Guitars: Time for an Intervention?

You know, guitars should come with a warning: more addictive than crank. I did some shopping (and buying) today during my lunch hour:

I thought you already had a PRS.....that's like the holy grail.

I feel somehow lucky that my guilt over having so much work left to do on the garage, car, etc... and some sort of warped feeling that I need to earn and live up to a better guitar has kept me playing the same $189 Epiphone Les Paul Jr for two bands and at least 12 years.

I have WAYYY more guitar than I do talent. Or time to play.

And I can almost justify the cost on that '68 Fender Bassman head at the local shop.… it just sounds so sweet.

Nice PRS find by the way.

I used to work next door to a guitar shop, so you don't have to tell me... At one point, I had 22 guitars, but I've pared it down to about 10 now. Sadly, I don't play as much as I'd like to which has guilted me into not buying any more. I was >< close to breaking that vow and buying a Charvel Tele a couple of years ago. I had a PRS for awhile. Nice guitars, but I prefer Strats and Les Pauls with my Explorer for some variety.

I have a friend who recently seems to buying almost one per week!

He does play with several groups, but I think even he realizes he might have a problem. Lol He made a comment the other day about starting a guitar 'library', where he and some friends could pool their instruments and borrow each other's time to time.

Fortunately, I have a natural restriction keeping me from going too crazy - I play bass left-handed, but with my strings strung right-handed, and an injury to my right hand requires a 32"-scale or shorter.

Despite all that, I still have the desire to buy up any Hagstrom 8-strings, and I've had a crazy urge to find a 70's Kramer aluminum-neck bass. Oh, and maybe a Chapman Stick-ish type tapping fretboard thing.

For us drummers its cymbals. I dont really know anybody with multiple kits. Of course we can just go bigger and add quadruple base drums.

Ooo this is a weakness of mine too. I have 10 different stringed instruments at the moment.

That is the only upside to the fact that I don't play anymore (and never was all that good) - I'd have dozens by now. I still window shop guitars, and I haven't touched mine in years.

{Jesse Pinkman at the drug abuse support group} I have a nice '73 Gibson L6-S that could use someone to play it. Anybody interested? {/Jesse Pinkman}

That's why I stay out of the guitar section on ebay. I managed to find a couple of nice guitars there and hardly play anymore so spending more money on another guitar is really not what I should be doing.

OTOH I probably should spend some money on an Apogee Jam as that should hopefully get me a little motivated to pick up the guitars again - one of them I haven't even heard in "electric" mode yet, and I've owned it for something like 3-4 years.

I have wanted an American-made PRS for a while, and I guess visiting the factory last week kinda pushed me over the edge. Have to say, though, it plays like a dream. Plus I'm a sucker for a bolt-on maple neck and PRS's wood finishes.

It's also a fairly plain model by PRS standards, so it wasn't a zillion dollars. Fortunately we have a killer used guitar shop up the street from the office-- http://guitarattic.com/ --and they had just received that one.

Okay, time to (hopefully) bring a Miata back to life.

David S. Wallens wrote: It's also a fairly plain model by PRS standards, so it wasn't a zillion dollars. Fortunately we have a killer used guitar shop up the street from the office-- http://guitarattic.com/ --and they had just received that one.

Oh man, hopefully I've forgotten that information before we go to see the in-laws in Deland again, otherwise this might get expensive.

David S. Wallens wrote: Okay, time to (hopefully) bring a Miata back to life.

Good luck.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

Yes! eBay is a terrible thing sometimes. My last 2 guitars came from eBay. They were pretty much impulse buys because I really couldn't justify getting more, but the prices were too good to pass up.

Too many guitars is just a start!

Actually, I'm pretty gear-loyal. When I find one (or a few) that I fall head-over-heels for, I play the hell out of them, and then they become a permanent part of the collection. But I have a couple spots in the line-up for rotating stock and I try my best to trade or sell one before getting a new one. That's kept my collection/addiction fairly manageable for now.

I was >< close to breaking that vow and buying a Charvel Tele a couple of years ago.

Me too! Man, I LOVE those San Dimas Teles. Had cash in pocket to pick one up, but in the end, the neck thickness just wasn't right for me. Ended up with this insead (90's Fender HRR, MIJ, almost wizard-thin neck - like mine, but mine has a rose wood board and Original Floyd - I think this one is a schaller or kahler:)

And yeah, I had a gear-slut year this year and finally had to stop looking. Bought two acoustics (just because they were good deals,) the Fender, and a 70's Aria MIJ SG copy. The only one that I really regret not pulling the trigger on was an Ampeg VL 1002 Lee Jackson designed head. I've always wanted one, they're hard to find, and the price is right on them RIGHT NOW. Me and the guy selling it had conflicting days off, and I would've had to skip a day of work to grab it. In retrospect, shoulda done it. All the tubes had recently been replaced, the price was right, and it was local :(

Spoolpigeon wrote: In reply to BoxheadTim: Yes! eBay is a terrible thing sometimes. My last 2 guitars came from eBay. They were pretty much impulse buys because I really couldn't justify getting more, but the prices were too good to pass up.

Same here. The last score a few years ago was an essentially new (although used) G&L ASAT Special semi-hollow bodies for IIRC $300 from a shop.

A quick look on ebay suggests that it's worth twice that right now...

They're almost investments doing it that way. Most of mine are lower end guitars, so I wouldn't make much reselling, but a friend of mine flips guitars. Buys stuff on eBay, cleans them up and makes sure everything works, then puts them on craigslist. He picked up an American P-bass last year for $400, replaced a 5 dollar tone pot and resold it for $850.

They're only investments if you can ever conceive parting with them. This is my problem.

I'm having the same issue with some vintage Heuer diving watches. Keep finding stinking good deals---but still haven't found what I'm looking for.

Mike/Poop, I love the seafoam Strats. Excellent, excellent choice.

I also have a black Japanese-made '57 Reissue. I love the neck. Heck, I love the whole guitar.

Pic:

And if there's interest, during the Rolex festivities maybe we can do a group outing to our local guitar place. It's about 2 minutes from the office--like maybe a mile up US-1 from us.

My dad gave me a guitar at the beginning of the summer. I've bought 4 since then. I sold 1 of those. One that I bought, I bought from Dad. The other three were just because they were really really good deals, and the one that I sold is probably the one that I loved the most. Just too much wrong with it at the time for me to hold on to.

Since it doesn't seem like you guys are much into acoustics, I'll show you the only electric I bought (and the only one I own):
(Not my actual guitar)

Mtn Aerodyne Strat,

I shop in the Epiphone aisle now I have a Les Paul Special, a Les Paul Studio goth (flat black and a 58 Flying V replica Less than $750.00 I 'm cheap

So this thread reminds me: Once a month or so, a handful of my beer geek buddies and I get together and drink really berkeleying good beer; usually exchanging a few (not in a "trade" format, but in a "dude, you gotta try this" kinda way.)

I've always known it's true about me, but never knew that it expanded to beer (which I only recently acquired a taste for:)

We're all sitting around, sampling the different barrel aged versions of Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel; like we're some officianados sitting on a yacht or some E36 M3, when my buddy Bill says: "Man, it's funny, I was watching Joel earlier, sitting down indian-style, going through all the beers he'd picked up at CBX, and suddenly I felt like I was in the 2nd grade, and we were trading baseball cards...or comics...or whatever the berkeley you were into at the time."

And ain't it the truth? Baseball cards, cars, guitars, beers, whatever, it's all the same E36 M3 (for me anyway.)

I've come to accept it and recognize it as what it is (a sickness) and occassionally factor it into purchases. Do I REALLY REALLY REALLY want that running slant six valiant as a great start for a turbo project? You bet your sweet ass I do! Do I already have two stalled projects wasting space in the garage that give me occassional night-sweats? Yup.

I don't think it's intervention time just yet. As long as you & mama are eatin well and paying the mortgage. It's fun, harmless, and cheaper than a crack habit....okay maybe it's not cheaper but hopefully your not giving hand-whammies in an alley for the fix.

I never got into collecting guitars. I've had my '74 SG since '91 and my '93 Les Paul Special since '95. I had a Fender Jazzmaster that I special ordered ad ended up hating (but should have kept instead of selling it for $400 in 1996 or so) and a mid-90's Epiphone Coronet that didn't do anything for me.

What comes out of the guitar is way more important/difficult to obtain than the guitar itself. Play more and worry abut acquiring fancy stuff later.

I've been playing since 1988 and you have way fancier guitars than I do.

That's pretty much what stopped my buying habit. I wasn't in a band and wasn't playing as much. The last guitar I bought was a Tacoma acoustic in 1996. The last electric is a '71 Les Paul Standard I bought around '95.

I have a few acoustics as well: an Ovation deep bowl classical, a Gibson L-48 arch top and a crappy old Harmony arch top. Some day I hope to get a Taylor and a more traditional classical.

Poop, its interesting what you say about the Charvel neck. That actually makes me want one more. Being a Les Paul player, I tend to like the neck a bit more substantial.