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Hoarding

Aloha_Mark

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Joined
Dec 15, 2011
Messages
495
In Season 11 of CSI-Las Vegas, the character, Dr. Ray Langston, is investigating the case of a female hoarder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29f6AnVdIF0

The scriptwriters gave their interpretation of hoarding behavior, as originally espoused by the philosopher/psychologist Erich Fromm:

Dr. Langston:

"The philosopher Erich Fromm, he forecast a society that was obsessed with possessions. He believed that human beings have 2 basic orientations – having and being.

Now – a person with the having orientation seeks to acquire and possess things, property, even people, while the person with the being orientation focuses on the experience, they derive meaning from the exchanging, engaging, and sharing with other people."


"When you consider that in 1960 there was no such thing as public storage in America. Today there’s over 2 billion square feet dedicated to it – makes you think he had a point…
Things don’t have to mean everything nor do they have to be devoid of meaning. They are one of the ways in which we can experience and enjoy life."


I won't comment about whether hoarding is good or bad for society, but it is good for history. Just as there are some stamp collectors who purchase every issue from the US Postal Service, aren't there Gibson collectors who purchase every single production model? There are some members of this forum that own every Collector's Choice model. Now, there must be some member who owns every acoustic and electric hollowbody, semi-hollow, and solidbody Gibson guitar produced in the 1950's, possibly even as the original owner. And if they happen to be millionaires or billionaires, they have probably set up an ecosystem of parts and supplies for maintaining and restoring their collection. Before buying my first vintage guitar, I had acquired dozens of parts, including pickups, bridges, tailpieces, etc. When I got into vintage amps, I began hoarding RCA tubes, old resistors, capacitors, etc. Tell me that I am not the only person suffering from this affliction (some call collecting a disease, a hobby with no end).
 
Y

yeti

Guest
Hoarding and collecting are two very different things.
Hoarding is born out of the inability to let go of stuff, collecting is a deliberate choice to acquire and retain CERTAIN objects.
Hoarding is random while collecting is deliberate.
I don't hoard and I don't collect but I like collectors and pity hoarders.
 

jrfisher

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Oct 24, 2003
Messages
1,124
I've never considered myself a Hoarder or Collector, however; I seem to be running out of places to put things :)
 

moonweasel

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Jan 20, 2004
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9,427
I don't know about technical designations between hoarding and collecting, but I can say that I personally "don't get it" when people own multiple examples of the same, new production guitar (multiple R9's for example). To me only, having a SPECIAL guitar means having one that you use constantly because it is one of the few or the only one you have. It is NOT my place to judge though. People should do what makes them happy.
 

lanman

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Mar 17, 2005
Messages
1,480
Having been on both sides and in between. I do get it. If I had no financial constraints, I'd own a warehouse of guitars. I will say this, however, owning grips of guitars is a lot of work, time and brain power. It must be your passion. Adding clean/mint vintage guitars is a whole 'nother level of consumption. My new madness is mutts and exploring inexpensive sources of tone as my budget allows. I still have and will never sell my core 3. This is what now makes me happy!
 

Black58

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Oct 28, 2005
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10,139
I saw that episode the other day, too! (CSI Vegas junkie! :nut)
Interesting that it was brought up, 'cause that bit of wisdom actually struck a chord an' has stuck with me, since; .. Which is rare fer me, concerning television. :yah



.. Oh, an' I'm not a hoarder, nor collector. I have 3. I wish I had 2, but I have 3. :jim
 

Pat Boyack

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Oct 19, 2011
Messages
4,510
I lived next to a hoarder for a number of years. The house was filled chest high in crap. He and his common law wife had two cut outs big enough for a twin bed each. Thank God they are gone. Hoarding is a terrible mental disorder and life threatening. You can't fathom it until you see it in person.
 

Aloha_Mark

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Dec 15, 2011
Messages
495
It all begins with good intentions, let us say, a quest for the Holy Grail, Excalibur, or the Ark of the Covenant. Then you get sidetracked. You pick up a Norlin era guitar as a curiosity, then a 1970's Fender. It never stops. Soon your house looks like an archaeological dig, with artifacts piled all over the place. I tend to favor vintage P90 and T-top pickups- it seems as though I have dozens of these, waiting for a home in some guitar I have yet to acquire, but will, any day now. If you own more than six guitars, I pronounce you to be infected by this hoarding malaise.
 

J T

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Oct 20, 2005
Messages
10,501
let's see... one, two, twenty nine, thirty, ... hmmm. Hoarder?


Naaaa!
 

JJC

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Feb 25, 2008
Messages
1,027
Yep, my father was a hoarder - it's a form of OCD. When it came time to hoe out his house, I thought for sure we'd find something valuable. But it was pretty much just junk. Cans of rusty bent nails that he was going to straighten and re-use, newspapers, empty plastic containers, 5 or 6 broken VHS machines that he was going to repair (but never did), bicycles that he would bring back from the dump with rotted tires....it goes on and on. He would also buy stuff just because it was on sale. We found 20 un-opened circular saw blades throughout different rooms in the house. He would buy a couple, lose them in the crap and forget he had bought them and buy more when they went on sale again.

Still miss the old curmudgeon, though.
 

garywright

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Aug 17, 2002
Messages
15,583
there's some that have a matching car and drive with their head poking out the trash
 

trmckn

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Jun 25, 2011
Messages
335
Hoarding is born out of the inability to let go of stuff
[\QUOTE]

Oh no! I never thought I was a hoarder, but maybe it's so!!! I've never once let go of a guitar or amp that I've picked up. I do keep things tidy, for what that's worth....

Seriously though...and maybe this is just some sort of rationalization.... but I don't acquire a guitar, or amp (or anything else for that matter) without thinking about it ahead of time. While it's been a few months since I've played my Firebird, I really do like it (and will put it back in the rotation within a few months in any case) and don't see a need to part with it just because it doesn't see daily use.
 

JJC

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Feb 25, 2008
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1,027
Hoarding is born out of the inability to let go of stuff
[\QUOTE]

Oh no! I never thought I was a hoarder, but maybe it's so!!! I've never once let go of a guitar or amp that I've picked up. I do keep things tidy, for what that's worth....

Seriously though...and maybe this is just some sort of rationalization.... but I don't acquire a guitar, or amp (or anything else for that matter) without thinking about it ahead of time. While it's been a few months since I've played my Firebird, I really do like it (and will put it back in the rotation within a few months in any case) and don't see a need to part with it just because it doesn't see daily use.

No, I really think hoarding is different - you're more of a collector. Let me ask you this; is any of that gear you have broken beyond repair or the value of the repair but you still keep it because you have this weird idea that if you get another broken one of the same thing you can make one good one out of two? All when the value of it, even in a working state, is next to nothing? Your collection is also specific to a certain thing. A hoarder, as previously stated, can't throw anything away - even empty cereal boxes for the reason they're good for holding mail (that they also can't throw away).
 

JR-Special

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Dec 26, 2001
Messages
598
Hoarding is something completely different than collecting. Collecting involves appreciating the objects. A collector is many times willing to let a part of the collection go to add something even more desirable to their collections, a hoarder lets nothing go, and gets agitated when somebody removes something, no matter how useless, from them..

I collect, I have 9 guitars and play them all. I have 11 amps and use them. Each guitar and amp has a purpose. They are special to me. I use them and take care of them. I have a few pedals and other gear as well. But none of them are something I can never let go of. They don't own me... I own them.

A hoarder does not appreciate their possessions, they NEED them. They want everything and won't part with anything, for any reason. There is only an irrational feeling that they must keep everything and add add more, even if the items are of no use.

A close friend of mine's parent is a hoarder. That person grew up in poverty. Now that they have some financial means they keep everything fearing a day they will go back to having nothing. It is an irrational behavior. Over the time I have known this person they have filled up a 2000+ square foot home and an additional 2 car garage from floor to ceiling with stuff. Most of which that person can't even get to let alone use or appreciate. Still, they add to it every day. All the living space but a bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen are packed. Even those areas are not free from being stuffed, but at least they can use the bed, toilet, shower, refrigerator stove, etc. Even the yard is filled with junk cars and other large items that died but can't be parted with. There is no love of the possessions, no care taken with them, no accounting of what is there. There is just a fear of going back to having nothing, so they keep everything. Hoarding.

Hoarding is a far different thing than collecting.
 

DANELECTRO

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
6,318
Hoarding is a far different thing than collecting.



Hoarding...

hoarding-208-joycelyn-living-room-before.jpg


450_messy1_080516.jpg


Hoarding.jpg




Collecting...

4pw9dvr.jpg


Slash_GuitarCollection.jpg


50_black_fender_amps_1.jpg



60_tweeds_1a.jpg















(Okay, maybe hoarding) :peace2
 

stock_hippie

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Jul 15, 2006
Messages
4,247
"I wonder if Joe Bonamassa would play on my new studio CD "Homeless Freddy"..i?
 
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