Lockdown GAS/boredom

MrSwanson

I'd been very good until the last month or so, when I jumped on the CBA Fuzz Factory and the Third Man Triplegraph.

Fez

Only bought one pedal a Thorpy peacekeeper feline 25th anniversary but I have worked all through so haven't had time to get bored.

BintyTwanger77

Fez said:

Only bought one pedal a Thorpy peacekeeper feline 25th anniversary but I have worked all through so haven't had time to get bored.

Luckily I’ve been able to WFH throughout the pandemic, but my day-job is no guaranteed reliever of boredom (quite the opposite).

stickyfiddle

I built a bunch of pedals, sold a few of them. Bought one amp (TMDR woo!) having sold one just before covid kicked off. Bought a couple of guitars and have one for sale. 

For me it's not so much about boredom, but the fx builds were more about having time I had to spend at home with no options to go anywhere else. And it's a cheapish way to try a bunch of circuits as well as being an enjoyable way to spend time. 

The amp and guitar acquisitions were more a result of trying to reassess and work out what was really important to me and focus on that. Which in my case meant re-buying an ES-330 and doing the pickup change and bigsby-addition that I was nervous about with the first one I had. 

Sassafras

On a brighter note, I've not bought a single thing since lockdown began.

TeleMaster

I'm using retail therapy a bit more than I should too. 

Sold a load of guitars. Bought a PRS, a Suhr, A Musicman Sabre, got a few synths, sold them, bought another. The wife does moan about the deliveries. 

Teetonetal

Just stop thinking about it and put the credit card away. Boredom is always a crappy reason to buy.

If your bored, maybe address that in other ways? Make some demos or writing etc... 

AntonHunter

I think the pandemic has seen the following arrive: Joyo AC Tone, Danelectro Fish & Chips, Earthquaker Night Wire, DOD mini volume pedal, NFYFX Fat Fuzz Factory clone, Egnater Tweaker 15 head+cab, Quilter Interblock 45. A mixture of cheap things to try out, and more expensive things I've wanted for a while. I don't think it's boredom related, or I would've pulled the trigger on a Mood/Zoia/Blooper/Count to 5/something by now. I've been close, but trying to remain sensible...

TeleMaster

Teetonetal said:

Just stop thinking about it and put the credit card away. Boredom is always a crappy reason to buy.

If your bored, maybe address that in other ways? Make some demos or writing etc... 

It's true. And if you are using it to stay occupied/as a form of therapy it can end up becoming a compulsion. My friend buys stuff all day long. He amassed so much debt that he took out a loan out to consolidate his cards and then didn't pay the card off and used the loan of something like £20k to buy more stuff. He's not spent it all but he's in a real mess tbh. 

LastMantra

I got a cheap aby pedal and ocd clone (think that's what it is) for about 40 squid. 

BintyTwanger77

TeleMaster said:

Teetonetal said:

Just stop thinking about it and put the credit card away. Boredom is always a crappy reason to buy.

If your bored, maybe address that in other ways? Make some demos or writing etc... 

It's true. And if you are using it to stay occupied/as a form of therapy it can end up becoming a compulsion. My friend buys stuff all day long. He amassed so much debt that he took out a loan out to consolidate his cards and then didn't pay the card off and used the loan of something like £20k to buy more stuff. He's not spent it all but he's in a real mess tbh. 

Just to say I am not in this position: since the pandemic, I haven’t bought anything I couldn’t afford to pay for within a couple of months (purely because of the loss of SE work with all the restrictions). Most of the pedals I’ve tried have been sent back under 14 or 30 day returns. I’ve sold a few pedals over lockdown, but not at a huge loss, and really 3 new pedals and a new tuner (and some new pickups) is not exactly crazy GAS. I’ve stuck to one electric, one acoustic, one amp and one board because I know how financially damaging this whole thing can be.

StruanRobertson

I'm with you. Its got a bit silly really. 

I've changed amp about six times, but now I really like what I have - however, I've got it into my head that I would like my whole rig to be British made, so the Mesa may go when I can afford a Rift. 

I've been though about eight second hand guitars and ordered a custom built one that I'm keeping (although I'm sending it back to the maker for to changed the pickups and to add a Goldo trem).

Pedals wise, I've just been silly. Some of the ones have barely touched my board before I've traded them again. I think my hoard is pretty settled now (I Think I just completed it by buying a ThorpyFX Warthog on a whim this morning). 

First band rehearsal in ages next week, hopefully that'll focus me on making music, not buying gear. 

Hopefully. 

BintyTwanger77

StruanRobertson said:

I'm with you. Its got a bit silly really. 

I've changed amp about six times, but now I really like what I have - however, I've got it into my head that I would like my whole rig to be British made, so the Mesa may go when I can afford a Rift. 

I've been though about eight second hand guitars and ordered a custom built one that I'm keeping (although I'm sending it back to the maker for to changed the pickups and to add a Goldo trem).

Pedals wise, I've just been silly. Some of the ones have barely touched my board before I've traded them again. I think my hoard is pretty settled now (I Think I just completed it by buying a ThorpyFX Warthog on a whim this morning). 

First band rehearsal in ages next week, hopefully that'll focus me on making music, not buying gear. 

Hopefully. 

I’ve had an amp change as well, I sold my AC15 for a 65 Princeton, as I found it better for home use. I know where you’re coming from, though. It’s very easy to get into a seemingly endless gear cycle.

Also, I don’t want to encourage you, but I got a Warthog this year and it’s an absolute belter of a pedal, so my Rat 2 is back in the drawer 

Fortheloveofguitar

I don’t do pedals but I’ve spent a lot over lockdown on gear including:

Marshall 1959 head
Marshall 1987X head
PRS MT15 head
Soldano SLO head
PRS Chris Robertson SC245

I went a little bit crazy but it’s been a very depressing time and it’s kept me going. 

Only one I sold on was the 1959

Flanging_Fred

I only bought one pedal; a RaingerFX Drone Rainger.

 I haven’t used it much though because the drone seems to seriously piss off everyone in my house and I get told to shut up.  So There goes my dreams of world domination by trying to make my guitar sound like Bulgarian bagpipes 

BintyTwanger77

Flanging_Fred said:

I only bought one pedal; a RaingerFX Drone Rainger.

 I haven’t used it much though because the drone seems to seriously piss off everyone in my house and I get told to shut up.  So There goes my dreams of world domination by trying to make my guitar sound like Bulgarian bagpipes 

By the same token, I have to be very careful with the infinity hold function on the Eventide Rose. I can get some brilliant/grating/shut-up-will-you-shut-up drones with that.

Paul_C

Off the top of my head, I've bought:

Hedra
Polymoon
Ottobit Jr
Enzo
Mood
Blooper (since sold)
Stamme[n]
Rainbow Machine
Data Corrupter (sold)
Count To 5
856 For Zellersasn
Moment Machine
Fideleater
Tensor
Fabrikat
Judder
Possessed (sold)
Revolver
Phantom Operator
Bubble Tron
Tera Echo
Geiger Counter
Antichthon
Architect
Astrolab
Mod Rex
M3
Dusk (sold)
Downer
Zoia
Zoia

It's a good job things didn't get out of hand.

CountryDave

Bought a nice Blackstar Artisan 15 head. Not yet had chance to wind it up with the band, but that should be soon.
Couple of pedal Mooer Cruncher, Boss BC2. Again not been driven in anger yet.

A couple of guitars have come and some gone. 

Epiphone 335, in and out when I realised a short arse with a big bodied guitar doesn’t work (for me at least).

Squier CV tele. In and out for no other reason than I fancied something different and managed to trade it for one of a couple of Silver Series strats, played both strats for a couple of weeks and kept the one that felt best to me.

djspecialist

The past year has been pretty average for me in terms of gear:

Amps: sold 1 head + 1 load box; bought 1 combo
Net egress of a fair amount of cash.

Pedals: sold 4, bought 4 (plus a new PSU)
Net egress of a fair amount of cash. (Is there a trend here ... ?)

Guitars: sold 0, bought 0 (did buy a new pickup though), started building 1
Net ... well, you know.

What has been different is that, as I've mentioned on here before, for much of lockdown I pretty much lost interest in guitars. That might just have been one of those cyclical / temporary things, but the fact I could no longer play with the band was a part of it I think. So, I focussed for a while on learning to play the piano. I've only recently come back to the guitar - and much of the above has been during the last few months.

guitargeek62

I was pretty bad (by my more recent standards!) at the start of lockdown, but I’ve been good again the past six months or so.

Since March last year I’ve acquired:

- Eastman E10SS
- Squier Bullet Mustang (Comp. stripe)
- Zilla cab
- AMT Tube-Cake 3
- Greco LP Custom (~80s)

Which was slightly balanced out by committing to my Helix rig and selling a load of pedals, as well as clearing out loads of spare gear, and an ‘87 PRS Custom 24.