When does a player become a collector

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 9:58 pm

I was wondering about your thoughts on this. I am a pro musician with 6 Rics (no others, as I commented elsewhere, Rics are more adaptable than most think & I don't feel the need to consider the F or G word!) & can justify owning all of them from the standpoint of being a musician. I am sure you are not interested in what I have & my justification, however, I am considering my next Ric purchase & can find no real justification for buying it! Does there have to be a reason? Am I about to cross over from player to collector? Why do I have this lust for Rickenbacker? Is there treatment (if there is, I don't want it)? A lot of unanswered questions.

On a serious note though, I would really be interested in knowing how some of you chaps started your collections & why.

jps · Post by **jps** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 3:01 am

"Am I about to cross over from player to collector"

It depends on how old you are. I think 50 is the standard for becoming a collector vs. a player, because that is when AARP comes after you!

spencer · Post by **spencer** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 4:58 am

It also depends on how much you play them.

squid · Post by **squid** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 5:19 am

Why can't you be both? John Entwistle was a great musician and a great collector. I figure I'm a bit of both, too, although I'm probably a better collector than a musician!

My collection grew because I needed other guitars to achieve certain sounds that I wanted. I haven't found a guitar that can do it all yet. When I do, I'll purge.

And maybe that's the big difference between players and collectors: players get rid of guitars that they have outgrown or don't use. Collectors hang on to them no matter what.

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 5:53 am

I'm not quite old enough to qualify for Jeffreys age thing & being a pro musician, I do play them all a great deal. So perhaps it is with this next Ric. that I cross over? Spencer & John have made a very relevant point for me though....I know that if I don't use a guitar, I will start feeling awkward about it, no matter how beautiful or desirable, so perhaps I am further from 'crossing the line' than I think!

iamthebassman · Post by **iamthebassman** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:23 am

I average about 10 gigs a month, so I'm a player, I have several basses but I'm not a collector.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 3:24 pm

Because I'm mainly a rhythm guitarist and only a hack bass player, this constitutes a collection:

And remember, those are only the Rickenbacker basses! There are also the Hofner 500/1 Ltd. Ed. Blueburst, the one-of-a kind custom BC Rich "Bat Bass", the Vox Cougar, and the Bunker ProStar basses!

philco · Post by **philco** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 3:01 pm

If I follow the same line of reasoning with musical instruments that I do with my favorite audiophile gear, then I only have three musical instruments I would want to hang onto as long as I can hang on: Rickenbacker 650D, Spector ReBop, Tacoma C1C Chief. They all have killer sound and delightful character. More expensive instruments have been sold off with no remorse, but these three would be missed if they left even for more than I gave for them.

If you are buying instruments you have an intense musical and emotional attraction to, then you are a player. Doesn't really matter how many you own, the question is HOW MUCH do I LOVE this instrument. If they really move you then you are not buying them for collector purposes, in my view.

If you buy instruments just to have a lot of different instruments around to mess around with or to complete a series or as an investment or to outfit a recording studio just for the versatility, then you are a collector.

I have three "collector" instruments, but they are meant for fun and messing around with. One is up for sale. I could replace them with something different and feel no loss. I feel just the opposite of John Pollard. I will add to or sell from my "collection", but cherish my player instruments and hang on to them no matter what. I guess the normal flow of instruments is into the collection first, and then into the musical harem if they move me. Everything in the collection eventually leaves if it doesn't make it into the musical harem.

qmoder · Post by **qmoder** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 4:35 pm

I only have one Ric a 360. But I have five other guitars and two basses. So I suspose its a collection now. I have lots of Fender amps and several old Kustoms. I suspose they are collections now too.
But I can see me getting some other guitars and amps I would to have. Would I use them? Yes.
It sounds like your situation is like mine. We did'nt intend to wind up with collections it just wound up that way and we still love them and play them.

aristeas · Post by **aristeas** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 10:26 pm

Perhaps it's when you spend more time talking about guitars than you do playing them. Or maybe it's when you post answers to abstruse questions on guitar forums when you could be ... oh dear.

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 2:40 am

Nice one Lee....

longhouse · Post by **longhouse** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 7:34 am

Player versus collector?

I suppose I've come to believe that unless you have a very rare, fragile, or heirloom instument as a collector's piece, that guitars/basses are for PLAYING, not for collecting. I own three Rics (360V64 JG, 1997SPC/VB FG, and 330/VB MG [w'gold plastic and oven knobs]). I've owned three others. As they got dusty, they got sold. Regret follows parting with a Ric ('specially my beautiful 650A/VT and 340 DG), but they are made to be played, not displayed. Like Phil, I have a few instruments which I intend to keep ad infinitum: my 360 and 1997, my Dano Longhorns (bass and mando-guitar), my Tacoma C1C Chief (perfect!), and possibly my Gibson J100. I recently dropped my Epi Dot on Ebay in order to get a Fender Aerodyne Telecaster (I've sold every Fender I've ever owned too! -maybe the Aerodyne will break the spell). So you have a $2000 guitar... Take it out and play the HELL out of it. That's what it's for. Isn't there a poem from the Romantic period about 'the instrument unplayed'?

Rics are like Audrey Hepburn (if you're a man). Anyone can admire them from afar. But as a Ric owner, you get to cross all lines and commune in every possible way with her/it. Let the rest be envious. Take it out of the case and carress it.

Cheers, Noel

beefandbones · Post by **beefandbones** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 8:52 am

Whether you're a collector or not depends a little on your attitude. Are you buying that Desert Gold 620 because you already have a matching 330, 360/12, and 4003? Did you buy that 360F because they're rare and increasing in price, or because you like to play it?

Once, I sold all my electrics (including, sadly, my 1967 456/12) and bought what I thought would be my dream guitar, a vintage Gibson ES-335. But then a funny thing happened. Every time I picked it up I'd just see the dollar signs. If I took it out to a show, I wouldn't let it out of my sight. I wouldn't let anyone else play it, and I even snapped at my girlfriend when she tried to move the case! It got to be more of a burden than anything else. When I sold it, it made a someone else very happy and I bought my mapleglo 330 (and some other stuff) and now I'm happy too.

I think if you hesitate to play one of your instruments out of concern for its 'value,' you're a collector. But of course all that's relative - the guy who bought my ES-335 was wealthier than me, and my old vintage ES-335 became his gigging guitar!

emswife · Post by **emswife** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 1:52 am

When do you become a collector? When you quit playing them and they just start "collecting" dust.