Is having too much gear bad?

[BioDriver]

Better to have it and not need it then to need it but not have it. Just don't bring EVERYTHING to every gig

 

[EatS1stBassist]

I was listening to a Rick Beato video on how much gear you actually need, the cost and use of it, etc. It got me thinking on how people (at least in the US) spend their money.

I don’t understand why having $20,000 worth of musical gear has a stigma that you have to justify but having a sports car, an unnecessarily large house, motorcycles or any other hobby seems to not turn any heads.

I drive a 2004 Honda that is reliable because I just want my car to work well and take me from A to B. I put all my “fun” money into gear because I love playing, owning and sharing the experience of music even if I wasn’t gigging regularly.

Why is there a stigma around music gear, even among pros, when it seems people spend money in many other things that fall in the same category?

It’s simply none of their business!

 

[Chicken Wing]

Depends on what your priorities are. I am trying to focus more on making music and enjoying playing vs the dopamine rush of gear searching. Two basses for me at this point in time.

 

[drumvsbass]

"Is having too much gear bad?"
This sounds like a question that a socialist/communist would wax poetically about.
Who the F cares how much gear someone has, the question should be "can they play?"

Because ability warrants excess? I don't know about you but I can only play one at a time.

I guess that's why Manring has 4...

 

[yberwaffe]

There is no such thing as "too many pedals".
People who say that is just envious.

 

[Tosh]

Certainly it's possible for some people to have too much gear. To those people, I say - cast off your burden, let me ease your suffering, and dump that gear on my doorstep (or I will arrange for a UPS pickup)

 

[Ryno1330]

This or, in my experience, the options paralysis that can come from having too many pieces of gear to choose from. I used to spend more time going from bass to bass instead of actually practicing.

This is my issue exactly!

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I was listening to a Rick Beato video on how much gear you actually need, the cost and use of it, etc. It got me thinking on how people (at least in the US) spend their money.

I don’t understand why having $20,000 worth of musical gear has a stigma that you have to justify but having a sports car, an unnecessarily large house, motorcycles or any other hobby seems to not turn any heads.

I drive a 2004 Honda that is reliable because I just want my car to work well and take me from A to B. I put all my “fun” money into gear because I love playing, owning and sharing the experience of music even if I wasn’t gigging regularly.

Why is there a stigma around music gear, even among pros, when it seems people spend money in many other things that fall in the same category?

I have a small sauna room in my house/apartment. We live downstairs and our landlady lives upstairs in this house. It was a working sauna for many years but when we moved in, it was just used for storage. We live in a really small space, so I put my fishing gear and my musical gear in there. Now it's pretty darn full, primarily with stuff I don't use anymore. I can still open the door without things falling on me, but I really need to clear some of that stuff out...

 

[MustangWally]

By definition, "too much"

Now hold it right there - how can anyone possibly have too much bass gear? C'mon, that is just not possible!

Maybe the problem is just that you need a bigger house/shed/barn!

 

[MustangWally]

I think comparing musical gear to a real world necessity like transportation or housing doesn’t really help to answer the question.

"I think that comparing a real world necessity like musical gear to optional things like transportation or housing doesn’t really help to answer the question." There, fixed it for you.

 

[MustangWally]

crotchety old men who think anything that isn’t a Fender or Ampeg is too modern.

Hey, I resemble that remark!

 

[mattj1stc]

For me, having a lot of excess gear became a problem. Fortunately, it wasn't a financial or relationship problem. Instead, it was more that I had been on the other side of the spectrum. Back when I started, I was a kid with no money, I had very little gear and it was all crappy. I would have appreciated just having one nice thing. When I was older and got back into playing, I had a lot of disposable income and I indulged myself without any issues. What ultimately got to me was that I had this collection of gear that could satisfy just about any musical occasion that might arise, but in reality, I tended to use a very small subset of my collection when actually playing out. I started to think that my #11 bass would be better in someone else's hands where it would be their #1. Of course, I sold off most of my stuff on TB, so my #11 probably became someone else's #23, but still, my intentions were good and I'm happy just having the gear I have now.

 

[Hummergeist]

Truthfully, the gear itself is neither good or bad.

 

[LYNCHMAN]

All this crazy talk about gear and GAS is just horrible...it's my money , my gear , my house and my world. hell it's even in the constitution, right there...the pursuit of happiness...so there, take that!

 

[Kelly robinson]

There’s a very fine between obsessive consumerism - legitimate collecting and gluttony . How you parse the distinction regarding your own behavior is up to you . .... Kelly

 

[The Bass Clef]

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does buy basses, and that’s pretty much the same thing.

 

[Hurricane Jimmie]

So Anyway, if you enjoy it and it doesn't create hardship then owning gear is not a bad thing.
A lot of us have gone through, or are still in, a 'collecting' phase.
Many of our non-musician friends/family don't see it that way. Before I started rightsizing a few years ago, I took a lot of good-natured kidding about all the gear in my music room.

 

[Hort Elvison]

I was listening to a Rick Beato video on how much gear you actually need, the cost and use of it, etc. It got me thinking on how people (at least in the US) spend their money.

I don’t understand why having $20,000 worth of musical gear has a stigma that you have to justify but having a sports car, an unnecessarily large house, motorcycles or any other hobby seems to not turn any heads.

$20k? Amateur! What do you have, a starter kit? More like $120k! ;-)

 

[casualmadness]

This or, in my experience, the options paralysis that can come from having too many pieces of gear to choose from. I used to spend more time going from bass to bass instead of actually practicing.

I used to be in a band with a guitar player like that. He would bring like 5-6 guitars to rehearsal and prior to each song he would agonize over which guitar to play for each song. Don't even get me started on his attitude toward his pedal board.

 

[Hort Elvison]

I used to be in a band with a guitar player like that. He would bring like 5-6 guitars to rehearsal and prior to each song he would agonize over which guitar to play for each song. Don't even get me started on his attitude toward his pedal board.

I think I played in that band. ;-)