Last Friday before I left for work, I went to my garage/studio to fetch my trusty acoustic guitar for my weekly solo acoustic gig, and I couldn’t find it! After a bit of searching, I finally found my guitar – buried under a pile of stuff my wife had taken out of her van! OMG! I unpiled the stuff rather unceremoniously, picked up my gig bag, opened it up, and pulled out my acoustic. Upon initial inspection, nothing seemed amiss. But when I strummed a chord, I could hear a slight buzz issuing from inside the guitar. I shook it to see if something was loose, but nothing rattled inside the body, which led me to believe that the weight of the stuff on the top of my guitar was sufficient enough to loosen up the glue to one of the bracing spans. That’s fixable. I could live with the buzzing if it didn’t show up when I plugged in the guitar. So much for my rationale. The buzzing was even worse when I plugged it in, as the vibrations from the top were transmitted to the under-the-saddle pickup.
Surprisingly enough, I didn’t freak or get pissed off at my wife, partially because the fault was mine for placing it in an area where that could happen. But I had a gig that night, and I had to figure out something – and fast! To make a long story short, I ended up buying what has turned out to be a surprisingly versatile value-priced guitar from Fender, the Stratacoustic Deluxe. I recently wrote a review of this guitar, so I won’t go into details. But after I bought it, the thought occurred to me…
Is it really a case of GAS, when you have an obvious need?
Part of me says that I just acquired more gear, so it’s technically GAS. But the other part of me says that I was replacing a critical component, so it’s not GAS.
In any case, I’m very satisfied, but thought I try to get some feedback. Your thoughts?
Guitar Gear 
Imo, it’s not gas. Unless you’re walls are decorated with acoustic guitars, that is. But still… if you always bring a semi acoustic with you, you can not simply replace it with a flamenco guitar you have lying around.
So, not gas 🙂
To me gas is buying stuff you don’t really need, but you are interested in trying out, or just want to have it because it’s so damn awesome.
I do not consider it GAS, since you are a paid performer. It is a necessary tool.
Yeah, I suppose, but the same old feeling of anticipation of new gear sure struck me – and hard. I was going to leave that store with a new axe. 🙂