Little known fact: "BOAT" is actually an acronym for "Blow Off Another Thousand".
Are we guitarists the absolute worst about buying stuff for our stuff? Who is worse than we are?
- Thread starter Vocalion
- Start date
There really are some lucky people at gambling. My brother-in-law and my wife's sister are just such people. My BIL won ten grand on slots one night. My sis in law is just as lucky as he is. When they showed up here on a trip out from Arkansas, first thing my SIL did was fan out 28 hundred dollar bills she picked up at one of those Indian Gaming Casinos on the way here. They are both too tight to lose much, if they aren't doing pretty good right off the bat, they just leave.
The HD in Harley Davidson actually stands for "Hundred Dollars" because the minimum you will spend on any licensed t-shirt, bike trim, licenced sun glasses, decal, hat etc. is $100. Some dealers charge $100 just to allow you into their dealership.
Little known fact: "BOAT" is actually an acronym for "Blow Off Another Thousand".
My oldest son had a jet boat for several seasons. It had a large hole at the back of the boat, called ENGINE, where thousands of dollars would disappear.
This.
loopfinding
Friend of Leo's
The man cave-ness of other hobbies like guns spilling over into guitar stuff is a recent development...so no, I don’t think guitar is the worst.
I only buy stuff if I need it to realize music or for a specific task. Otherwise, I don’t. And if I bought it in error, I dump it. I build stuff because electronics is my vocation and it furthers my understanding. My current pool of equipment fits in a sedan.
Now I’m in a bad position to talk right now since I’ve more or less been on hiatus from gigging or putting records out for the last few years (going back to school, and then covid)...but uh, some of us actually try to make music, regardless of whether we have day jobs, and not just play with toys.
I only buy stuff if I need it to realize music or for a specific task. Otherwise, I don’t. And if I bought it in error, I dump it. I build stuff because electronics is my vocation and it furthers my understanding. My current pool of equipment fits in a sedan.
Now I’m in a bad position to talk right now since I’ve more or less been on hiatus from gigging or putting records out for the last few years (going back to school, and then covid)...but uh, some of us actually try to make music, regardless of whether we have day jobs, and not just play with toys.
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LGOberean
Doctor of Teleocity
I won't argue your point about guys and their gear/gadgets in general, but I would point out that women aren't above accessorizing/accruing accouterments. My wife outspends me by a wide margin in virtually every category of belongings. Clothing/footwear? Fuggedaboudit!
In 2019, we bought a travel trailer to take camping trips. I love the outdoors and camping trips, but for my wife they are getaways from her job, so it's even more important to her than it is to me. So in addition to the $20K we spent on the RV, she's always buying something on impulse for the trailer. Business demands on her time and repairs need on our trailer have slowed down our traveling in recent months. We don't know when parts are going to be available for the work to be done on the trailer, so my wife's turned her attentions to other pursuits.
Or as she calls them, projects. Her projects tend to be things that have practical application, so overall, they are a good thing. But to her, planning and executing plans for such projects is both recreational and therapeutic. Each project has its own essential gear and accessories. Nothing extravagantly expensive, but taken as a whole, it kind of adds up.
We recently got back into keeping chickens, and she extended that to raising quail. So next thing I know, we're building an aviary, with one side for the chickens, the other for the quail. And we've invested in an incubator, a brooder, and a "bachelor pad" for male culls. Then she added to her project list container gardening. And from there, she bought a pressure canner, and got into canning.
It will take us a while to even break even on the price of eggs and quail meat. I don't even want to try and calculate right now what the cost ratio is on each egg we get.
She also paints, and in that category of hobbyist pursuits, her spending is probably comparable to my guitars and gear.
Of all the sundries and tales I've ever read on TDPRI, this has got to be one of the finest pieces of literary work I've read out here yet! LOL!!! Wow man.... deep, profound, and to the point... hats off to you man! You win the internet today!
Well, I'd say they don't spend an awful lot of money on mufflers. So, there is that savings.
marc2211
Tele-Afflicted
Mountain Bikers, it never ends - I am hit by this affliction too ><
The funny secret is that alla youse guys buying new parts to upgrade your fine spendy objects of affection then sell the removed perfectly good and often superb parts which us bottom feeders use to make alternate universe stuff out of.
My cool bicycles?
Except for cables and tires, they are 100% made from removed parts sold by the hobby upgraders!
Even the old hand made Italian racing bike frames are pulls from habitual upgraders.
For that matter most of my tools used to make discard pile hobby bikes are from tool nut discard piles.
Some tools were brand new but it's crazy how often fine used stuff comes up for sale due to crazed hobby upgrading.
I suppose true bike racers upgrade for competitive edge, but if you're a real competitor you shouldn't be out in the shop swapping titanium bits!
I love the fact that the crazed internet keeps telling hobby consumers that their latest superb quality parts are way too last year and need upgrading!
For bicycle parts I found my happy place in the 9 speed freehub era, after which prices kept going up and all those used incompatible components went to the happy bottom feeders.
I suppose we will be crying when Dura Ace 9 speed titanium rear cogs all wear out and are no longer available.
Anyhow, y'all keep buying stuff for your stuff and we will bottom feeders keep consuming your offcasts!
Funny guys paying $500 for Chinese Tele look alikes?
Sorry, we don't want THOSE parts!
Actually lotta shoppers DO want Chinese takeoffs.
We all have our cross to bear...
My cool bicycles?
Except for cables and tires, they are 100% made from removed parts sold by the hobby upgraders!
Even the old hand made Italian racing bike frames are pulls from habitual upgraders.
For that matter most of my tools used to make discard pile hobby bikes are from tool nut discard piles.
Some tools were brand new but it's crazy how often fine used stuff comes up for sale due to crazed hobby upgrading.
I suppose true bike racers upgrade for competitive edge, but if you're a real competitor you shouldn't be out in the shop swapping titanium bits!
I love the fact that the crazed internet keeps telling hobby consumers that their latest superb quality parts are way too last year and need upgrading!
For bicycle parts I found my happy place in the 9 speed freehub era, after which prices kept going up and all those used incompatible components went to the happy bottom feeders.
I suppose we will be crying when Dura Ace 9 speed titanium rear cogs all wear out and are no longer available.
Anyhow, y'all keep buying stuff for your stuff and we will bottom feeders keep consuming your offcasts!
Funny guys paying $500 for Chinese Tele look alikes?
Sorry, we don't want THOSE parts!
Actually lotta shoppers DO want Chinese takeoffs.
We all have our cross to bear...
Guys and toys is a real thing. Here are some others to add to the list:
Photographers -- there's always another camera body or lens to add to the collection
Audiophiles -- self-explanatory
BBQ/Grilling -- this one has grown a ton the last 15 years
Photographers -- there's always another camera body or lens to add to the collection
Audiophiles -- self-explanatory
BBQ/Grilling -- this one has grown a ton the last 15 years
Every so often I'll fall into the photographers category - usually associated with needing to replace a camera, but it's not a regular thing for me. I most definitely fall into the audiophiles category, but I've definitely settled down in that regard unless you count buying records or CDs as "stuff for my stuff."
….I suppose I will be crying when Dura Ace 9 speed titanium rear cogs all wear out and are no longer available.
So pretty though, cutting edge titanium parts!
So pretty though, cutting edge titanium parts!
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Our niece (on my wife's side) and her hubby had their basement fixed. They paid thousands to some company that anyone could have told them was a ripoff, one of those big names you see on tv commercials every night during the news. But they didn't ask anyone. They simply hired the work and had it done.
That was 4 years ago. Now their basement is leaking. The major fix they paid thousands for is leaking already. So they called the same company back. Ooops sorry, the warranty has expired. To fix that one leaking corner of your basement is going to cost $40k.
I know other locally owned contractors who will replace their entire basement foundation and all for less than $40k. But they are ready to sign off on a $40k repair job just to fix that one corner. I don't know why.
So when I told my wife I needed to save up maybe $2000 for a new super music computer I want to build myself, she handed me $500 bucks and called it seed money. She knows I am happy with the gear I have and I've only bought 2 or 3 pedals in the last 2 or 3 years. Compared to just the money her beer guzzling chain smoking brother spends in a month at the bars and the pool tables my "weaknesses" are peanuts. She doesn't seem to mind anymore what I do with my music gear.
And I have enough spare change leftover to get a new furnace and a/c this year.
That was 4 years ago. Now their basement is leaking. The major fix they paid thousands for is leaking already. So they called the same company back. Ooops sorry, the warranty has expired. To fix that one leaking corner of your basement is going to cost $40k.
I know other locally owned contractors who will replace their entire basement foundation and all for less than $40k. But they are ready to sign off on a $40k repair job just to fix that one corner. I don't know why.
So when I told my wife I needed to save up maybe $2000 for a new super music computer I want to build myself, she handed me $500 bucks and called it seed money. She knows I am happy with the gear I have and I've only bought 2 or 3 pedals in the last 2 or 3 years. Compared to just the money her beer guzzling chain smoking brother spends in a month at the bars and the pool tables my "weaknesses" are peanuts. She doesn't seem to mind anymore what I do with my music gear.
And I have enough spare change leftover to get a new furnace and a/c this year.
True. That said, there are a lot of folks (I'm guilty as charged) whose GAS has been fueled by the advent of large online markets for used goods like eBay, Craigslist, etc. . . I buy mostly used stuff for my hobbies, but probably spend more buying more used stuff than I would if buying new.
Quite, quite my good man, however, my Custom Shop Telecaster is not oddly/suspiciously penis-shaped ! Harrumph !
I just noticed the monkey see/monkey do effect the last time I saw an amateur “tight kit” peloton blow by this fall : nary a black shoe amongst them !
As high vis beacons I think they’re pretty effective because I noticed all those alabaster shoes first thing , as I was in my car. The desired effect? I’m sure , But since so many of those dudes wear pro team jerseys * while they’re riding, I don’t give them much benefit of the doubt as to their dorkiness.
* imagine a rec softball league and most of the guys are wearing authentic Yankees or Red Sox uniforms…
Spend MORE buying used???
Absolutely!
I usually suggest buying several used pickups in threads where a player wants to know which improved specialty aftermarket reproduction pickup they will like best.
For me that also means I have piles of pickups, bridges, guards, bodies, necks, tuners and uh oh more guitars by accident!
Fair warning though: An awful lot of used guitar parts sold on ebay have been damaged by hobbyists learning to use a drill and screwdriver.
While bidders don't always see the tell tale signs of subtle butchery on used lacquered lumber.
Metal too, damages are varied and imaginative!
sax4blues
Poster Extraordinaire
Now dorky I know is me. Started at 14 wearing wool shorts, BLACK leather shoes with metal cleats strapped onto the pedals, dork was on the kind side of people nickname for me. On the good side people were giving me a new $600 bike every year when Les Pauls sold for $500.
