrote:
Mon Feb 07, 2022 9:06 pm
I have one guitar - a Jazzmaster. I also have a Squier Bass VI that I don’t really use and have been planning to sell. I have zero amps. I do have a few pedals (reverb, chorus, delay, Klon clone, and a couple of fuzzes). That’s really it. Part of it is practical - I live in a two bedroom apartment with my wife and kid. There’s only so much room for stuff. I have been playing JMs for about 30 years. I have owned many different second guitars, but I always just ended up playing the JM anyway. If people want to have a bunch of gear and can afford it, good for them. If gear makes you happy, enjoy your gear. I have a hard time believing that anyone NEEDS a dozen guitars, though. Rowland S. Howard played the same Jag from 1978 until his death. He influenced nearly every guitarist who came after him who was worth influencing (IMO, of course). Hendrix pretty much only played Strats, and in the early days, he only owned a couple. He owned and played some other guitars over the years, but it was mostly Strats. Hendrix was more or less the most influential guitar player of all time. So, you do the math about how important it is to have an arsenal of different guitars. Most of the guys who most everyone else idolizes have done it with fewer guitars than the average OSG member.

TLDR: No one NEEDS a dozen guitars, but if that makes you happy, who cares?
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Hearts this post. I have a 2br apartment with my son and I certainly don't have enough room to own a dozen guitars.
I used to be cool, now I just complain about prices.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by JamesSGBrown » Tue Feb 08, 2022 9:49 am

Larsongs wrote:
Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:51 am
What do you do if you like Single Coils, Humbuckers, Hilo Trons, Filtertrons, De Armonds, Dyna Sonics, Gold Foils, Toasters & P90’s.
This is the thing... I legit need a guitar with single coils (x 3 for different tones, a Jag is NOT a Tele), p90, humbucker, Ric Hi-Gains etc. Cos they all get used.

Maybe the answer is 1 guitar with Gibson Robot Tuners and Seymour Duncan P-Rails LOL

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by shoule79 » Tue Feb 08, 2022 1:28 pm

My electric guitar peak was around 12 or so, my least after playing in bands was 4 (Tele, Jag, JM, Les Paul). I downsized to move from quantity to quality only.

There are currently 8 electrics in my house, variations on the 4 I mentioned above, 2 SG's, and two Dano's (one is actually my wife's and the other is a 12 string). One of the SG's is my 67 that was my main guitar in the late 90's. It needs some restoration work, but my wife wants it. She has also started eyeing my LP, so we'll see if something becomes of that. Other than that, I could survive with the Tele/JM/Jag/LP setup, enough variety for what I do.

Acoustics are easy, I looked for 2 years and found the perfect Gibson Hummingbird for me, I feel no need to ever buy another acoustic.

Amps I got down to 2 at one point, a Mesa 5:50 and a Princeton Reverb. That has jumped to 7, so i'm going to be shifting that around a bit more, hopefully going down again.

Pedals are out of control. I had 60 something at my peak, i've whittled that down to about 40, and still purging here and there.

My take from all of this, stuff accumulates over 25 years when you have space and disposable income, even if you don't mean for it to.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by cestlamort » Tue Feb 08, 2022 3:39 pm

blacktiger wrote:
Mon Feb 07, 2022 9:06 pm
Rowland S. Howard played the same Jag from 1978 until his death. He influenced nearly every guitarist who came after him who was worth influencing (IMO, of course). Hendrix pretty much only played Strats, and in the early days, he only owned a couple. He owned and played some other guitars over the years, but it was mostly Strats. Hendrix was more or less the most influential guitar player of all time.

TLDR: No one NEEDS a dozen guitars, but if that makes you happy, who cares?
I agree entirely.
One caveat: Rowland S Howard and Hendrix are way more talented than I am.

I spent years trying to land on "the one" but without real success. A steady handful of ones I love, plus a rotating cast of ones that I like, but never just THE ONE. (Not unrelated: completely overhauling effects setup every few years to sound 98% the same as before). I used to try to give a guitar at least 3 months before sending it back out into the wild, which I found to be a good measure. If I'm not totally loving it after a few months (and after the initial blush of the new), it can probably go away without being missed. And if I do miss it, I'm probably just missing the idea of it, rather than the reality.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by marqueemoon » Tue Feb 08, 2022 4:44 pm

I actually feel like a quest for a mythical #1 guitar would make me pretty unhappy, especially if there was a revolving door situation happening.

Frankly my gear habit embarrasses me a lot of the time, and I think gives the wrong impression of me as a guitar player and a person. I’m not especially materialistic in other areas of life.

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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by BTL » Tue Feb 08, 2022 5:16 pm

I'm not sentimental, so my gear has ebbed and flowed over the decades based on need and utility. I find it's fun to have cool stuff floating around for a bit, then I let it go. I'm currently without a guitar rig and likely to head along the minimalist route with a direct-to-PA rig, probably Iridium based.
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Re: Gear minimalism as a thought process...

Post by sciuri » Fri Feb 11, 2022 10:09 pm

I liked this simple expression:

Satisfaction = what you have ÷ what you want

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... ss/621304/

This is a fantastic article and worth the lengthy read (sorry if there’s a paywall). Besides more important life things, it also made me think of this thread and my own guitar acquisition motivations… some combination of chasing a dopamine hit with a new toy or unique sound as fuel for inspiration or just for plain fun (which includes the act of researching, shopping, and planning), plus an OCD tendency to think one of each is somehow necessary to maintain order, plus a deeper need to feel connected to my youth and to history through the collection of symbols and artifacts, which are ultimately related to meaning and mortality. Guitars and death! Yes, I just connected gear hoarding to contemplating one’s own mortality. :k

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