GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome)

I had this affliction for a short spell. I actually only realised it’s existence, and that I was a sufferer, when I stumbled across the Unoffcial Martin Guitar Forum (UMGF) in 2003. This was shortly after I had “acquired” my Martin OOO-28 and became interested in its pedigree and in Martin guitars in general.

I won’t go into the grisly details of the many and varied symptoms of this dread condition (for the
knowledgeable: there is no pun intended here) but one such is the sudden realisation that you have sub-consciously decided what your next guitar purchase is going to be before you have actually sat down (and, hopefully discussed with your wife/husband/bank manager) whether to buy another guitar at all! Not to mention whether you might sell an existing guitar to fund the venture.

This condition can last years, and for some there seems to be no cure, or hope of one. Many, with a somewhat fatalistic and morbid sense of humour suggest that the only “cure” is to buy one. But, alas; this is no cure at all; in fact, it only reinforces the condition. The only working cure I’ve found is to make sure that you are so financially impoverished that there is no possibility of ever succumbing to any of the temptations that come your way. Fortunately, that’s been a more or less permanent state for me and I have been enjoying a remission that has so far lasted”¦ ooh”¦ just under two years now. Only once, prior to this and after I procured the OOO did I succumb and became the guilty owner of my OM-18V.

Of course, the twinges still come and go, and I have to be careful which internet forums I frequent – and I’m determined not to become a “lurker” (surely the GAS equivalent to an alcoholic drinking alone at home where he/she thinks nobody will know). So, by and large, I’m GAS-free. And an OM-28V holds no appeal to me whatsoever. No none. Not a bit. I wouldn’t dream of…