Reflection of the times?

[gtrwun]

I actually play all my guitars and amps and I love having many different things to choose from. It's that simple. Some of you are over thinking this just a bit.

 

[Aristocat]

Whats there to be envious about. You would die if you saw their credit card balances Don't assume 70% of these people can afford what they are buying.

Haha. I would never be (nor am I currently). I also dread hearing this time old chestnut: My wife is gonna kill me when she finds out!

Bad mojo all around when those two are in play.

Some of those Wives didn't bother with the killing. They just left.

The worst one I ever seen was this.

A guy came into my shop and his wife leaned in and said, "I'm going to the beauty store right next door". He said okay and started skimming through the amps. He pulls in front of a Peavey 6505 1x12 and plugs a Les Paul into and is just rocking out. He yells to me, "This thing is great; I'm in love!". Within the next five minuets he has his credit card ready to roll and then in walks his wife. She stares at the price tag and says, "That's an awful lot of shoes there-no way are you getting this".

I almost cried for the guy.

 

[guitarmike]

[...]
If it bothers you that some people are more well off than you, get a grip.
[...]

I'm bothered by excessive collectors, although I'm not speaking up against it because everybody's free to do what they want without my consent or judgement.

I'm not at all envious of people who have more money. What bothers me is that resources on this planet are limited. Prime quality wood for instance. And I think those quality instruments should go to players, people who actually produce music for all of us music lovers, and not end up on a wall or in a vault. Meaningless hoarding and wasting resources, especially when you don't even use or enjoy those yourself but you just want to obsessively "own" stuff, is not a sustainable way of living and your selfishness is depriving others that would use those resources for much better purposes.

I'm sure that this will rub some the wrong way... So you have money to buy a SUV for every member of your family, 200 mahogany guitars, 5 huge flat-screen TVs and throw away more than half of the food you buy; you have the right to do so, but you are over-consuming resources, destroying a little part of the planet, and spitting in the face of half of the people on this planet that are hungry and just can't buy anything to eat. Most of all, know this: it won't last.

Beyond hedonism and the worship of self, actions have consequences and affect others, no matter how hard you proudly proclaim the right to do whatever it is you want to do.

I realize we grew up on different sides of the world and with all due respect, what are we talking about here? How many huge flat screen TV's should a person be allowed to own? SUV's?

Our prosperity is not on the backs of hungry poor people somewhere in the world. My prosperity is a result of hard work. Whether I have 50 amps and 1000 guitars, it is not your business or right to tell me or anyone else what we can or cannot buy. There are not enough people buying guitars to destroy a single forest, there just isn't.
We need to be good stewards of the planet but we should use the resources to our benefit and enjoyment.

Most of the poor hungry people live in countries with screwed up governments that prevent their people from prospering.

Telling yourself that people dislike what you (as in extreme hoarders) do merely because they are envious that you have more money than them, is hiding your head in the sand and probably an attempt to wash some minor feelings of guilt away.

I don't tell myself people dislike successful people, just look around, you'll see it. I have never met anyone with a big collection of something that felt guilty about it. They busted their butt to buy what they have and enjoy their collections. Now, I do agree that some people may feel guilty about their stuff but that is a small % of people that collect things.

If I owned 1,000,000 guitars it would not prevent you or anyone else from owning a guitar. It might make some models more costly but as long as there is a market the builders will build guitars.

If you are going to be upset at something that really impacts the globe you out to be mad at most of the western governments. Their debt is going to come crashing down and mess us all up. Then you will be burning your guitar to keep warm...

 

[stratotone]

Not my business how you spend your time and money, not your business how I spend mine. Pretty simple.

 

[rlord1974]

OK, OK. I stayed out of the other ridiculous thread of the day, but I just CAN'T stay out of this one.....

This isn't even in response to any particular post above, or the idea of musical gear "hoarding", "collecting" or whatever the hell you want to call it.

But.....

Anyone that says they are not envious of other people who have more money is full of shit. We ALL want more money, regardless of where you are in the food chain and "pecking order".

And I don't want to read any responses from people saying that I'm some rich assh*le for writing this. I'm not rich. I lead a comfortable, middle class life and, thankfully, my wife, kids and I are not wanting for any of life's "necessities". We also are fortunate to enjoy the odd family vacation and personal "luxury" item now and then. However, I'd be a liar if I said I didn't want more money. I'd happily take another bump in my annual income or a big lump sum cash windfall. Why the hell NOT?! In fact, I chase more money every day. It's human nature.

If you don't want more money, you've given up. God be with you.

 

[Zap]

It would be interesting to see how those who are envious would think and behave if the tables were turned and they were the ones with the cash.

 

[Badronald]

Ah liberals and redistribution of wealth. It WILL be the end of us.

And the guy above. You couldn't be more wrong. I am extremely fortunate and do not envy any man. We work very hard and have what we need. My family is healthy and that's all I need.


My main goal from here on out is to make sure my children have the same opportunities I've had.
Current cradle to grave policies are going to make it very difficult, but ill be damned if I give up.

I could go on and on but I hate typing on this silly phone!

 

[cardinal]

Not really a reflection of the times IMHO. People will try to rationalize why they're happy in whatever situation they are in and wouldn't be happy in different situations. Not a bad thing at all unless it involves demonizing others who are in different situations, which it often does unfortunately.

 

[Zap]

Ah liberals and redistribution of wealth. It WILL be the end of us.

And the guy above. You couldn't be more wrong. I am extremely fortunate and do not envy any man. We work very hard and have what we need. My family is healthy and that's all I need.


My main goal from here on out is to make sure my children have the same opportunities I've had.
Current cradle to grave policies are going to make it very difficult, but ill be damned if I give up.

I could go on and on but I hate typing on this silly phone!

What I wrote wasn't intended to be pro-socialism, although in retrospect, I can see how it could be perceived that way. I meant that those who are envious are a bunch of hypocrites because nothing would be any different.

 

[jcj]

I'm easily distracted by shiny things.

 

[Bob Savage]

I'm easily distracted by shiny things.

I'm just distracted by things, shiny or not.

 

[sandman]

i don't care how much money or how many fiddles a person has. I only care about if they are a good person or not (how they treat others).........I enjoy seeing all of the pics people post of their gear and I truly enjoy hearing some of the great musicians on Rigtalk...I'm more envious of the skills some of you folks have than how much money or gear you have....ha....but...this is RIGTALK...if people want to own and talk about their 50 amps and 200 guitars and have the money to do so.......well...it's RIGTALK.....or maybe it should be RIGSTALK??? lol

 

[splatter]

 

[Bob Savage]

Loves me some stuff.

 

[splatter]

Rant time:

Over the past few months there have been a number of posts kinda sorta insinuating that collecting gear is not cool. The posts usually ask why so much equipment is needed, can't you get by with one guitar and one amp type of questions. I realize that to the newbie the amount of gear required to put together a killer rig can be overwhelming but newbies usually aren't asking the questions. It seems to me some folks are very envious of those with more $$$ to spend on gear.

I enjoy everyone here sharing their "toys.," Some of the stuff we see here I'll never see or be able to purchase but it is real cool to be able to see pictures and clips of it.

If it bothers you that some people are more well off than you, get a grip.

end of today's rant

I understand both sides of the story , I use to buy and sell lots of gear in search of tone . Now I'm to poor t do so . I have sold almost all of it,and luckily I have kept what sounded best and IMHO my tone is really smoking . .So I guess I'm a little jealous of you guys with alot of really good amps . On the other hand even when I could afford it I never had more than 4 amps at once and never more than 5 guitars at once .
What I do find very amusing is Adults with tons of high end gear or even just a piece or 2 of high end gear that are really poor musicians .Classic example is someone on this forum (will remain nameless ) who is always buying and selling really expensive top end gear and I really respected his opinion . Then I heard him play and lost all respect for his musical opinions .
you say maybe he has a good ear and what does his playing have to do with that ? IMHO if he had a good ear he could hear that his playing sucked and wouldn't post clips

 

[rlord1974]

Bob, you're single-handedly destroying the planet with your excessive consumerism. Shame on you.

Think of the children. Plant some trees.

 

[sandman]

Loves me some stuff.

 

[rlord1974]

IMHO if he had a good ear he could hear that his playing sucked and wouldn't post clips.

I don't know who you are talking about, but that right there is almost sig-worthy.

 

[amiller]

Wait, am I on the wrong site. Isn't this RIG TALK...where we all talk about our RIGS!!?!! If you're not into gear then why are you here reading and writing about it?

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Isn't this RIG TALK

Rant Talk apparently