What gear from genres much different than your own give you GAS?

mbenigni said:
I never buy anything cheap with the expectation of selling it for profit, because frankly I'm too damned lazy. But I constantly play the "I can buy X if I sell Y" game, and then never sell Y, because frankly I'm too damned lazy.

Lots and lots of Y's collecting dust in my basement.
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It is HARD for me not to treat my older gear like it isn’t some side bank account that I can dip into to afford the new thing lol. I’ve sold too many pieces of great gear over the years looking for the next best thing. *sigh* I’m working on it.
 
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I remember seeing a picture of Stanley Clarke's Alembic bass for the first time when I was a kid and being absolutely floored by the woodworking and detail. I later found out they made guitars and scored a zebrawood Alembic Skylark for $750. It was definitely not my sound or aesthetic.
 
GuitarBilly74 said:
I really love jazz boxes. I play exactly zero jazz but a good hollow body guitar is a piece of art. I almost bought a D'Aquisto the other day, but it wasn't cheap and I'd have zero actual use for it. If money was no object, I'd have a few just hanging on my wall lol I really appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into these guitars.
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There are some SUPER cool jazz boxes out there. Not my style at all but really appreciate the look and vibes they give off!
 
Most of my GAS for the past decade has been toward electric guitars, pedals, amps, and such. In fact I'm currently de-gassing some of the electric stuff I acquired from sprees, having sold several guitars and a couple of amps, and I'm now working on thinning out a considerable pedal collection.

But I also had an earlier wave of acoustic gear acquisition. Back in the 1980s I became enthralled with world music, especially those involving stringed instruments. I acquired quite a few, including a Turkish oud and saz, a Syrian oud, an Iranian tar, setar, tanbur, an Indian sarangi and santur, Japanese koto, Chinese guqin and guzheng, and a few others. Also picked up some percussion, including a few Nigerian udu drums and a Hausa talking drum, an Iranian tombek, and a couple of sets of tablas. Most are still around, although the Syrian oud was a casualty of dry heat in my NYC flat at the time and I gave away one set of tablas to a student who took an interest. I also studied many of the instruments, taking extended lessons on oud, and introductory lessons on tanbur, tablas and sarangi. I got good enough on the oud, after taking lessons with a Syrian player, to form an Arabic music quartet (oud, upright bass, viola and percussion) when I was in college, and we played a few gigs around town. Nowadays they're mostly conversation pieces and memories to share. But although my main interest now is jazz, I do pick one or two up once in a while to dabble.

Here's a video playing a tar in one of the many music shops in Tehran's musical instrument district:



And another one playing a barbat (Iranian style oud) in the Tehran Museum of Music:



And here's a video of a student playing my koto, while I follow along on my Spanish guitar:



Some random photos of the other instruments gathered during my world music phase:

gambian_kora.jpg

Gambian kora, back in my college days in New York during the late 1980s:

turkish_oud2.jpg

Turkish oud, jamming with a darabukkah player during the early 1990s:

saz_luthier.jpg

With the luthier who built my saz in Istanbul, along with apprentice, in the late 1990s:

setar_luthier.jpg

More recently, with the luthier who built my setar, at who's shop we jammed:

tanbur_luthier.jpg

And with the luthier who built my tanbur, showing me how to restring it:
 
Jazz Padd said:
Most of my GAS for the past decade has been toward electric guitars, pedals, amps, and such. In fact I'm currently de-gassing some of the electric stuff I acquired from sprees, having sold several guitars and a couple of amps, and I'm now working on thinning out a considerable pedal collection.

But I also had an earlier wave of acoustic gear acquisition. Back in the 1980s I became enthralled with world music, especially those involving stringed instruments. I acquired quite a few, including a Turkish oud and saz, a Syrian oud, an Iranian tar, setar, tanbur, an Indian sarangi and santur, Japanese koto, Chinese guqin and guzheng, and a few others. Also picked up some percussion, including a few Nigerian udu drums and a Hausa talking drum, an Iranian tombek, and a couple of sets of tablas. Most are still around, although the Syrian oud was a casualty of dry heat in my NYC flat at the time and I gave away one set of tablas to a student who took an interest. I also studied many of the instruments, taking extended lessons on oud, and introductory lessons on tanbur, tablas and sarangi. I got good enough on the oud, after taking lessons with a Syrian player, to form an Arabic music quartet (oud, upright bass, viola and percussion) when I was in college, and we played a few gigs around town. Nowadays they're mostly conversation pieces and memories to share. But although my main interest now is jazz, I do pick one or two up once in a while to dabble.

Here's a video playing a tar in one of the many music shops in Tehran's musical instrument district:



And another one playing a barbat (Iranian style oud) in the Tehran Museum of Music:



And here's a video of a student playing my koto, while I follow along on my Spanish guitar:



Some random photos of the other instruments gathered during my world music phase:

View attachment 50263
Gambian kora, back in my college days in New York during the late 1980s:

View attachment 50264
Turkish oud, jamming with a darabukkah player during the early 1990s:

View attachment 50265
With the luthier who built my saz in Istanbul, along with apprentice, in the late 1990s:

View attachment 50266
More recently, with the luthier who built my setar, at who's shop we jammed:

View attachment 50267
And with the luthier who built my tanbur, showing me how to restring it:
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Very cool, looks like you've done some serious traveling. Have you ever tried an erhu? I'd be into trying one of those, I really love the expressiveness and vocal tones when I hear one.
 
Jazz Padd said:
Most of my GAS for the past decade has been toward electric guitars, pedals, amps, and such. In fact I'm currently de-gassing some of the electric stuff I acquired from sprees, having sold several guitars and a couple of amps, and I'm now working on thinning out a considerable pedal collection.

But I also had an earlier wave of acoustic gear acquisition. Back in the 1980s I became enthralled with world music, especially those involving stringed instruments. I acquired quite a few, including a Turkish oud and saz, a Syrian oud, an Iranian tar, setar, tanbur, an Indian sarangi and santur, Japanese koto, Chinese guqin and guzheng, and a few others. Also picked up some percussion, including a few Nigerian udu drums and a Hausa talking drum, an Iranian tombek, and a couple of sets of tablas. Most are still around, although the Syrian oud was a casualty of dry heat in my NYC flat at the time and I gave away one set of tablas to a student who took an interest. I also studied many of the instruments, taking extended lessons on oud, and introductory lessons on tanbur, tablas and sarangi. I got good enough on the oud, after taking lessons with a Syrian player, to form an Arabic music quartet (oud, upright bass, viola and percussion) when I was in college, and we played a few gigs around town. Nowadays they're mostly conversation pieces and memories to share. But although my main interest now is jazz, I do pick one or two up once in a while to dabble.

Here's a video playing a tar in one of the many music shops in Tehran's musical instrument district:



And another one playing a barbat (Iranian style oud) in the Tehran Museum of Music:



And here's a video of a student playing my koto, while I follow along on my Spanish guitar:



Some random photos of the other instruments gathered during my world music phase:

View attachment 50263
Gambian kora, back in my college days in New York during the late 1980s:

View attachment 50264
Turkish oud, jamming with a darabukkah player during the early 1990s:

View attachment 50265
With the luthier who built my saz in Istanbul, along with apprentice, in the late 1990s:

View attachment 50266
More recently, with the luthier who built my setar, at who's shop we jammed:

View attachment 50267
And with the luthier who built my tanbur, showing me how to restring it:
Click to expand...

I know they’re quite different, but it reminds of the banjo in a way. Very cool!
 
FuzzyAce said:
Very cool, looks like you've done some serious traveling. Have you ever tried an erhu? I'd be into trying one of those, I really love the expressiveness and vocal tones when I hear one.
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Thank you, we try to make one overseas trip per year. Except during corona, when we stayed home!

An erhu? I was in Shanghai earlier this year and found a shop that had mostly traditional Chinese instruments, including erhus, though I only had a chance to play with one of the larger zithers:



Here's a pic of one of the walls of the shop, packed with erhus and other instruments:

shanghai_shop.jpg


And yes, I've seen some people make amazingly beautiful music with the erhu!

Edit: Added Shanghai music shop photo.
 
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Mikael Dez said:
I know they’re quite different, but it reminds of the banjo in a way. Very cool!
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Thanks! And there is some kindred sound between the banjo and the tar; they have a similar construction with hide stretched over a shell of some sort. The Japanese shamisen, as well.
 
GuitarBilly74 said:
I really love jazz boxes. I play exactly zero jazz but a good hollow body guitar is a piece of art. I almost bought a D'Aquisto the other day, but it wasn't cheap and I'd have zero actual use for it. If money was no object, I'd have a few just hanging on my wall lol I really appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into these guitars.
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Schecter Coupe.jpg


My in-between solution is Gretsch style hollowbodies with Filtertrons. I landed on a Schecter Coupe. It can jazz, but it can also rock. The Filtertron pickups might be more favorite. There's something really pleasant about their crispy sound especially for lower gain tones.

Plus it's a guitar style that really works being as flamboyant as possible.
 
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