[micromacro]

wombat2go, Happy Birthday.

magkelly, I have porcelain doll somewhere in my garage. It's Juliet by Patricia Rose. Doll collecting has never been my hobby, I have been buying dolls for the friend of mine. Long story short: she is somewhere in the box, naked with haircut. I've tried to make her look modern. If you want, I check for you if she is still there, and send it to you. It's a pretty doll, and it would be nice to give her to someone who cares.

[ElJamoquio]

One thing that helped was I wrote a letter to every buyer listing the known history of the item, where I had fished it, etc.

Yup.

In the OP's shoes... I photograph everything I'm selling. To sell it, for one, but also to remember it.

[magkelly]

wombat2go, Happy Birthday.

magkelly, I have porcelain doll somewhere in my garage. It's Juliet by Patricia Rose. Doll collecting has never been my hobby, I have been buying dolls for the friend of mine. Long story short: she is somewhere in the box, naked with haircut. I've tried to make her look modern. If you want, I check for you if she is still there, and send it to you. It's a pretty doll, and it would be nice to give her to someone who cares.

Thanks, but I believe I have her. She's from the set with Romeo from Paradise Galleries? If so I actually have her. I'm not much into porcelains but I liked those couples dolls. I got Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet and Robin and Marian at the time when they were on sale.

[MD Optofonik]

Boris I have no idea if this will help you - but it once helped me.

When I was younger and could hike up and down steep inclines to reach clean water I fly fished for trout. At the peak of my obsession I had 11 fly rods and a couple dozen reels and extra spools, and fly tying tools and necks and patches and I tied my own tippets - etc., ad obsessinatum. And I had some collectible Abu Garcia casting reels and decent muskie horsing rods.

I actually sold everything but two rods, two reels, one tying vise and small set of tools, and the tying desk I built. I thought for months about which I would keep, and they were sentimental choices, not rational. One thing that helped was I wrote a letter to every buyer listing the known history of the item, where I had fished it, etc. That actually made it easier to let go. I've maintained a correspondence with a few of those people over the years and visited one of them in Colorado while on a business trip (and wet a line together).

It took me 20 years to collect all that stuff. My brother-in-law taught me my first knot before teaching me to fish as a get-to-know-you exercise (obviously I passed). I kept the rod he gave me as a wedding present. It is a pedestrian rod with no collectible value, but it is a special rod - caught my first trout, my first day out, on that rod. I had debated keeping three rods - one of which had true collectible value - until a Doctor saw me fishing it, said he collected rods, I told him its history and he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He took it home and I left with a check. My other rod is a hand-made, signed work of art - not old, but a classic - a very pretty rod, gentle to cast and enjoyable to fish with - for fishers who fish for the fishing, not for the catching. I actually smile when I pick up the line to cast again. The two reels are merely craftsman pieces - nothing special - not Hardy Perfects. I sold all the collector reels.

Interestingly, I sold on eBay an Abu casting reel I actually found in a river by chance. It turned out to be a transition model, very rare and I had had several calls and persistent attempts to get me to sell it along the way. I actually watched a bidding fury on eBay in the last minutes - this was before sniping - and I actually had to have an escrow agent hold the money until the seller accepted the reel.

The result is I fish when and because I want to now, not because I have a need to justify having money tied up in gear. I feel I was a steward of these things for a time and now someone else is their steward, and I'll always know I had them. The memories are enough. Not having the gear is akin to having a series of heavy overcoats lifted from my shoulders. I had a similar release when I sold an exquisite K50/1.2 that was so good I was afraid to use it.

Curiously, I bought an Olympus E20-n to photograph these items for sale on eBay and then I bought a few lenses for my old Pentax film cameras with a small amount of the money - and then I read about the K10D . . . . . and then . . . . . .

Thanks for sharing such a great story.

[wombat2go]

Thanks, Pentax Hobbiests, for the birthday wishes.
We had a dinner out on the lawn with the neighbors, as my bday coincides with one across the road.
Our friend around the corner brought me a present of a Michigan brew, as that is my other hobby.

"Two head Ale" by Bells' Brewery Inc, Comstock Michigan. " ... American malts and enormous hop additions.."

Lovely stuff, Bitter and Strong.

Well, after I had 3 of those the mosquitos descended and started biting every-one.
Except me...., the mozzies were landing and taking a sniff of my arm and I reckon they were flying off crookedly.

[reeftool]

My hobby of photography has developed along with other hobbies and activities through the years. My first pictures with my first camera were of my friends surfing, a sport I also took up. I continue to shoot sports to this day as well as participate in as many as my aging body will tolerate. I hike, fish, paddle, ski, ride motorcycles and bring my cameras everywhere to capture the places and memories. To be totally honest, if I had to choose, I would drop the photography because life would be quite boring without those other things in my life. I was laid up after foot surgery last year for 3 months and my camera never came out of the bag for any reason. While cameras aren't cheap, my gear is just a fraction of what I have tied up in ski equipment, kayaks, camping gear, etc. A new 645Z with a couple of lenses wouldn't come close to the cost of my Harley and already this year, I have spent more in tires than the cost of a new Limited lens.

[6BQ5]

First of all, happy belated birthday wombat2go!

Now ...

Thanks to everyone for replying! I'm glad to know that there are others who went through a similar situation.

My collection of guitars is actually very small compared to what others may have. I only have four. The first of them is a natural 1975 Fender P-Bass. It's big and heavy with low output pickups. The bass originally had Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders when I bought. Thanks to the power of eBay I purchased period correct pickups and swapped them in. The second is a "frankenstein" Squier Stratocaster. It was my most recent purchase from over a year ago. I stripped the original tobacco burst finish and it is ready to be repainted. The neck was scalloped and it feels really nice. My third guitar is a Chinese made ES-335 knock-off. It has a brand name of "Glen Burton". I have no idea who Mr. Burton is or was. This brand of guitars was being blown out on eBay a few years back. I bought two different models thinking I would keep one. My hope was this would kick start my playing. I sold the Gibson Memphis copy because it sounded awful and kept the ES-335. The ES-335 has mediocre pickups but it absolutely sings acoustically! Whoever in China made this one knew what they were doing. Finally, my fourth guitar is 1974 Fender Stratocaster. Unlike the P-Bass which is big and heavy this one is feather light! It barely tips the scales over 7 pounds. The neck pickups are buttery smooth and the bridge and middle pickups jingle and jangle in a way that only a Strat can do. It started off missing the neck and middle pickups. I bought a pickguard assembly with a missing bridge pickup and put together a complete assembly. With a straight neck and clean frets this guitar is perfect, perfect, perfect. It probably would make an excellent studio instrument. The guitars hang on my wall and receive very little play time. Just like patrick9, my callouses aren't there anymore. When I do play it's not for the hours like I used to. It's only for a few minutes.

I really appreciate monochrome's view of stewardship. It's not a foreign idea to me but I probably lost sight of it in my mind. The Fenders came to me incomplete and I feel a bit like I restored them. The Squier was co-created. I make the body while the previous owner scalloped the neck. Only the ES-335 knock off is as-is. Maybe I can say that I've done my bit and I can pass it off to someone else who can do more. I'll plug the holes in the wall that had the hooks and move on.

But, I still feel attached in a way that is similar to how magkelly describes her dolls. Having these guitars, to which I am for some reason attached, makes me happy. I suppose it is hoarding in a way since I'm holding on to them for a sense of security. Looking at them makes me happy, especially when I come from work. The golden hour sun falls on them just right.


IMGP0708 by Never Off, on Flickr


IMGP3540 by Never Off, on Flickr

I never really thought of their presence as being therapeutic but I suppose it is in a way. MD Optofonik's message makes me think about what the guitars represent. In some way they are a symbol of my creative engine and they were (are?) an ingredient of my personality and constitution.

Oh, and by the way, MD Optofonik, your story about your rods and fishing gear was wonderful!

I guess I have some more philosophical abstract thinking to do.

[monochrome]

But, I still feel attached in a way that is similar to how magkelly describes her dolls. Having these guitars, to which I am for some reason attached, makes me happy. I suppose it is hoarding in a way since I'm holding on to them for a sense of security. Looking at them makes me happy, especially when I come from work. The golden hour sun falls on them just right.

By all means keep the guitars if they make you happy. They're gorgeous! Play them if that is what you want to do - or don't - or just a little - or just look at them and know they are there. We all have plenty of 'things' in our houses that we just look at, but they are our things and we enjoy having them around us. In my home those things have stories and memories that go with them, and our children will want to have some of them in their houses (the transferring has already begun ).

In your abstract thinking time you might ponder what it is about your life that assigns some kind of guilt to just having four guitars.

[dadipentak]

I fished a lot when I was younger and still do. For the past few years, it's been pretty much limited to (more or less local) fly-rodding for smallmouth bass but now that my youngest is off to college, I'm hoping I can do some trout and surf fishing while I'm still able. I've got good gear (Loomis, Sage, St Croix, etc.) but don't feel personally attached to any of it (like I am to some lenses) or think of it as having intrinsic value--it's just a tool kit.

My problem now is the tension between fishing and photography: I go out fishing and want the camera and lenses with me but I'm mostly a wade-fisherman so it's often a camera-unfriendly situation. I did a "proof of concept" run last week with the K-5 & some relatively inexpensive lenses in dry-bags in a padded backpack which worked out ok except it the photography conditions were pretty bad (ditto fishing conditions, for that matter.) I plan to forge ahead along those lines but I know I'm pushing it.

[monochrome]

The good rod I kept (see above) is a 90's R. L. Winston TMF. It would be very nice for Appalachian Brook Trout. The wedding present is a Sage given when graphite was a big deal but now it's worth $50. I only get out a couple times a year now, so I take them both, half-day for each. Ross Gunnison reels. Back in the day I took a Kodak 110 camera in a plastic bag. Last spring I took the Q7 and 01 but I never got it out. A WG might work.

Like playing an old guitar, after a few minutes the muscle memory comes back but the muscle endurance isn't there any more.

[MD Optofonik]

Oh, and by the way, MD Optofonik, your story about your rods and fishing gear was wonderful!

That was monochrome, not I. It was, indeed, a wonderful story.

[ElJamoquio]

I've often wondered why people with guitars don't hang them on the wall more often.

[6BQ5]

That was monochrome, not I. It was, indeed, a wonderful story.

Oops! Sorry about the mixup!

[lammie200]

...1975 Fender P-Bass...Squier Stratocaster...Chinese made ES-335 knock-off...1974 Fender Stratocaster...

I would keep the Strat and maybe the bass and get rid of the other two. I realized long ago that I wouldn't be a guitar collector. So with the exception of my two acoustics (A Martin and a Seagull) and a 12-string Danelectro, I custom built a Strat and a 12-string Jazzmaster so that I would always feel as though they are mine alone. That is my entire collection and I have played fairly consistently during my adult life. Oops, forgot that I have a Mexican made fretless Jazz bass. I might sell that one, but the rest are keepers.

---------- Post added 08-31-14 at 10:08 AM ----------

I've often wondered why people with guitars don't hang them on the wall more often.

I have three on walls right now. I use a double hanger method on them since we have earthquakes here in SF. They shouldn't bang against the wall or each other if we have a good/bad one.

Right now my camera is gathering more dust than I like. Crap!

[ChrisPlatt]

I haven't fished regularly in 20 years.
I see my old green Penn spinning reels have become collectible.
I'm thinking of selling them...

Chris