old age has cured my Gas, Mas, and bass

[rgregg48]

now I'm 72 years old and have been playing guitar,banjo, and mandolin for 58 years.
I've had years of searching for new instruments
Looking for better, different, bargain etc.
I've had many instruments over the year
But when 70 hit, so did a satisfactions with what i own now
With no new temptation.
Either nothing sounds that much better than what I have
Or the instruments that would tempt me are the
What the custom shop boys put up in the classifieds.,
For 18K +...(maybe in the next life.)
When I told my youngest son i would not pursue anything
In the way of new instruments or the desire to make changes
He said " oh yeah, sure dad, I'll believe that when I see it"
Now he knows I was serious.
There's both sadness and freedom in that.
Ok , rant over

[Fred]

I hear you...71 here. Done buying, starting to sell. I've got the best I will ever have...and pretty darned good, at that.

[Mr. Jelly]

It comes down to making music with the guitar in your hands.

[PapaC]

Yup, I’m not quite to your age yet, but I’m satisfied too. For now. Really.

After all, one of the eastern Philosophy tenets of truth is “Most all unhappiness comes from desire”.

[euraquilo]

The pandemic has tempered my drive for replacing instruments. I bought and sold so many over the last ten years and I feel I have the best that my level of talent can make use of.

Hell, I'm only in my 60s, but I am less inclined to look for anything from here on. Plus I play plenty of other instruments and there's only so many hours in a day.

[Rudy4]

As Stephen Stills sang, "Love the one you're with."

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by rgregg48

...I've had years of searching for new instruments... I've had many instruments over the year... But when 70 hit, so did a satisfactions with what i own now....

About the same here. My guitar buying has gone through considerable evolution. My collection now is at a peak in its fitness landscape.

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by rgregg48

....There's both sadness and freedom in that....

There is much wisdom contained in that sentence. I am younger than you (60) but have reached the same point of satisfaction. I've long had the financial freedom to explore everything that was really interesting, and now have everything musically that I intend to run out the clock with. At some point we may need to downsize again into a senior apartment and that will trigger some more sales. It would take a LOT to get me to even consider another purchase going forward.

[brandall10]

I hope you have had or currently have at least one amazing vintage guitar... as an acoustic aficionado, I think that is the one pleasure you should treat yourself to at least once.

[zombywoof]

I am only a couple of years behind you. I reached the point where I knew I had stumbled upon the best guitars I would ever find many years ago. But a funny thing happened during the pandemic. It hit me that having surrounded myself with old guitars for so long the one thing I had not experienced in what was now some 45 years was the feeling of bringing home something new or at least newish, So I decided, to quote from an above post, this was the treasure I should treat myself to. Wasn't exactly new but seven years old was close enough.

[1Charlie]

I'm 62. Working from home, in my guitar room. To my immediate right are ten guitars, on a long rack. Perhaps five of them get played often. Some are sentimental, including the guitar I have had since high school.

In the next couple of years, I will be faced with the prospect of cutting the collection in half, at least. What to keep and what to sell will be a "survival of the fittest" kind of thing. If it doesn't get played, it goes up for sale, regardless of how cool it is.

Yes, contentment, mixed with a twinge of sadness. But necessary for the next phase of my life, which will hopefully include a lot of travel and adventure.

[larryb]

Me, too. 70 here and no desire to buy better. I have the best of acoustics. Might want to buy another electric, just to have, but not because I have GAS. All this tells me, from what this thread is saying, is that this is a great buying opportunity for young guitarists just starting out as we old-timers start to thin the herd.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by larryb

Me, too. 70 here and no desire to buy better. I have the best of acoustics. Might want to buy another electric, just to have, but not because I have GAS. All this tells me, from what this thread is saying, is that this is a great buying opportunity for young guitarists just starting out as we old-timers start to thin the herd.

While I'm not plotting and taking joy in your demise, as a 40 something, am curious what the used market may be like in 10-20 years.

[FrankHudson]

I'm old.

I'm reasonably happy with the acoustic guitars I have, though I keep thinking about a replacement smaller body rosewood/spruce guitar with a neck that's better for me. I guess all it takes is wanting one more to keep the GAS going.

I have too many electric guitars, but I sort of enjoy that. I kind of filled out some secondary hollowbody and humbucker desires a few years back and now I'm pretty sure I can stand pat.

I came close this year to buying another electric guitar amp. I was thinking something like a Deluxe Reverb RI. Then I fired up my Deluxe Reverb patch on my old Mustang III modeler and thought: this is pretty good. And I spent some time in my studio space with my Hot Rod Deluxe's clean channel with the touchy-taper volume knob way at the left side of it's travel. Between the two, the desire for that DRRI went away.

At my age, my main aim to to get as much music out of what I can still do with them while I can still do it.

[3notes]

Originally Posted by rgregg48

now I'm 72 years old and have been playing guitar,banjo, and mandolin for 58 years.
I've had years of searching for new instruments
Looking for better, different, bargain etc.
I've had many instruments over the year
But when 70 hit, so did a satisfactions with what i own now
With no new temptation.
Either nothing sounds that much better than what I have
Or the instruments that would tempt me are the
What the custom shop boys put up in the classifieds.,
For 18K +...(maybe in the next life.)
When I told my youngest son i would not pursue anything
In the way of new instruments or the desire to make changes
He said " oh yeah, sure dad, I'll believe that when I see it"
Now he knows I was serious.
There's both sadness and freedom in that.
Ok , rant over

Really cool post. I am nearly there.

I've let my best acoustics walk away and now I realize that guitars aren't always about the price tags or the woods. Or the maker. Guitars are just plain different. There are no twins when it comes to tone. They all have different characteristics. Pro's and cons. What's important is that you enjoy what you have. At 58 years old I'm in search of one more guitar. Then I'm done. I figured out that there is no sense in chasing the dream guitar. Dreams do come true but, dreams also fade into the sunset.....