My Black Friday For Once Doesn’t Include Guitar Shopping

Photo by Susan Mohr on Unsplash

It’s kind of funny, but for the first time in a long time, I don’t have GAS.

That’s guitar acquisition syndrome, for the uninitiated.

For years, my standard M.O. has been to become fixated on some guitar or piece of gear I don’t already own, convince myself why I need it, and then hunt until I find a deal.

As part of this, Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) would have entailed scrolling through Sweetwater’s and Guitar Center’s websites looking to see if there were any deals too good to pass up.

But that didn’t happen today.

I didn’t consciously plan it, but I just don’t feel the need to even think about buying a new guitar. And I think this is true for a couple of reasons:

1. I don’t have the space. I live in a 2,100-sf. house with three other people. Even without trying, we have so much stuff. It’s to the point where I don’t even want to purchase a physical book when the Kindle version is available because I don’t want to deal with the hassle of where to put it. So bringing another guitar and — God forbid — a case into my house? No thank you.
2. I have one of everything. At this point, I basically live in a guitar store. I have a PRS, a Strat copy, an SG, a semi-hollow, a Danelectro, and two acoustics. I can literally play a different guitar every day of the week. And I’ve bought, sold, and traded to the point where I genuinely enjoy every guitar I own. I certainly don’t need another guitar, but I kind of don’t even want one.
3. I’ve learned more about finances. This is a bit tangential, but over the last two years I’ve spent a lot of time working on my financial literacy. Quite frankly, I’d rather take my guitar money and find a way to invest it and have it work for me than buy a $500 guitar and sell it for $450 down the line.

All this is not to say that I’ll never buy another guitar again (because I’m sure I will), but just that I’m genuinely content at the moment.

This is a bit of a new feeling for me, so I’d be interested to hear your perspective. When do you decide to add to your collection? When do you feel enough is enough for you? Or is the urge for “just one more guitar” always there, lurking in your mind? Let us know in the comments.