hypothetical

[eor]

suppose that your erection was so mighty for a certain type of guitar. suppose that next year, your v6 car will be old enough to vote. suppose you owe several thousand to your credit cards and your tax return just came it. suppose your options were as follows:

 

a. buy the sensible guitar: you can live with it, it is probably good enough and it is priced right. it's low middle end, which describes eor to a tee. have enough cash left over to soup it up with a setup and fancy bridge pins or whatever if need be.

 

b. buy the guitar you really want, although you have no good reason for wanting it, aside from wanting it. it would be close to double option a. financial hardship may follow.

 

c. buy the guitar with the highest resale value and name brand prestige; you'll get an incredible deal for it (a little cheaper than guitar b, $300 or so more than guitar a) and it is actually worth more than guitar b. the catch here is the guitar is used (excellent condition) and the source is flaky. it could take days, or weeks to close a transaction.

 

remember: your erection is mighty, and you are monitoring ebay relentlessly- auctions are ending all the time. it may be worth mentioning that there is some money coming on the horizon. i'm up for a bonus in 2 months, and there might be a far more profitable job coming in about that time or sooner, as well. so i'm willing to tough things out financially if need be.

 

although, this is far from my last instrument purchase. whatever doesn't get spent here will eventually go towards the next guitar. but the latter two options won't require a replacement further down the line; the first one might. might.

 

love,

eor

 

or d. pay your credit cards.

 

ps- i omitted the guitar names and models as not to unfairly sway you. this is an ideological discussion. although i might reveal them later so you can go back and change your answer.

[knockwood]

B.

 

Bad debt and financial hardship will lend themselves to the composition of good blues tunes.

 

Edit: ...and country tunes, if you swing that way.

[Cldplytkmn]

whichever one puts the guitar in your hands that you truly like... either that or no guitar at all...

[Khan Fused]

Another option...

 

e. Send all of your money in your checking and savings accounts to the IRS, and then start saving to send them another payment in July. Purchase generic K-Y in anticipation of an audit. Find a sort of rare guitar that you really want, but don't actually need, for a really good price, and think about the IRS.

[kwakatak]

Go with a guitar that's gonna satisfy you for now (about a year or so, maybe a littel longer) but will fetch about 75%-90% of what you paid for it should you decide to sell it.

 

Either that or sell off some other stuff that will cover the balance.

[tamolina]

Buy the guitar you really want. Chop up the credit cards and start living on beans and macaroni. When you feel like going out to eat, dating a woman, or doing anything that costs money, play your beloved new guitar instead. You will pay off your debts, probably lose weight, and get damn good on that guitar with all the practice.

[eor]

Another option... e. Send all of your money in your checking and savings accounts to the IRS, and then start saving to send them another payment in July. Purchase generic K-Y in anticipation of an audit. Find a sort of rare guitar that you really want, but don't actually need, for a really good price, and think about the IRS.

funny you mention it. they have kept my last two returns because eor owed them money. they year before that, i got peanuts. so this is eor's first real return in a long damn time. hence the guitar.

 

i would hate to buy something and then turn around and sell it. such a hassle.

 

love,

eor

 

i had pretty much resigned eor to guitar a, but now i'm leaning b. that's like a $500 swing. thanks a lot, guys.

[Hudman]

You only live once. Buy the guitar you want and stop using credit cards.

[JasmineTea]

About how much is the return?

 

About how much is your weekly paycheck?

 

About how much is your rent?

[da mayor]

As someone who regularly suffers from GAS, I am so tempted to jump on the bandwagon here and say, what the hey, go for it, buy the guitar you want. But the realist in me says that's probably not the best advice to give.

 

Sounds like you've had some payment problems in the past dude. My advice is to pay off your credit card debt as fast as you can, then cut up those cards and never, ever use them again. You've paid, and will keep on paying, a fortune in interest on that debt. Why give that money to the credit card company when you could save it to really buy the guitar of your dreams. The sooner you pay it off, the sooner you'll be able to get a really great git.

 

Not what you want to hear I know. Just my 2 cents.

 

P.S. you should neve use credit cards to charge any more than you can pay off at one time, unless it's a total emegency (like flying home to say goodbye to a dying relative). Otherwise, your just pissing money away.

[eor]

yeah, this debt is old. i ran it up when i used it to cover rent when i was laid off some years back. combined with the tax problem (the employer that laid off eor wasn't taking taxes out of my check, unbeknownst to him). so between that, the irs and mild gas, i got to where i am today. i don't use the cards- i just pay them off a little at a time and use cash for everything.

 

however, things are looking up. the debt is manageable, first off. if all goes well, my new job will give me a substantial raise and way too much overtime, so eor will be rich and not have time to waste cash. that's in addition to my bonus coming in. both of those possiblites look pretty solid. my spending is pretty spartan in other areas; eor finally got the crack and portugese whore monkey off his back. i figure i'll be glad that i got the good one someday. hopefully that isn't so far away.

 

eor isn't really gassy per se, but i do have clearly defined ideas of what i want to (ultimately) own. observe:

 

12 string acoustic (low end larry/taylor type)

6 string acoustic (low end larry/taylor type)

solid body electric (heritage lp)

hollowbody electric (heritage millenium)

decent bass (rickenbacker)

fancy electronic drumset (for recording and playing at home)

 

since eor's a 1 man band kinda dude, it's pricey. but they aren't super top of the line stuff, and they are all different things. i'm not a "same thing in different colors/brand/wood/shape etc" guy. but i plan to set up an account for instruments, and account for saving and the checking for everything else. all in time (long time).

 

love,

eor

 

jas- the paycheck and return are both $200 + above my rent

[JasmineTea]

Originally posted by eor jas- the paycheck and return are both $200 + above my rent

Then I'd say you need a shoebox.

[eor]

it wouldn't fit in the cigarette carton i share with immigrant workers

 

love,

eor