Gear Acquisition Syndrome is a form of OCD... call it Guitar Acquisition Syndrome if you will
but lots of people suffer from it. Some don't suffer! Some just roll in it. Roll with it Baby!
I suffer from it to a certain degree, so I'm sympathetic (also to a certain degree)...
Most of guitar forum patrons share this syndrome, or we wouldn't be here. We'd be out
playing our guitar. (note the singular).
And let's face it: there are lots of worse forms this OCD can take. People collect lots of things...
men and women both. People collect stamps, coins, sexual partners, pornography, antiques,
dolls, lamps, baskets, edged weapons, electric fans, classic cars, you name it. I've been through a number of different phases of it in my long and checkered life. When I was young, it was model ships. *grins I sank all of those. It was a rite of passage.
I went through a firearm phase, and assembled a decent (small) collection of excellent weapons.
I have NOT sold any of those for a long time, even though I should. You can only SHOOT one at a time, eh? Some of those guns are worth real money. I'll sell them presently, and use the cash
in my retirement, if any.
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...a little older and it was fishing lures. I still have a really nice collection of those. Fishing lures are really cool... like miniature works of art IMHO. I especially like wooden lures with glass eyes.
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Recently it's become guitars. I own 11 right now, and am NOT in the market for more.
That's always been a virtue for me, the feeling of fullness, "I think I've got enough..."
Sometimes it seems ridiculous to me that I own 11 instruments, but like RVA I get them out one
by one and remember each time why I wanted that one, and why it was a good choice.
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The cool thing about guitars as an object of OCD is that guitars can make music.
It's all about the music, really. That's one thing to remember.
Nothing is important except the music. If you collect instruments, but don't forget to make music, then the obsession is not too
pernicious. Don't forget to pay your bills, and buy something nice for you long suffering spouse,
and play real music on real instruments. Then it's worth it, and you can hold your head up.