Someone talk me out of this....

BRISTOL86

A week ago I had a budget of £100 for a starter electric and amp .... 

You know the drill, a few trips to this forum and I now own an Ibanez SA series, a Pacifica 112 and a THR10C and spent 4x my budget ... this place should come with some kind of warning. 

Theres a '97 MIM tele with a bit of cosmetic damage locally that I think the seller would let go for a smidge over £200. 

I've wanted a Fender forever.....but really can't spend any more right now ... do I stick with what I've bought or replace it with the Tele? 

My head says leave it alone and focus on my learning rather than buying even more gear...but I'm a sucker when I think there's a good deal
to be had  

Alterlifeson

I'd leave. The GAS will pass soon enough! I bet you'll be able to find another for that sort of price fairly often.

BRISTOL86

I can't believe you're trying to talk me out of this     

You're right though, I'm just terribly impulsive! If I spent half as much time practicing as I did looking at gear......! 

mixolyd

If you'd stuck to your budget you'd now have a crap guitar, a crap amp and a big disadvantage in trying to learn.  

By the sounds of it you now have gear that is up to the job so get on with it!

Sporky

£200 would get you a lot of lessons.

Lessons are good.

BRISTOL86

mixolyd said:

If you'd stuck to your budget you'd now have a crap guitar, a crap amp and a big disadvantage in trying to learn.  

By the sounds of it you now have gear that is up to the job so get on with it!

Haha yeah, spot on. I have no regrets about what I bought! I'm especially smitten with the THR10C, amazing bit of kit!

Sassafras

Tell me where it is and I'll buy it thus removing it from temptation.

BRISTOL86

Sporky said:

£200 would get you a lot of lessons.

Lessons are good.

Yeah, for sure. I took lessons for a few months but had to take a hiatus due to lots of working away and not getting enough time between lessons to work on what I was learning. 

I'm hoping to start again in the new year though I'm actually really enjoying the 'self learning' at home.

It's truly staggering how much quality content is out there for people these days compared with when I was a kid/teen and learning new hobbies etc. 

Limehouse_Blues

if another £200 won't leave you unable to pay your bills then knock yourself out.

if it were me I'd pass though. If you're just starting out focus on getting the best out of what you have. GAS isn't good and I've certainly been hit with it in the past. Avoid it as long as you possibly can because it's a slippery slope.

Sesh

Don't go chasing decals on a headstock. It sounds like you have a good starting set up. Practice and save. Give yourself more time to know what you really need from a guitar.

BRISTOL86

Limehouse_Blues said:

if another £200 won't leave you unable to pay your bills then knock yourself out.

if it were me I'd pass though. If you're just starting out focus on getting the best out of what you have. GAS isn't good and I've certainly been hit with it in the past. Avoid it as long as you possibly can because it's a slippery slope.

Well just to be clear I'd likely be selling on the Ibanez and Pacifica if I did buy the Fender, so the money's already spent one way or another  

A better phrasing of the question is 'should I swap a Pacifica and an Ibanez SA360 for a MIM Tele' and £50 in cash!

BRISTOL86

Sesh said:

Don't go chasing decals on a headstock. It sounds like you have a good starting set up. Practice and save. Give yourself more time to know what you really need from a guitar.

Yeah pretty much what my head is telling me! I kind of feel like I've made a mistake in buying two guitars though. They're both lovely but I feel like I've spent more time so far trying to figure out how and why they feel and sound different, and what I prefer, than actually playing. 

Not that it's a bad thing to have things to figure out of course! 

TonyR

Buying more gear won't make you a better player, lessons and practice will...

A colleague of mine at work took up the guitar last year. He asked for my advice frequentyly and ignored it every time. Consequently he now has a collection of sub £100 guitars...
Then recently he decided he was going to learn the bass and blew £500 on a brand new bass and amp! Goodness knows what he's going to do with the guitars...

Bridgehouse

Set goals. Find a moderately challenging song you really want to play, learn it, practice it - when you get that glowing feeling that you've learned something well and you feel proud then go out and blow some money on gear.

Rinse and repeat til you widdle like Guthrie/Bonamossa etc. and sell the house and buy a 59 burst.

ok maybe not the last bit - but motivation with goals really does work

olafgarten

You've come to the wrong place to get people to talk you out of buying something. I'm surprised at the positive response so far. 

Sporky

olafgarten said:

You've come to the wrong place to get people to talk you out of buying something. I'm surprised at the positive response so far. 

It's vicarious.

robgilmo

If you want an MIM Tele get an early one, look for a 62 reissue, look for the serial number on the bridge, those were nice guitars worth hunting down. What were they early 80's?

Bridgehouse

robgilmo said:

If you want an MIM Tele get an early one, look for a 62 reissue, look for the serial number on the bridge, those were nice guitars worth hunting down. What were they early 80's?

1987 onwards for Fender Mexico

JezWynd

Get the Tele, then focus on the learning. Everything's easier with a Tele (actually that's not true, you have to work it to make a Tele sound good, but hey!).

BRISTOL86

Bridgehouse said:

Set goals. Find a moderately challenging song you really want to play, learn it, practice it - when you get that glowing feeling that you've learned something well and you feel proud then go out and blow some money on gear.

Rinse and repeat til you widdle like Guthrie/Bonamossa etc. and sell the house and buy a 59 burst.

ok maybe not the last bit - but motivation with goals really does work

That's what I'm doing at the moment, I started learning Bold As Love yesterday. I've only done the first two measures and it's already giving me a warm feeling  

The GAS has abated, I'm going to knuckle down and put my energy into playing and not shopping....for now

robgilmo

Bridgehouse said:

robgilmo said:

If you want an MIM Tele get an early one, look for a 62 reissue, look for the serial number on the bridge, those were nice guitars worth hunting down. What were they early 80's?

1987 onwards for Fender Mexico

Your right, its the early MIJ ones I'm thinking of.