Collecting. Why? (Kawai Guitars content)

TTony

What is it that makes (some) humans collect things?

Is it a throwback to hunting?  Is it a desire to complete something or make it whole?  Is it the pleasure of owning "the set" and/or the thrill of the challenge?  Is it a consequence of Marketing/Advertising and having too much spare time or cash?

Why??

I spent 10+ years collecting Kawai guitars.  I had eBay searches (worldwide) for any new listings.  Google searches/alerts for any mention of Kawai Guitars.  I'd trawl through the Japanese s/h instrument sites.  I even set up a website, ostensibly to provide info on the guitars (there was nothing else online at the time), but really to prompt potential sellers to email me - which quite a few did.  I found - and bought - the ones I wanted, and quite a few that I didn't want but tripped over during the journey.  I actually started out wanting one specific model/colour, but ended up with ~25 others before I sold off the outliers/oddities.  I still have ~12 today.

And 12 is probably the world's largest collection of these guitars.

They're in storage, which costs, so they rarely even get looked at and certainly never played.  Keeping the website going (which is about 15 years out of date now) also costs, and there's no way I'm going to put the time into updating it.

Maybe it's time to give Gardiner & Houlgate a call with a consignment of unusual guitars ...

hollywoodrox

Cool , it’s a compelling thing that gives one a great sense of purpose , it’s very satisfying , the anticipation & hunt can be more satisfactory sometimes than the acquisition  . I guess we are like some kind of human magpies 

Offset

I'm intruiged - why do you keep them in storage?  I'd had a mental image of rows of Kawais lining the oak-panelled walls of the library at TT Towers...

BillDL

I've often wondered about what drives some people to collect certain things.  There are loads of different "collections" around that seem very odd to most of us, like the "moist towelette" collection from planes, trains, restaurants, etc worldwide and over a lengthy period that I once saw online.  Why?  Well, just because I suppose, especially seeing as there will have been very few people with the same impulses to collect and store moist towelettes and some of the ones that guy owned would now be impossible to find.  Finding a niche collectible is obviously a good talking point, especially where the collection has actually cost nothing or very little to compile.

Rarity?  Yes, that's most definitely what drives most collectors of anything from coins to stamps to old dinky cars to postcards.  Where many people have just disposed of things over the years while they had very little monetary value, the rarity makes them desireable again.  Although rarity doesn't always equate to monetary value, it usually does at some point depending on whether the market makes a particular thing popular again, as is the case with a lot of MIJ guitar gear these days.  I wonder how many people threw out their old Jen Cry Baby Wah-Wah pedals when you could hardly give them away, and now they are collectible and people are willing to pay quite a lot of money for them.  The same thing is true of some of the late 70s and early 80s guitars that were "starter" guitars when new.

I have only seen a few of your Kawai guitars when you posted photos of them here, but I really like the look of them.  They are all unusual, so I definitely can see why you started and continued to collect them.

TTony

Offset said:

I'm intruiged - why do you keep them in storage?  I'd had a mental image of rows of Kawais lining the oak-panelled walls of the library at TT Towers...

Too many books in the library




When we moved, about 8 yrs ago, I had 50+ guitars.  It seemed sensible to get some of them out of the way during the move, avoid the risk of damage/loss and avoid cluttering the new place up whilst we got it sorted. 

And there's never been a need to bring them all back.

TTony

BillDL said:

 They are all unusual, so I definitely can see why you started and continued to collect them.

A story I've told a few times ...

When spotty-teenage me bought his first "proper" electric, I had to choose between 2 models - a Kawai KS11XL and a Kawai KS12XL.  I'd never played either, and the reason for choosing one/other was that Tim Gentle Music in Southend had a full-page ad in International Musician and Recording World offering them at a <half-price deal, which brought them into my budget.  I liked the design (DC, twin HBs) and the open-headstock was different.

The 11XL had a carved maple cap over a mahog body, the 12XL had a phase switch (both had coil taps) in place of the maple top.  The extra mini-toggle swayed me.

I often wondered what the other one would have been like.

Roll forwards 25-odd years, and I randomly spotted an 11XL on eBay.  I bid on it, got out-bid, bid again, got out-bid (etc) until it hit new PRS SE prices.  And, having recently bought - and loved - my first PRS SE, I thought I'd be better off spending that sort of ££ on a PRS SE rather than an old Kawai.  So I let myself be out-bid.

Big - BIG, and EXPENSIVE - mistake.  A few months on, still thinking about the eBay Kawai, I decided to track another one down.  Couldn't be too difficult, right?  Long story short, I ended up buying 20-odd Kawai models from the same sort of era before, a few years later, I finally found another 11XL (someone emailed me, telling me about one in a s/h shop in Carlisle).

I'd spent a few £k amassing different models from across the world before finding that one.  I should really have just spent another £100 on that eBay auction, scratched the itch, and saved myself the money, and time.  

But then I'd never have had all those email chats with other Kawai owners across the globe ...

Paul_C

My problem is that the fun is in the collecting, far more than the owning.

I had great fun pulling together 16 Yamaha basses, one of my finest moments was asking someone on the Yamaha stand at a big show if there was anyone at Yamaha UK who had any knowledge of the old models, and the lad I spoke to coming back to tell me "there's someone in the UK who has lots, you should try him" and replying "that's me !"

I eventually sold them all and bought a number of Bongo basses before selling them all.

I'm currently thinking about selling around 10 of my Telecasters and quite a few of my pedals, just because I've hit the "I really don't need all of these" wall again.

TTony

Paul_C said:

I had great fun pulling together 16 Yamaha basses

<snip>

I eventually sold them all and bought a number of Bongo basses before selling them all.

<snip>

I'm currently thinking about selling around 10 of my Telecasters 

At least I only did it once

DefaultM

I’ve been watching that Goldin Auctions thing on Netflix and loved it at first. By the end I was thinking what’s the point of all this? Why do I do it? It’s hardly the level of spending millions on Pokémon cards, at least you can play guitars but only to a point and then you’ve just got a room full of stuff to be able to say I own this stuff.

Revolutions

Many things in this thread I identify with. 

I have a real problem with getting obsessed with things & wanting them all, only to decide I don’t need them at all. My vinyl & guitar collections flex a lot like that.

Lately it’s been Roger Mayer pedals & vintage Boss. I started on a journey to collect all MIJ pedals before I came to my senses. Now I’m focused on a silver screw collection.

The really silly/pointless thing I seem to want is a 50w JTM/JMP/800/900 collection. Why the hell would I ever need 4 Marshall heads??? I don’t use the one I already own enough as it is.

JezWynd

I think age might be a factor - it's often an older person's pastime. I'd never been at all interested in collecting but in my fifties I started collecting Boss pedals. They aren't rare items but they had to be boxed and in near mint condition. I reached about 45 (this was when the total number was around 100) and it suddenly struck me as dumb thing to do - I certainly had no use for 100 pedals cluttering up the place, esp as many of them are flavours of drive and distortion that I rarely use - so I sold them off. In retrospect and noting the prices some of them go for now, I probably should have kept them but the act of collecting for collecting's sake had lost its appeal.

I do still collect in a very small way - I'm trying to amass the full set of Patrick O'Brian's Aubery and Maturin adventures in the Folio edition. Thankfully there are only twenty books in the series and a couple of years in I'm looking for the tenth. It's a good excuse to spend time in second hand book shops and browsing eBay.

Schnozz

I'd like one.

Rkphilpot

I absolutely love big muffs and I've become very interested in the Sovtek era of EH, but its a conflicting interest, partly down to Mike Mathews inability to be ethical and partly down to the cool stuff that came out of that era. Consequently I seem to be collecting all different flavours of big muff, including clones and now have about 15 of them. I'm settled on three for my board so the others are just there to talk to people about. I'm also happy to lend them to friends, but ultimately there will be a time when I see the money tied up and will move them on. For now its the excitement of finding a new big muff and hearing how it differs.

boogieman

I can understand wanting to collect things…the thrill of the hunt etc, but not having them out on display or at least accessible seems a bit perverse.  

jonnyburgo

I know four collectors very well. Star Wars stuff, Vintage Sindy toys, Rare records and Rare books. What connects them all is that they are anxious people, the need to obtain and keep is all consuming. Star Wars dude claims he enjoys everything he has but its tucked away unopened in cupboards. I f you collect because you love the things then great but if its collecting just to have then its different. Not neccesarily an "issue" that needs any intervention of course. But it seems to be chasing happiness, which as we all know is only superficially found in "stuff" and it doesn't last long. Hope this doesn't come across like I'm above all that and some kind of guru, I'm just as fucked as the next person

PolarityMan

I wonder if part of it is the lack of time .osy of us have so when we buy something there's kind of a potential that this purchase is going to be the one that triggers the inspiration to finally put the time in etc.

Particularly with your story there might be associations with a time when you were able to spend hours and hours playing every day etc.

Funkfingers

HarrySeven's very quiet today.  

Neil

It's vintage wristwatches for me.

I used to be able to pick up old quality watches at boot sales cheaply years ago but that's pretty much over now although I made the best of it at the time.

I had around 200 at one time but still have around 100, I just love 'em. 

I also collect old fountain pens but we'd better not go into that. 

I think a good part of collecting is the enjoyment of research and the consequential knowledge of your subject.