Psychology behind collecting instruments

[Ralf1e]

4 hours ago, Beedster said:

Well let’s just get back on topic then shall we 👍

 

I had a girlfriend 20 years ago who’d spend Saturday shopping with her friends, often buying clothes she couldn’t afford, and Sunday on her taking those clothes back. It seemed a morally bankrupt way of doing things to me, pretending she had money she didn’t, but she was quite content about it saying she just liked the buzz of the buy but not the keep. Doesn’t seem so bad now? 

Had a sister did similar but didn't take them back. Just wore them a couple of times and left them in an unwashed pile to rot. Sorry she doesn't play bass or anything else. Hasn't got the patience to learn.

[Ralf1e]

4 hours ago, blisters on my fingers said:

We should all thank Mr TimR for once again succesfully ruining what was a fun thread.

 

Is this thread about the mildly amusing subject of the evils of bass guitar collection?

 

No it isn't.....Not any more .... and who changed that....

 

It has now become an argument about cars?

 

But that is what our friend does.... spoils stuff...because he can....because we let him...

 

 

I have owned Mercedes that originally cost 75 grand. Bought for 300 quid. Used for 3 years and sold back on.

I now own a Dacia logon. Bought new with servicing deal and gap insurance for under 11 grand. I can get a full acoustic drum kit and a largish bass stack plus lots of other stuff in the cavernous back and it sips fuel. It was bought for carrying that gear about. It does all I need and more. I don't miss the fancy luxury of the Mercedes. It drank fuel faster than I and my wife can drink beer.

I can now go around shopping for basses 20 or more at a time if I need to. 🤣 The cash converters post on here has had a strange effect on me. Never thought to look in there before can't think why. What a lovely way to use up some time.

[Machines]

3 hours ago, Ralf1e said:

The cash converters post on here has had a strange effect on me. Never thought to look in there before can't think why. What a lovely way to use up some time.

 

It's about out the only place left where you might get a real bargain as the staff there generally don't research things that well and collection only means a smaller market. This is especially anything produced pre-internet they can't easily find a price for. Exceptions to this are obvious well known brands (Fender etc) where their prices can be a little optimistic, but they always get discounted eventually.

[Ed_S]

Well I shifted most of the bits and pieces I intended to this week, but didn't get a good enough offer for my 4-string bitsa that was in storage at the studio, which is unfortunate given that I'd already bought its cheapo 5-string replacement. Said cheapo arrived in a humorously unplayable state, but I kinda bonded with it whilst sorting its many and varied problems and now find that it'd be a shame to just stick in the corner of a cold gear-store for occasional travel-light rehearsals. In fact, it's maybe even worth getting it some nicer tuners since they seem to be its weakest remaining link. Maybe a nicer bridge while I'm at it - just to get into 'free postage' territory, you know.

 

So I intended to sell one from storage and two from home, but I managed to sell 2 from home, bring 1 home that never lived here to begin with and gain 1 that wasn't supposed to live here but probably now does. But the money from selling the two (plus some unloved pre/amps and studio outboard) is now burning a hole through my head and there's a pimp-grade purple sparkle Ray35 that keeps crossing my mind. Maybe I'll break even, but it's looking like I might end up actually gaining one! Oh well...

[TimR]

9 hours ago, blisters on my fingers said:

We should all thank Mr TimR for once again succesfully ruining what was a fun thread.

 

Is this thread about the mildly amusing subject of the evils of bass guitar collection?

 

No it isn't.....Not any more .... and who changed that....

 

It has now become an argument about cars?

 

But that is what our friend does.... spoils stuff...because he can....because we let him...

 

 

I think it was Maude actually. Thanks. 

[SH73]

9 hours ago, blisters on my fingers said:

We should all thank Mr TimR for once again succesfully ruining what was a fun thread.

 

Is this thread about the mildly amusing subject of the evils of bass guitar collection?

 

No it isn't.....Not any more .... and who changed that....

 

It has now become an argument about cars?

 

But that is what our friend does.... spoils stuff...because he can....because we let him...

 

 

Actually @TimRand @Maude are making a point. Living proof, they say no picture never happened.

 

and it's a four stroke!

Edited December 17, 2022 by SH73
Added

[Maude]

38 minutes ago, TimR said:

I think it was Maude actually. Thanks. 

Yes I touched on my view that spending money on an appreciating collection makes more sense than spending it with on a depreciating car. Then you picked it up and ran with it to planet Tim. 

 

Let's just get back to bass collecting. 

[Woodinblack]

48 minutes ago, SH73 said:

and it's a four stroke!

 

GLWS - I would have bought it if it was a 5 stroke

 

[SH73]

10 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

GLWS - I would have bought it if it was a 5 stroke

 

I wouldn't, looks like an old slapper..

[Ralf1e]

4 minutes ago, SH73 said:

I wouldn't, looks like an old slapper..

Neither would I it hasn't even got a 6-1 transfer box and oversize off road tyres 😂

[tauzero]

17 hours ago, TimR said:

 

A car is a tool. As its worth depreciates, the money you have made from using it increases. I'd hazard a guess that someone buying a £30k car new, is earning far more than £30k a year. 

 

So after 1 year, the car has paid for itself. 

 

£30k worth of basses, I think most people here would struggle to earn £3k a year from using a bass guitar. 

 

I bought my car second-hand for £6k. The only times I have made money from using it have been when I was carrying a bass in it. It isn't used to earn my salary (which is more than £6k a year). Your logic is seriously faulty. But I'm not going to embark on a TimR argument, it's like nailing jelly to the ceiling.

[tauzero]

Anyroadup, I suspect that the psychology behind collecting instruments is a variant of kleptomania and compulsive buying disorder, where there's a compulsion to expand the collection but it remains within the bounds of honesty.

 

But are you a hoarder or a collector? We have one room that's unusable, but that's because we're waiting for a chance to clear it out (and it's not due to the basses, and only partly because of motorcycle gear), so I am apparently a collector:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dirty-secret/201012/what-is-the-difference-between-compulsive-hoarding-and-collecting

[Ralf1e]

1 minute ago, tauzero said:

Anyroadup, I suspect that the psychology behind collecting instruments is a variant of kleptomania and compulsive buying disorder, where there's a compulsion to expand the collection but it remains within the bounds of honesty.

 

But are you a hoarder or a collector? We have one room that's unusable, but that's because we're waiting for a chance to clear it out (and it's not due to the basses, and only partly because of motorcycle gear), so I am apparently a collector:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dirty-secret/201012/what-is-the-difference-between-compulsive-hoarding-and-collecting

I am a hoarder. Beer in my tummy. It keeps escaping somehow. What shall I do?

[tauzero]

17 minutes ago, Ralf1e said:

I am a hoarder. Beer in my tummy. It keeps escaping somehow. What shall I do?

 

Replace it at the earliest opportunity. Unless, of course, a room in your house has become unusable due to it, in which case you may need the services of a plumber.

[Grimalkin]

Keep it simple. I started my collection of tin foil milk bottle tops during the lock-downs. They each feature the beak indentations of various birds attempting to access the cream atop of the milk. My favourite one was made by a blackbird, as I actually witnessed him attempting it.

[Dan Dare]

17 hours ago, TimR said:

 

 

Yes. But not £30k a year. As you say £3k a year is £60 a week, every week. And that's just for £3k worth of basses.

 

I don't have to fund my musical purchases out of gig earnings. Nor do many others. I can afford to indulge myself in toys - instruments, fishing tackle, hobby stuff, etc - if I wish. I don't do so very often. I have a few (less than a dozen) nice instruments (of all kinds, not just basses) and decent backline, PA, etc. They don't need to pay for themselves, although most probably will have, if I add it all up.

 

£60 a week, every week, is pretty small beer. I was making several times that a week, every week, from playing back in the 1980s and it was only a side-line from the day job.

[TimR]

1 minute ago, Dan Dare said:

 

I don't have to fund my musical purchases out of gig earnings. Nor do many others. I can afford to indulge myself in toys - instruments, fishing tackle, hobby stuff, etc - if I wish. I don't do so very often. I have a few (less than a dozen) nice instruments (of all kinds, not just basses) and decent backline, PA, etc. They don't need to pay for themselves, although most probably will have, if I add it all up.

 

£60 a week, every week, is pretty small beer. I was making several times that a week, every week, from playing back in the 1980s and it was only a side-line from the day job.

 

I'm pretty sure most people have missed my point.

 

It doesn't matter whether you spend your money on cars or basses. They're simply tools. If you spend more on your tool than you earn from using it, then you are purchasing with your heart, not your head. 

 

Then a load of people comment and prove my point exactly. We are talking about the psychology of collecting/hoarding. I don't see how any of that was off topic. 

 

The £30k car/£3k of basses was purely an arbitrary value that I thought would be common and a good illustration. 

 

Anyway, as you were, it wasn't intended to be a point of argument.

[Dan Dare]

4 minutes ago, TimR said:

If you spend more on your tool than you earn from using it, then you are purchasing with your heart, not your head. 

 

Then a load of people comment and prove my point exactly. We are talking about the psychology of collecting/hoarding.

 

Isn't using ones heart as opposed to ones head down to psychology? It isn't either/or or one or the other in reality.

 

Case in point. I bought a used (abused, actually - it was a bit of a mess, but I fixed it up) 1972 Jazz bass back in the late 1970s for £250. Cheap by today's standards, but the going rate back then. At the time, my motivation for buying it was primarily because I had always wanted a nice J bass. However, it has gone on to earn me quite a lot of money and is now worth many times what I paid for it. Win win.

 

As far as tools are concerned, one usually doesn't recoup the cost of purchase of quality equipment in the space of a year. Ask any tradesman. The sensible ones buy quality tools, which last and enable them to work efficiently and earn more in the long run. The taxman allows them to write off the cost of purchase over a number of years, helping to make it economic.

 

Scale that up and it's exactly what most businesses do. A company that invests £millions in CNC machinery won't expect it to pay for itself in the space of a year. However, during its lifetime, it will pay for itself and then some.

 

 

[SH73]

I noticed the word hoarding came up, well I can comfortably walk in my room between drums amos and guitars. As long as I don't have to walk sideways (unless of course you're wider from back to belly than side to side) but it's not hoarding.

[mcnach]

5 hours ago, SH73 said:

I noticed the word hoarding came up, well I can comfortably walk in my room between drums amos and guitars. As long as I don't have to walk sideways (unless of course you're wider from back to belly than side to side) but it's not hoarding.

 

It's not hoarding if you remember their names and their favourite strings. 

[Ralf1e]

11 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

 

Isn't using ones heart as opposed to ones head down to psychology? It isn't either/or or one or the other in reality.

 

Case in point. I bought a used (abused, actually - it was a bit of a mess, but I fixed it up) 1972 Jazz bass back in the late 1970s for £250. Cheap by today's standards, but the going rate back then. At the time, my motivation for buying it was primarily because I had always wanted a nice J bass. However, it has gone on to earn me quite a lot of money and is now worth many times what I paid for it. Win win.

 

As far as tools are concerned, one usually doesn't recoup the cost of purchase of quality equipment in the space of a year. Ask any tradesman. The sensible ones buy quality tools, which last and enable them to work efficiently and earn more in the long run. The taxman allows them to write off the cost of purchase over a number of years, helping to make it economic.

 

Scale that up and it's exactly what most businesses do. A company that invests £millions in CNC machinery won't expect it to pay for itself in the space of a year. However, during its lifetime, it will pay for itself and then some.

 

 

Now your spoiling it by talking reasonable commonn sense. You don't expect people to believe the obvious truth do you? 🤫

[Sparky Mark]

I have a slight issue with the thread title as I have never "collected" basses, however over the past 40 years I have "accumulated" around 25 of them. I have intentionally set out to collect other things such as watches, stamps, books for example, but for me there is a (psychological) difference.

 

Brilliant (confessional) thread BTW.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Sparky Mark

[SH73]

32 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

I have a slight issue with the thread title as I have never "collected" basses, however over the past 40 years I have "accumulated" around 25 of them. I have intentionally set out to collect other things such as watches, stamps, books for example, but for me there is a (psychological) difference.

 

Brilliant (confessional) thread BTW.

If you think the title is offensive, it can be easily changed to Confession of/to collecting instruments. There was no harm intended in the title, purely the reason of collection. Why buy an instrument if it sits collecting dust, or it's hard case collecting dust...

[Sparky Mark]

6 minutes ago, SH73 said:

If you think the title is offensive, it can be easily changed to Confession of/to collecting instruments. There was no harm intended in the title, purely the reason of collection. Why buy an instrument if it sits collecting dust, or it's hard case collecting dust...

No, absolutely not a problem at all. I have called my basses a collection myself, but reading through the thread this subtle difference has occurred to me. 

 

I think a lot of us have become "collectors" by accident.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Sparky Mark

[SH73]

13 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

No, absolutely not a problem at all. I have called my basses a collection myself, but reading through the thread this subtle difference has occurred to me. 

 

I think a lot of us have become "collectors" by accident.

I can't see becoming a collector by accident. I thinks it's more of an obsession. Obsession is controlled by mind which leads to psychology. In a positive manner as some instruments retain value, especially with a rising cost of material and manufacturing. You buy a new car and the moment you drive it away from the retailer you're losing money. ( I'm sure you know this, and don't mean to teach you how to suck eggs). But by a new Fodera ( I don't know anything about them but saw this make frequently popping up on BC) and you can still sell it. The same goes for an aged Fender? I presume that even with inflation rate your profit margin sky rocket.

 

Is the psychology of collecting instruments an obsession? Yes, there that euphoric feeling when completing an online order or collecting in person. That unexplained excitement tracking the items movement by courier, unwrapping and even thinking what is the tune I will play first...

 

Are you a particular artist fan, absolutely, I've got to get the new signature model. E.g. things may sometimes get difficult here, I grew up and still fan of Iron Maiden, but don't have Mr McBrains SIT drum kit. It would take up the whole room.

 

Peer pressure, are you influenced by BC members, is there a competition of getting the better and more than others. This behaviour can be often observed in neighborhood. Sacha Baron Cohen demonstrates this in Borat movie, " this is my new neighbour......."

 

Investment, or something you wanted as a youngster but now you are financially able to fulfil your dreams. 

I think , psychology behind collecting instruments is infinite , but what are the limits?