Official Luthiers Forum!

As the subject stated, how often do you suffer a relapse of ZAS or TAS?
And what do you do to stop yourself from buying more?

When I surf those tonewood sites, I often get an impulse to buy those beautiful tonewoods...
Right now I probably have enough tonewood to build about 20 guitars or more.
Base on the rate I am build it'll take me at least another 20 years to finish building them.

Similarly when I surf those tool sites, I am really attracted to those beautiful tools.
Although I already have quite a number of tools (some even unused), I always try to find a reason to get more.
Now I try to restrict myself to only do a shopping once in a 2 or 3 months...

I am amateur; I build as a leisure and I stock up woodpiles for pleasure.
But I guess for the pros it's a different story?
How about the rest of you?

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Sen CL Goh
http://senguitar.blogspot.com

ZAS?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Zamboni Acquisition Syndrome! Abnormal accumulation of ice resurfacing machines!!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Zoot Acquisition Syndrome. The OLF version of WAS.

I'm actually OK for ZAS, mostly because I got a lot of it out of my system a few years back, and prices are up about 30% compared to back then for equivalent quality woods in most places. Besides, at the rate I'm building and looking at how my life's put together, other interests, and so forth, my current supply of wood reached STABLE a while ago - Stash Totally Above and Beyond Life Expectancy. Well, unless I start building full-time after retirement in several decades, but given all the other passions and hobbies...not likely.

I'll only really be tempted by more tooling and more wood once a) the CNC comes in (should speed some things up on the electric front) and b) I get a bigger shop that could house, say, a table saw.

Monthly. Never really goes away.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

I am tempted every day, 20 sets is not a true addiction unless you bought it all in a couple months. I am in the 40+ range and actually only regret 2 or 3 purchases. Bob and Pete at RC are my biggest addiction feeders though I have spread my sickness around.

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Often called "enablers"

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

I have so many Zambonis. It's really absurd and I don't even ice skate, watch, play or like hockey, or have any desire to do so. I just think Zambonis are the pinnacle of ice smoothing technology and as such, I love them and want to own them. I built my first Zamboni from some rubber tubing, some scrap wood and rope.
It started innocently enough at first. Talking about Zambonis with my buddies over a few drinks. Then I built my first amateur Zamboni from some rubber tubing, some scrap wood and rope. Here its a prototype that was used to resurface dirt:


Next I was building more elaborate, miniature Zambonis and "smoothing" the linoleum in local markets:


Shortly after that, I bought my first full sized Zamboni. Everything was cool until I decided to be a helpful guy and took it to a local ice rink to help out. Their Zamboni was old and sad and did not smooth the ice to a perfect, factory guitar-like, glassy finish. That is when things got ugly. I would not wait for the skaters to clear the ice before I drove onto the ice. One autumn afternoon when the sun was low on the horizon and a light fog filled the air, I drove my zamboni to the local rink and there was one skater who was just a bit slower than the rest. I was not paying as much attention as I should have been. Zambonis, for all of their wonder and splendor, are not the highly maneuverable machines one might think they are. I ran over....something....I never went back to find out what it was, but I never did get the smell off of that particular zamboni. Rumors started to circulate around town that the "crazy $*@%# with the Zamboni" had killed someone at the rink. No charges were ever filed and since a Zamboni is not the fastest getaway vehicle, anyone who wanted to follow me home would have had to do no more work than to simply stroll leisurely behind me as I made my way back home. Perhaps we will never know what I ran over that day. Perhaps we are not supposed to find out. The only remaining evidence that something happened is a single, solitary photograph taken by the kindly old gentleman who used to wear a trench coat to all of the events and hang out by the locker room all of the time. I think he kept a dachshund under his coat because it always seemed something was bouncing around under there and sometimes when he was feeling goofy, he would open his coat to women and show them the dog. I know because they would scream, "He showed me his weiner!!" and they were always excited so it must have been a really cute dachshund. Here is the picture he took of that fateful day:

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Well, that bloodstain (or whatever it is) is sure suggestive!

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Old growth, shmold growth!

My wife calls it an illness, and she's NOT joking. When I look at my wood storage room and my bank account statement, I really have no reasonable defense.

God forbid anything be posted here that might be interpreted as suggestive by anyone, anywhere...

It is GW. I think it is a spilled can of red paint or a large Slurpee. Either way, it was a waste of resources and it ruined my perfectly manicured ice. Twas a sad, sad day for members of the KitZamboniForum as well. I can't recall why, but it was. Meantime, people at the OfficialZamboniersForum were in an uproar over some kit zamboni builders infringing upon thier sacred turf. I mean come on!! Building a zamboni from a kit is not zambonerie. Best you can hope for with your first build is a zamboni that looks half way decent, probably weighs a ton, is over built, and probably doesn't smooth the ice that well. Wait until you have a few dozen scratch zamboni builds under your belt before you decide they are good enough to sell. What if one of your zambonis breaks and it comes back for a repair? Will you be able to do the repair? That's when you are a Zambonier.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Right on. I may need to mention that to my wife.

Much of the wood I have collected I do not anticipate being readily available in the not-too-distant future. At least that's how I justify it in my mind.

man Tony, you are on a roll lately!

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If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason. - Jack Handey

For a quick second I thought it was an octopus at center ice in Hockey Town.
No winged wheel though.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Looks more like someone ran over a Penguin, Lance.

Ha! Is that Crosby?

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

That spooge,
Mabye an oil blowout or hydraulic fluid hose eruption?<-( not meant in an offensive way)
Cheers
Charliewood

My wife often asks me if I’m looking at porno on the computer. I turn it around so she can see the wood sets that I’m looking at. Her reaction is typically “Oh that’s worse” followed by “no, you don’t need any more wood. My wood pile isn’t that big but I could build for years on it at my pace.

Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

I spent the last year in a big time TAS grip. Before that it was wood all the time.
Now, I have moved and have everything in piles and am embarrassed at the sheer size of all the piles, even if they were all "good" purchases. I'm not kidding. I have nothing against beautiful wood but I have gotten way ahead of myself.
It has me appreciating the idea that the skill,execution, and knowledge are the beautiful parts.
Look for me on the classifieds once I get it all sorted out.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I think not living in the US helps - all the fun eBay auction stuff is now mostly too expensive to ship here in a cost-effective sort of way. The Euro suppliers have a decent amount of stuff, and Madinter occasionally gets a bunch of my money.

Sad reality: given time constraints, if I complete 1 to 2 guitars per year it's a very good year for me (although I hope to bump that to 2-3 per year from now on). And I have materials for at least 70 acoustic guitars (not counting tuning machines and blocks of wood that could be resawn), and probably about 30-40 electrics, including 20-30 carved top blanks (not exactly sure). Still slightly short on neck blanks that are not mahogany and fingerboards though.

I suffer from WAS and TAS all the time. If I had more room in my shop, I would have more tools and more wood. As it is now, I have enough wood for 20 guitars and another 80 soundboards that don't have backs or sides for them yet.
I really should unload some spruce.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I can't wait, Burton (I have WAS and TAS pretty bad most of the time) .

I just had a relapse of ZAS - bought a wamara B&S set!!!
Cheers
Charliewood

TAS ? ZAS ? Not me.

I need all of those tools and all of that wood.

-jd