ladytexan
Senior Member
Searching, searching, searching. The hunt. The fun. I'm currently tracking down a 1972 F47 mahogany with a sense of hopefulness that it is THE one. But, it hit me. I'm no longer immune to GAS (for newbies or for those who haven't read Chazmo's acronym section) - gas acquisition syndrome. I think I've had the malady for a while, I just didn't 'realize' I had it. But, alas (or rather, yippee), I have the affliction. 
Here is an excerpt from Tom Russ' book, Four Guitars, that humorously describes this peculiarly fun 'disease':
Among guitar players and collectors, there is a condition known as GAS or guitar acquisition syndrome. The early symptoms are hard to discern and are easily mistaken for mere enthusiasm. The player has a guitar or maybe two but is seeking a different guitar. Different is a quality that is hard to pin down, under constant revision, and whose precise character is commonly not known or understood by the nascent GAS victim, I mean prospective purchaser. The condition is well documented. There is a myriad of chat rooms and online bulletin boards that serve no other purpose than for sufferers of GAS to share their experiences in sort of a perpetual online group session and guitar market. There are entire industries that have grown up to serve, supply, nurture, and encourage, or should I say enable this condition. There are several websites devoted to it. Sort of online group therapy. There is no known cure.
The world of the GAS-suffering guitar player is filled with enablers, people who feed this passion in others, encourage the destructive cycle of guitar acquisition. The desire to acquire another guitar has little to do with need, with replacing an old, worn, or damaged instrument or with buying up to a new level or quality of instrument to reflect growing skills. No it is deeper, more primal than that. The GAS victim is hoping the next guitar has the thing they need but cannot articulate. The enablers sometimes profit from the sufferer’s malady, appearing as innocent sales staff, but in reality fronting for the musical-industrial complex intent on getting another hapless guitar player hooked. Or they are on eBay as just another guy selling a guitar. Often the enabler is suffering from the condition himself and is selling a guitar or guitars to fund the purchase of their next guitar, to facilitate the habit. Seeking….something they hope the next guitar will deliver to them. Always seeking. Never really finding the object of their desire but determined to keep looking. There is always a satisfaction once the next guitar is acquired. Once home, it is taken carefully from the case, wiped off, perhaps the strings are changed, and those personal riffs are played again. The sense of satisfaction is palpable, and all is right in the world. Soon though those old feelings begin again, and a new guitar lust beings to form. Not to be denied, the unrequited guitar lust lies under the surface of every thought and feeling. All fellow sufferers and the enablers know, the GAS victim may resist but eventually he caves. It is always like this. So sad.
Another book I MUST read:
Here is an excerpt from Tom Russ' book, Four Guitars, that humorously describes this peculiarly fun 'disease':Among guitar players and collectors, there is a condition known as GAS or guitar acquisition syndrome. The early symptoms are hard to discern and are easily mistaken for mere enthusiasm. The player has a guitar or maybe two but is seeking a different guitar. Different is a quality that is hard to pin down, under constant revision, and whose precise character is commonly not known or understood by the nascent GAS victim, I mean prospective purchaser. The condition is well documented. There is a myriad of chat rooms and online bulletin boards that serve no other purpose than for sufferers of GAS to share their experiences in sort of a perpetual online group session and guitar market. There are entire industries that have grown up to serve, supply, nurture, and encourage, or should I say enable this condition. There are several websites devoted to it. Sort of online group therapy. There is no known cure.
The world of the GAS-suffering guitar player is filled with enablers, people who feed this passion in others, encourage the destructive cycle of guitar acquisition. The desire to acquire another guitar has little to do with need, with replacing an old, worn, or damaged instrument or with buying up to a new level or quality of instrument to reflect growing skills. No it is deeper, more primal than that. The GAS victim is hoping the next guitar has the thing they need but cannot articulate. The enablers sometimes profit from the sufferer’s malady, appearing as innocent sales staff, but in reality fronting for the musical-industrial complex intent on getting another hapless guitar player hooked. Or they are on eBay as just another guy selling a guitar. Often the enabler is suffering from the condition himself and is selling a guitar or guitars to fund the purchase of their next guitar, to facilitate the habit. Seeking….something they hope the next guitar will deliver to them. Always seeking. Never really finding the object of their desire but determined to keep looking. There is always a satisfaction once the next guitar is acquired. Once home, it is taken carefully from the case, wiped off, perhaps the strings are changed, and those personal riffs are played again. The sense of satisfaction is palpable, and all is right in the world. Soon though those old feelings begin again, and a new guitar lust beings to form. Not to be denied, the unrequited guitar lust lies under the surface of every thought and feeling. All fellow sufferers and the enablers know, the GAS victim may resist but eventually he caves. It is always like this. So sad.
Another book I MUST read:
