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How much did it really cost?

#64
since my husband and i share the same hobbies - although he's the guitar player in the family - there'd be no point in lying. we read the same catalogs, and often buy things while we're together. and i find him his best deals - got a $249 pedal the other day for $100. if he bought it on his own, it would have been $249, so he's happy when i find him stuff like that.
 
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#65
I'll just echo what every else here has said and just say don't lie to the wife.

1. She'll know
2. She'll know
3. She'll know

They always know. Take your beating like a man!

And next time, some advice: sell her on it. If she's really saying no, you might want to listen to WHY she's saying no as she may have a really good point. If not, she bought into it and no further beatings need occur!

Brief story: back in 1990 I wanted to upgrade the bass rig. Talked it over with my girlfriend who I was living with at the time. She said "I want to hear the choices". So I took her down to the music store I was working at, couple of hours before we opened, and I tried every single amp in the store for her that came even remotely close to what I was looking for. Then she said, pointing at the SWR, "what about that one?" I said, "honey, there's no way, it's awesome but it's too expensive." She made me play it. She stopped me after only about thirty seconds and said "don't waste your money with this other stuff, buy that one." "Really?" "Oh yeah. You won't have to buy another one ever again." She was dead on right about that.

We didn't make it long term, but we still get along and I STILL have that amp and gigged it as recently as six months ago, and it will be going into the studio with me next month. I finally bought a new micro head/neo cab rig this year, because it's getting too hard to lift the old cab. The 220/Goliath rig still is the best sounding amp I own.
 
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#68
winterburn69 said:
Speaking from experience, if she asks, tell her the truth. But I'm not great at lying to significant others.

However; if she doesn't notice, no need to tell her, right?
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I was thinking of taking the advice of leaving it out in plain sight for a day or two, if she asks, I will tell her, if not I had it forever. With a flippant post like this one, I would not be so irresponsible to get myself in debt over this, I was just curious if other TB members fib a little about the cost of some of their gear, maybe a little embellishment?
 
#69
ThatGingerMojo said:
Just bought a Beat Buddy, with the additional foot switch. Came to over $500 Canadian. How much do I tell the wife it really cost?

Have you guys ever done this? Exaggerated the cost of a piece of gear to save the tongue lashing that will ensue? By how much?
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Nope, she is involved in all of my purchases, she takes care of the finances. She knows it is for the business so it all works. And she most love me considering she has put the stamp of approval on Bass #13 :)
 
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#70
Hey honey, guess what!. I won a contest on Talkbass for a free Beatbuddy!.... Cool right?!...course I've gotta pay shipping. How much is shipping?.... Uhhh ....about 500$ Canadian. I know, crazy right?.... I have no idea why it's shipping from Antarctica . ..... Tax shelter I guess... Well I have to accept it hon. It's a major award!
 
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#71
I had a funny, sort of related incident. I'm not smart enough to have planned this but it worked out in my favor.
For months I have been looking at all the Fender Custom Shop basses. We have a computer on the kitchen table (story for another time) and I've been sort of fascinated with early 60's CS basses. Apparently my wife has noticed the $4Kish prices of all the basses. I have a super nice G&L and am not really interested in owning a CS bass. I just think they look cool and it would be kind of neat to have a reproduction of a bass made in my birth year (1962).
The other day I said I wanted to buy a new bass and she gave me that "seriously??" look. She asked which one and how much. I said the new blue Jack Casady, $800 shipped with hardcase. She goes "Oh, that's not too bad". She knows I'm a huge Jack Casady fan. I'm really glad I spent all that time on the CS website and not the Squier site...
 
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#72
If she asks, I tell her. She never asks what anything costs, though. Just what it is. She gives me funny looks but doesn't say anything about money. It's more of a "what are you doing with all this stuff and why do you need another one, you packrat!" look. I never ask what anything she wants to do or buy costs.
 
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#74
JRA said:
twain also wrote a short story "was it heaven? or hell?" in which he makes an argument for lying to loved ones!
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Ha! I read that story a couple of weeks ago. Love me some Twain. Point was, you don't tell somebody something they can't handle just so you can pat yourself on the back for your own morality and for always telling the truth. So, extrapolating to this case, if you're pretty sure she won't be able to handle the price you paid for the gear, then you probably shouldn't tell her!

Disclaimer: ;)
 
#76
burl0029 said:
There's a guy on the radio that has come up with a couple of rules to address these situations. The first is 48 hour rule. You leave the new thing out in plain sight for all to see (preferably near your other gear so it's less likely to be spotted) and if she calls you on it in the first 48 hours you have to fess up. After that time you have the right to say "that old thing? I've had that forever."
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I admit to having done exactly this on one occasion. But-- I never lied about it!

I bought a bass, and played it at gigs, little by little it was around the house, being in plain view, then me playing it around the house... one day, after about a year, she actually looks at the bass (normally bass gear makes her eyes glaze over so she doesn't actually see it), and says "is that new"? And I truthfully replied "no, I've had this a long time."
 
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#77
This morning my wife picked up a guitar amp for me because the Craigslist seller happened to live near my son's school that she drives to almost everyday. She did the deal, loaded it into the car, lugged it into the house, plugged a guitar into it and called me at work and put me on speaker phone so that I could hear how it sounds.

She's an amazing woman.
 
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#80
ThatGingerMojo said:
I was thinking of taking the advice of leaving it out in plain sight for a day or two, if she asks, I will tell her, if not I had it forever. With a flippant post like this one, I would not be so irresponsible to get myself in debt over this, I was just curious if other TB members fib a little about the cost of some of their gear, maybe a little embellishment?
Click to expand...

i think you'd be fine, and you could survive, any path/advice suggested here. your curiosity about what others might do (or, have done) has yielded some pretty interesting stuff, however! i like the funny stuff. and the 'coincidental' stuff. the light stuff. all fun!

i would purposely stay clear of the two dimensional 'moralizations' of others: when someone 'preaches' to someone they don't really know, about morality no less, it's a sure sign they're lying to themselves. you can't trust the advice whether you take it or not.

congrats on your new gear! for the price you paid, you can always say, "at least i didn't steal it!"
 
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