Members cratz2 Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 Depends on the situation for sure... and depends on your income level. If you make $100,000, it would be hard to justify spending 15% on a single guitar. If you make $40,000 and you've been saving up for one particular instrument, 15% doesn't sound all that out of line. If you make $15,000, it would be awfully hard to justify 15% on a guitar unless you have another source of money. Normally, I'd say for me and my situation, I spend on average about 1.5% to 2% on a project and I tend to wait for good deals and trade into good deals. If I was building projects from scratch and with all brand new parts, figure double that... 3% to maybe 5%. Last year, I got an inheritance that was a bit more than 15% of my income last year and I wouldn't have hesitated to spend 50% or even 100% of that in the right guitar. Just haven't found the 'right guitar' yet. But if Great Dane decides to part with that butterscotch Historic of his... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 136% of my total annual income is spent on gear. I'm an American dammit. Seriously this is an interesting question and I don't know the answer because I don't ever just go out and buy gear there is always something that gets sold first or traded toward it so I end up coming out of pocket very little if any at all. Most times I come out ahead on the gear I move as well because I'm pretty damn frugal and most of the time it leaves better than it came in. I'm not making money, but I've been slowly upgrading my collection over the years on the cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pascal Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 the most i've ever spent on a guitar was under 2% of my annual salary. i have too many higher (and non-GAS) priorities in my life to justify spending more than that. I'm struggling with reconciling this last statement with your collection of 50 very nice guitars* (link in your sig). * including 27 dual humbucker LPs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fu2jobu Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 On any one guitar? Up to about 3% of my annual income is what I am willing to spend at this point. What I could realistically afford would be about 60% of my annual income but that aint gonna happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jkater Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 Thanks, you can count on me! Not sure when, though: I haven't been in the UK since last summer (well, except maybe in Heathrow), and have no plan to visit in the near future either. Hey, I thought you guys were french! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sfarfsky Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 I could spend 10% on an axe but I don't make much money and I have virtually no expenses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pascal Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 Hey, I thought you guys were french! Well yes, we are. Can't you tell by our accent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GreatDane Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 I'm struggling with reconciling this last statement with your collection of 50 very nice guitars* (link in your sig). * including 27 dual humbucker LPs thank you, Pascal! No struggle needed- each guitar i've purchased fell below (in most cases, well below) 2% of my annual salary. of course, if you were to add them all up and assume that i bought them all in one year, then that would far exceed 2%, but that's not how i chose to interpret the question. and yes, i like LP-style, dual humbucker guitars. a lot. seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GreatDane Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 But if Great Dane decides to part with that butterscotch Historic of his... haha~ i don't think i'll be parting company with that one. it fits me like a glove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pascal Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 thank you, Pascal! No struggle needed- each guitar i've purchased fell below (in most cases, well below) 2% of my annual salary. of course, if you were to add them all up and assume that i bought them all in one year, then that would far exceed 2%, but that's not how i chose to interpret the question. and yes, i like LP-style, dual humbucker guitars. a lot. seriously. In summary, you can't afford to spend too much on a single guitar if you want to be able to buy enough of them, right? You have a great collection, BTW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GreatDane Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 In summary, you can't afford to spend too much on a single guitar if you want to be able to buy enough of them, right? You have a great collection, BTW! haha~ that's one way to put it! thank you for the kind words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scott Abene Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 percentages are like the bastard red headed step child of statistics right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frets99 Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I spend all my money on equipment and I have always depended on the kindness of strangers, preferably female, to get me a sammich to eat when I wasn't busy playin.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mnewb1 Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 I spend all my money on equipment and I have always depended on the kindness of strangers, preferably female, to get me a sammich to eat when I wasn't busy playin.... Ah! Sammich! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members faberbz Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 percentages are like the bastard red headed step child of statistics right? yes:thu: That's why I like the %age of disposable income for this question. It isn't based on what you make, but it shows what portion of your "play" money goes to this potentially expensive hobby and says more about your decision-making/prioritizing than your absolute income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scott Abene Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 yes:thu:That's why I like the %age of disposable income for this question. It isn't based on what you make, but it shows what portion of your "play" money goes to this potentially expensive hobby and says more about your decision-making/prioritizing than your absolute income. I started thinking about this thread more and I can't say that I have ever looked at buying equipment through the eyes of income and percentages. I look at it as either I can afford it right now or I need to trade-in and save more to get the gear. When I was a full time player it was more about saving and trading in. Now that I have a job with health insurance and a regular paycheck I can usually afford what I need when I want it. I wish it was that way when I was playing for a living but that is just the way it is... Choice between eating and buying more gear usually goes to eating when you are a full time player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitar Heel Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 Zero.Anytime I buy, I sell something else to fund it. I've had a "no new money" policy in place for a long time (several years). Granted, when I started that policy, I had about 20, so it's not like I'm hurting. But we need all of our income for the car, house, student loans, and booze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members faberbz Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 I started thinking about this thread more and I can't say that I have ever looked at buying equipment through the eyes of income and percentages. I look at it as either I can afford it right now or I need to trade-in and save more to get the gear. When I was a full time player it was more about saving and trading in. Now that I have a job with health insurance and a regular paycheck I can usually afford what I need when I want it. I wish it was that way when I was playing for a living but that is just the way it is... Choice between eating and buying more gear usually goes to eating when you are a full time player. I hear you. And even the %age of disposable income sort of implies that this is a regular purchasing habit, which for me it isn't. The older you get, the more complicated and expensive life gets, and time gets more precious. So when I have money to go play, what I spend it on isn't an automatic thing: it's more about how I want to spend my time at any given moment and see what that will cost. Sometimes it's more fun to surprise the wife and go away for the weekend than it would be to buy a new amp:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scott Abene Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 Hey... You could surprise her with a new Amp too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members svejkist Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 The last guitar I bought was .065% of my gross income. The one before that was .15%, and the one before that was gratis. Before that, the last time I bought a guitar was in 1987, and I have no memory of what my gross income was back then. Edit: That said, I do remember how much the guitar cost. Adjusted for inflation it was .75% of my current gross income, the most expensive instrument I ever bought and the first brand new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members faberbz Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 Hey... You could surprise her with a new Amp too! Yeah, she'd love that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bbreaker Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 My maybe 5% is for a year's gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members arrowhen Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 I spend a lot more on beer than I do on guitars, which stands to reason considering that I'm a talented beer drinker but only a hack guitarist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metal0822 Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 i think its easier to define it compared to 2 weeks take home pay. in that case, my most expensive guitar was just over half of that....i also just graduated college (had no money) and got a great paying job (havent bought a new guitar yet...2 amps though ) at the same time, so the number might be skewed. what about compared to one months rent? that number for me would be skewed too though because my place is dirt cheap, so just over double my rent. just realized i make my rent in like 2.5 days, thats a pretty good ratio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted April 26, 2011 Members Share Posted April 26, 2011 Have you considered busking for extra cash? I've thought about it. I'm not too far from Miami (the place one would have to go down here to busk), but it would be a lot of gas for I don't know how much money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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