Comments on: James Jamerson’s Uncluttered Bass Rig

By: True Up » Archive » Textile Stew: 1/27/10

True Up » Archive » Textile Stew: 1/27/10 — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:14:01 +0000

[...] loved this article on “Gear Acquisition Syndrome” on Unclutterer … not at all about fabric but oh so applicable to our [...]

By: Anita

Anita — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:48:02 +0000

@OogieM – thanks for the idea! It’s always great to find out about photography resources I didn’t know existed

My schedule is pretty packed right now, so I’m not sure if I can stick to a daily photo project; I am, however, trying to do a Project 52 type of thing based on the Photo Idea Index.

Also: if you’re looking for another good learning resource, I’d recommend Digital Photography School (http://digital-photography-school.com/). They have good articles and a fun forum, plus weekly assignments and weekend photo challenges to keep you shooting. Have fun with your new camera!!

By: mamalace

mamalace — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:28:49 +0000

I thought this was so funny and timely. My husband and myself actually own a music retail store and even though we resell the stuff my husband still has GAS as most of our customers do. It ebbs and flows through life it seems, younger musicians want all the cool stuff, then after you gigged around for 20 years you learn to do with less. But what I tell mostly wives (as women seem to be happy with one guitar), there are WAY worse things your husband could be doing with the money!

By: Dave on bass

Dave on bass — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:59:51 +0000

I am a bassist myself, and while I’ve had my bouts with GAS (half a dozen basses, packed pedalboard and multiple amp rigs? about 5 years ago, absolutely), I am currently pared way down and just as happy. I have only one bass right now – recently returned to 4-string after years of 6s, for one thing – and my only amp is a Phil Jones Briefcase, a 100-watt combo with a pair of 5″ speakers which sounds great even though it won’t fill a gig on its own, I have a tuner and OD pedal as well, but am even replacing those with a single unit that does a couple things. It’s so nice to be able to just carry everything in one trip, plus I’m more inclined to want to play a small venue these days anyway – maybe I’m just gettin’ old prematurely (I’m 32).

By: Jim DuBois

Jim DuBois — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:29:27 +0000

I am an artist, and find sometimes I get the most out of a simple basic brush or pen and some regular paper. It helps me concentrate on the essentials to not be overwhelmed by my tools.

By: Thirtysomething Finance

Thirtysomething Finance — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:39:40 +0000

I’ve been a guitarist for 15 years or so and know your GAS pain all too well! I recently sold off a bunch of boutique pedals (and am trying to sell a bunch more) and streamlined to a Line 6 M-13 multi-effect board. For an amateur guitarist like me, it’s good enough and would be more than enough for just about any guitarist to get by. It’s good to unclutter sometimes!

By: Magchunk

Magchunk — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:55:50 +0000

Totally reminds me of my dad, a drummer. Granted, even a basic drum kit has many pieces (and he ABHORS electronic drums). His hobby is restoring old drums and reselling them (at some point, when he’s done playing with them!). So the music room at my folk’s house is stuffed to the brim with drums and drum parts. It’s finally starting to drive me mom batty, so I imagine this will start to thin out in 2010 but man he sure has fun with it.

My hobbies (writing, reading, interior design obsession) are more paper-based. But home improvement supplies are starting to creep in. Time to make sure I’m keeping only the essentials!

By: chacha1

chacha1 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:52:04 +0000

“Standing in the Shadows of Motown” is A GREAT MOVIE. And the tip about making do with less is good too.

I have an ongoing control in place, I’m not allowed to shop for craft/art supplies unless a) I have used something up completely or b) I need something specific for a time-sensitive project or c) I’ve completed a sizable project. And even then I have a spending cap.

I spent years accumulating all sorts of craft/art stuff, gradually upgrading as my skills improved, and ended up shipping boxes of it to my sister for use in her middle-school art classes … she had an annual supply budget of $300, can you believe it? For five classes a day.

Anyway, I think most of us only have time/talent to excel at one art or craft … figuring out which one is the most important/enjoyable for us should precede any reorganization, then we know how to focus our collections.

By: Charley

Charley — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:47:48 +0000

As a performing musician i can relate. I scaled down last year so that I have one really nice acoustic guitar, an amp/PA, a really nice electric guitar, and an electric bass. All three can be played thru my amp/PA. No pedals. I dumped alot of guitars last year and, thanks to the depreciation that occurs similar to a used car, it made me quite angry to lose that much money. That keeps me from acquiring again.

- Charley

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:39:31 +0000

Jamerson had a great point, one lost on gearhead musicians today. A quality bass should sound pretty good plugged buck naked into the amp all by itself.

One of my basses passes this test; the other does not, and needs an effects pedal to sound good. My electric guitars are terrible in the nude, but my Ovation acoustic sounds brilliant plugged or unplugged. It’s all in the quality of the instrument.

By: OogieM

OogieM — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:15:04 +0000

To Anita – Why not also check out @dailyshoot on Twitter? Every day a new assignment is posted to your twitter account and you are supposed to upload your photo for the day someplace (I use Flickr) and twitter a message about it with the assignment hashtag. You can go to http://dailyshoot.com/ to see the most recent uploads and also see the history of previous photos.

I got a new camera for Christmas and I’m doing this exercise at least for a while to force me to learn all the new features of my new camera.

On other crafting. I scrapbook, knit, spin, weave, quilt, sew all of which have large equipment needs. My goal is to use up all my supplies this year but I can still buy tools if I plan to use them on at least 2 projects. I also did an inventory of scrapbook supplies and am working on the fiber stuff so I really know what I have. Ravelry is great for keeping track of your fiber inventory.

By: Loren

Loren — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:11:58 +0000

I hobby as a crafter/drawer/painter general artist too but I realized I had WAY more stuff than I would ever need. I gave away all my acrylic paints (that I hadn’t touched in 12 months) in favor of a good set of water colors and a set of markers. Because that’s basically all I ever use. I also managed to give away BAGS of cheap yarn (I couldn’t possibly have used it all) with the promise that anything purchased in the future would be good quality and serve a purpose.

By: Sky

Sky — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:08:58 +0000

My husband is a tool fanatic! Every new job requires new tools. He has so many that he can’t find what he needs so he buys more. YIKES!! One day, I will organize the garage and he will be shocked at the duplicates he has! LOL!

By: Anita

Anita — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:37:48 +0000

I’ve been trying to break my boyfriend of this habit. We’re both amateur photographers, and he’s constantly drooling over new cameras, lenses, tripod heads and pretty much any kind of photo and lighting equipment in lieu of actually going out and shooting. He’s hasn’t got tons of gear, true, but what he does have is very good quality and is more than enough for most of his purposes.

For Christmas, I got him Jim Krause’s Photo Idea Index (http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obid.....tterer-20/ 2 frames and a print card from our regular photo printing shop, and challanged him to a “photo of the month” project whereby we’d go out for a photo walk together at least once a month (though I’m aimimg for every week for myself), and we’d each put our best shot of the month in the frame. I’m hoping that’ll get us both more inspired…

By: Mary Canfield

Mary Canfield — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:48:28 +0000

Oooo! I have Standing in the Shadows of Motown on my list. I can’t wait to see it!

My husband is a drummer, so he has a lot of pieces. Big pieces! He also has a piano and a keyboard, also big pieces. However, he doesn’t have a whole lot else, so I really can’t complain. I’m the one with the most clutter!