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How much does your 'significant other' affect your gear choices?

rllefebv

rllefebv

Oct 17, 2000
3,383
2,129
Newberg, Oregon
#1
First off, let me state that I have been married to the same gal for going on 22 years and this is by no means a 'rant thread'... More of a discussion on if/how an SO can affect a gear choice...

Since February of 2007, I had placed a self-imposed moratorium on bass purchases... I have enough, nothing is going to suddenly give me that sound any better than the stuff that I have, etc... Trading is okay, since I'm not increasing the count of axes, but swapping one-for-one. Traded my Geddy for a Palatino for example...

Recently, two things have happened where my wife directly influenced a choice... First, while browsing TB, I came across ibanezcollectors' Shell Pink P for sale... I lusted after it, but from afar as I'm not buying new basses. Enter the wife. Her comment was roughly like "Go ahead and buy it. If you're going to play that onstage, it's not a bass but more a statement of manhood"... SOLD!!

Next up is my Fender Jaguar... Great bass, I've got it shielded and nicely setup, plays like a good bass should. Zero complaints... It's just that it's not getting stage time in either band I'm playing with, and I don't see that changing. When I was playing in church regularly it was in steady rotation, but now it's in its' case most of the time...

I've found an ABG here that I thought would fit nicely with a new project I'm thinking of hooking up with, and brashly offered the Jag as trade-bait. My wife jumped in and reminded me of three things about the Jag; First, "It's Pretty", ( :cool: )... Second, it is a great player that records exceptionally well... Third, I briefly considered an ABG about the time I was buying my Jag and '51 RI and considered the ABG a niche instrument that would get little playing time. She reminded me of just how much I wanted the Jaguar at the time and stated that I'll probably regret offing it. She pretty much has me convinced...

My wife knows me very well, and definitely lets me go my own way, but her arguments on both choices have been pretty insightful... Scary!

So... how much does your 'significant other' affect your gear choices?

-robert
 
#4
I have been married for 12 years to a wonderful woman who has been the only one to ever go ahead and nourish my musical abilities. She would by me gear for Christmas and birthdays when we were first together. Now, after three sons and a mortgage payment her influences have been more like, "No way, you have too much stuff."

I do trade off gear for newer stuff and the new gear I do buy like pedals, I kind of let slip by. She is the type of person that would notice a new bass but not a new OD pedal.

On the other hand she has influenced me more on the kind of gigs I get and the music I produce rather than gear choices.

BTW, when she sees me window shopping on TB and the Bay I get a "Oh not again" look.
 
#7
My wife plays a huge role in my bass buying habits. First and most importantly, she handles all of our financial stuff and she knows when a certain time period is good for discretionary cash spending and when it isn't. So when she says "Cool ... cash is available" then I start to consider whether I NEED the bass or not ... :)

Then she also kicks in great advice once I have the bass and have played it on gigs. For a non-musician she has amazingly good musical ears, she really can hear the bass well and lets me know if it's got a good presence & good tone. If the tone is muddy or doesn't cut through, she lets me know that, too.

She is a big part of my bass ownership success and I really believe that I have ended up with so many cool basses in large part due to her ..... she's really is very hip ..... :cool:
 
#8
My wife (now ex) was always supportive of my buying habits. I tend to be one of those that doesnt like spending money, I'll get real excited about something i want and go on and on about how I want it, and then when the time comes I decide to hold off. So in my time with here (~2 years) I havent bought any basses, though she did really want me to get my new jazz bass.
Through our time together she has helped my purchase a few pedals, and she was supportive over everything I did with my music, aside from playing with females that is.
 
#9
My wife definitely is the voice of reason. When I want something she will ask the questions like "What makes this bass different than the other ones you have", if I can come up with reasonable answers, I usually can go ahead and make the purchase.

Of course, I usually let he go wild in the Coach store to help balance things out :).

Later
Rob
 
#10
My wife doesn't care much about my bass gear, with one exception. I had an Orange AD200B that I wanted to sell because it was a living room luxury. She told me not to sell it because "it sounds like you, and besides, you're going to end up buying one again". I sold it, missed it, bought another one used for about what I got for the original. I can't see letting go of this one. Smart woman :-)
 
#11
My wife influences the gear I acqure to an extent. We share all finances, so I would never make a major purchase without consulting her, and visa versa. It hasn't been a bad thing at all. It was her idea to get me a bass for our 1st anniversary (55-01). However that does make the 55-01 a keeper.

Also, she can be a great influence toward jumping at opportunities. When I found the Ibanez artcore on clearance she commented on how pretty it was and sounded and pronounced that I should buy it!
 
#13
My wife saw me sell the majority of my equipment after a layoff...Since then Ive acquired more and better gear, which she WILL NOT allow me to sell...She dislikes me selling instruments more than buying them.Last year she heard me talking about Seagull acoustic guitars, so she went out on her own and got me one for my birthday...this year she heard me lusting over a fretless bass...Guess what I got for my birthday this year? Shes a keeper.
 
#15
My girlfriend is great about the whole gear thing. She plays a little guitar, and has a good ear for what basses she likes and doesn't like. She goes with me to shops, suggests I spend the day by myself going to shops, and has even told me I needed to have a bass buying day as I was in a playing slump. I currently have four basses and a guitar up for sale here and on CL and she's been pretty against it. She's probably more of a supporter of my GAS than I am. :smug:
 
#16
Fortunately I have the gear I need to do what I need for the forseable future. I have reined myself in over the last couple years.

My wife is big ith the you get to own it twice. I have cycled through gear enough where I've tried things 2-3 times.
 
#18
My wife of 14 years doesn't have much influence. Yes, she thinks I have too many basses, guitars, etc., but she's very patient and never tries to block a purchase. She became impatient with my 4x10 and 1x15 speaker cabinets due to space constraints in our townhouse, but I was fed up with the large cabs too, so I was happy to scale back to a couple of 1x12's.
 
#19
I've been married for over 8.5 years now and my wife has been very supportive of my musical activities from the first day. In fact, she was enouraging me to get in a band from the moment we got married and came to every show I ever did until our first child was born a few years back. She has gone so far as giving me some of her money from bonuses she has gotten at work or her personal stash to help me buy a bass if its a really good deal or something I really want. I don't make any purchases without speaking to her first, and I never would, but she is always cool with any purchase I make as long as we can afford it.

Now, she doesn't really know anything about bass gear and when I try to be specific about why a certain bass or amp is so good, she'll get that deer-in-the-headlights, I don't know what you're talking about and I don't really care look in her eyes. So, she doesn't really have much influence on what I purchase other than being supportive and keeping me in line financially in the rare case when it is needed.
 
#20
My wife is incredibly supportive of my bass playing and understands the difference from the tone of the whine in my voice of when I want something or when I need something. I always get a no on things that I want but don't need. I always get a yes on things that I need. She recently bought me a vampyre NT ltd. 5 for my return from deployment present. She also bought me a Titan V12 and gave me the go ahead to order new neo cabs from avatar. What is really really cool is that she completley dislikes the kind of music that I play but still supports my playing and listens to it and provides me with constructive criticism. I <3 my wifeh. :bassist:
 

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