Starting a collection has messed with my head

[straycat113]

Well let me just say that after playing for 30 years and then not being able to play for the last 20 months led me in a direction I really dont like though I have come addicted.

I have stated on here of suffering two injuries to my left hand and arm in which after 3 doctors I have still not gone under the knife and from what I am hearing might not help anyway which for anyone that plays is your worst nightmare. I never thought I would make a month let alone 20 without playing.

So to keep my sanity I teach my son who at 11 is blowing my mind with his dexterity and skill and started to do a bit of collecting. I was always a Fender player so I always had high end Strats and Teles to gig with. Then I got into EBMM EVHs and Peavey Wolfgangs for Humbucking stuff.

Well as I could not play I noticed I was buying guitars at a clip that I never did in 30 years. I have always taken care of my axes even from an early age and every dent or ding always hurt. Since the economy dropped and I was reading more collector related magazines and articles which all stated that this is one of the best buying markets in 25 years and are opening the door for new guys to get into it I found myself being one of them.

The thing which really is bothering me is I am more interested in a guitars condition and looks than playability and tone. I find myself buying on ebay without even hearing the guitar which I really would of never done before. Also I have really flipped after running down a list of questions before buying and then examining the guitar like I was doing an autopsy. I just bought a guitar that was listed as mint that came with a small ding in the clear of the finish but not hitting the wood and I was twisted all night. The guy was willing to take it back but I got it at a goog price so I chewed him out for not mentioning it but did not leave him a negative.

I have also found myself keeping certain guitars away from my sons when everything used to be there to play. My 11 year old cant complain since he plays a $2,000 Jeff Beck Strat which was a player of mine but I feel weird when he ask to play something I consider a collectible and I give him the no I dont feel like pulling it out.lol Have I just cracked or do a lot of you guys feel and do the same thing. Now I am in the process of looking to downsize and get rid of 3 or 4 axes to get 1 or 2 better grade guitar and my kid was flipping on me. I dont know but this collecting sh!t is a whole different game than plugging in and letting it rip. There are rushes and great feelings of getting something totally clean and at a steal of a price. Then there is the other side of buyers remorse when I felt I should not of bought something so soon, or this whole angle about everything being based on condition, as I have let some great sounding guitars go because of a ding in the finish or non original pieces.

I have taken to reading books on the subject and also buying the Blue Book and Vintage Guitar guide that I found no use in as nothing after 69 is not even worth mentioning in those books which I know is a crock because I know a lot of guitars which are good collectibles that dont show in those books. Well anyway I would like to hear some feedback from some members to hear wow they feel. I have one ax someone offered me a really nice price for which I declined and the guitar does not see the light of day anymore. So I could imagine how someone on here must feel about there 50s or 60s Burst or pre CBS Strat or Tele being handled.

[mke52]

I started a small collection of vintage guitars myself but being vintage guitars they are used and far from perfect.
Thats what a vintage is. On the other hand buying a mint vintage of the sixties is not only very difficult but also extremely expensive so I stick to my "real relic" guitars.
I don't keep them locked up and i like to play them all in rotation.
Hpefully next week i should get my key piece: an all original 63 strat. Can't wait...