CURE for Gear acquisition syndrome?

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veji
veji
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How do you stop yourself from buying more gear? Since i started playing guitar...i was a tone chaser. More focused on gear and guitar than actually improving my playing. Its been back and forth with my love for gear. Boughts tons of tube amps, preamps, racks, guitars and custom guitars. My GAS got better when i settled down and had kids but every now and then it does come back. For anyone who has this problem and is not fully cured meaning you dont have any urge to buy any more guitars or amps and seeing a new amp or guitar doesnt make you want to buy it...what helped you or what did you do to overcome this issue? Any advice?

For me i have tried quiting any guitar or gear related groups on the internet and even stop listening to music or playing guitar...but after 4 or 5 months of absense from that I eventually came back. Also this video helped

 
spend whatever time you'd spend shopping for, or reading about gear on practice. observe your tone improve over a month.

GAS is mostly fed by wanting to sound better than we currently do, and/or a secret shopping addiction. Chasing the dopamine drip of a new purchase. Women and shoes.
 
I historically was a gear nut, having in the ballpark of 150 guitars, 50 amps. But something clicked in my brain a couple years ago that my “need for versatility” was simply a delusion.

I’m currently down to one amp, and 3 guitars, a 412, a 212, about 5 pedals which could go down to 3, and a Captor X. For better or worse, I dial in most of the stuff I’ve had the same and don’t need anything really beyond bridge humbucker and sometimes neck single coil.

I like the idea that the few guitars I do have left will be played into submission, like the guitars of the players I looked up to.
 
Only buy things you can return. I love trying new stuff out but always figure out a way to make it sound like all my other stuff

Got a new fuzz pedal to try today. If it’s not better/different than another back it goes asap. I’m always optimistic hoping to find some magic but it’s rare.

Within reason most of this stuff is more similar than different
 
I’m so glad I was never a big gear whore. Sure I had a lot of shit at one time or another, but I’d say a LOT was purchased before the massive hype. For example, most of my vintage Marshall 4x12’s were bought for $300-$500 (yeah, I own 10 4x-12). My amps were all purchased cheap as well… $700 for my 71 SL and $1k for my 67 Plexi). The most expensive piece of gear I paid for is my 2016 Charvel nitro at $2,800. Even my old Mesa 2C+ amps were all bought for the mid $2k’s. What I’m rambling at is prices have gone through the roof and I’d never pay $4k for my white nitro or $6-10k for a 2C+. That’s a natural GAS reducer.

I did get lucky though. My 2016 Charvel is so good it allowed me to sell off almost every other guitar. I’m down to four guitars, with two that I almost never play. Finding something so good really stops gas.
 
Who doesn't want to constantly buy and try new gear is the question but it's not reality . If you can't afford it you don't buy it, period.
 
psychodave said:
I’m so glad I was never a big gear whore. Sure I had a lot of shit at one time or another, but I’d say a LOT was purchased before the massive hype. For example, most of my vintage Marshall 4x12’s were bought for $300-$500 (yeah, I own 10 4x-12). My amps were all purchased cheap as well… $700 for my 71 SL and $1k for my 67 Plexi). The most expensive piece of gear I paid for is my 2016 Charvel nitro at $2,800. Even my old Mesa 2C+ amps were all bought for the mid $2k’s. What I’m rambling at is prices have gone through the roof and I’d never pay $4k for my white nitro or $6-10k for a 2C+. That’s a natural GAS reducer.

I did get lucky though. My 2016 Charvel is so good it allowed me to sell off almost every other guitar. I’m down to four guitars, with two that I almost never play. Finding something so good really stops gas.
Click to expand...
Yeah, finding an epic guitar definitely stops getting more. If you are only grabbing one guitar it kind of defeats the purpose.
 
I started in 2007 with a Lee Jackson modded 2204 for 700 bucks. Eventually found my way to RT and all in all it’s been lotsa fun. For me, I have a tone in my head that I dial everything to….I can get close to it with just about any amp. I set out wanting to try as many top medium to high gain amps I could. I’m nearing the end with only a few amps left to try. Thing about our GAS is; how many other hobbies can you spend a lot on, enjoy something for some time then turn around and get all your money back or even make a little when you sell?
Not many I’d bet.
 
There’s no cure for chasing an invisible dragon. Maybe try something more fulfilling like working on learning an entire album. Stuff like that brings a lot more happiness than the quick dopamine hit of buying, unboxing, and plugging in a new amp or guitar.
 
Get in a busy band and play out often....seriously. The more I gig the more I realize how little gear I actually need. To be fair after years of gear geeking I’ve got what for me is the pinnacle of stuff and my sound, but I’ve fallen so far off the buy - sell merry go round that shit I should be selling just sits....
 
I found the cure for me was to move your residence 4 times in 5 years. If your forced to pack up and move the entirety of your existence that often, the gear just becomes an annoyance. Kind of extreme, I know.
If this doesn’t cure you, nothing will.
😎😎😎😎😎😎
 
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