Ok How about hearing some stories about "surprise" gear purchases. I call them "surprise" purchases because your wife, husband, or significant other was not aware, or at least fully aware, of the scope of your purchase. Here are two stories I have. One involves myself, and the other a friend of mine who we will call Scooter.


My story:

So I inform the wife that I am going to purchase a new amp and have it narrowed down to a few choices. Not actively listening, she tells me to have fun and continues her phone conversation. So I leave the house with my Strat in hand to test drive the amps on my shortlist. After selecting my amp for purchase, I put half down on the amp. Upon arriving home I inform my wife of the purchase and show her pictures on the internet. She pretends to be as excited as I am. A few days later I go into the store and pay off the balance and bring my new amp home. Again she pretends to be as excited as I am. Flash-forward 2 days. Sitting at work my phone rings. It's my wife. She was about to go grocery shopping and she was checking the bank account balances online. While checking, she noticed how much the payment was for the amp (she only noticed the second payment). Her words: "you spent $XXXX.XX on an amplifier? Holy crap!". I responded: "no I did not spend $xxxx.xx" on an amp. That payment was only half the amount". She no longer pretended to be as excited about the amp as I was


Scooter story:

Scooter loved recording and was building a recording studio at home. He was approaching it like Johnny Cash sang about building a Cadillac... by taking one piece home in his lunchbox every day. In other words he was slowly acquiring equipment hoping his wife would not notice. So the day comes to upgrade his studio monitors. He goes to the Guitar Center without clearance from the tower, and proceeds to buy an extremely high-end pair of monitors. After paying he leaves the store and heads to his car. Upon arriving at his car he realizes he has locked his keys in the car. He proceeds to call his wife to come and open up the car for him. She asks where he is, and is not pleased with the fact that he is at the Guitar Center. At this point she still does not know he has made a purchase. Upon pulling into the parking lot she sees Scooter standing next to the car with two boxes containing the most recent addition to his studio. Her words to him: "Is everyday Christmas for you?"

I am sure Scooter and I are not alone in our shenanigans doing what we love so much. The $$, time spent practicing, playing with the band, etc. We are both thankful for our supportive wives!


Lets hear your story!

Here is a story:

My wife loves to spend money (who's doesn't). She spends it on cell phones, shoes, books, books, books. I keep track on how much she sends on these items, and I put about 1/3 the amount she spends on impulse buys aside for my "play" items.

She also has a $50/week plush fund plus she recieves tips at work that are all hers. She can do anything she wants with it. I too have a $50/week plush fund. I save most of mine. I am just a few weeks from walking into a guitar shop and buying $800 dollar guitar.

I know she is going to flip out, but she needs to understand that I do not spend my money on a bunch of small items. I think she knows I am about to do it. I have been working on her for a few months, and have pics on my computer desk top.

We'll see how this plays out.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Last year I told my wife that I was going out to buy an Epiphone Casino in Natural finish as it looked like my all time hero's guitar and I loved the sound of it.Anyway when I was walking over to the counter to pay for my new baby my eyes fell on an Epi EJ160E John Lennon model and that came with me too.When I walked into the house with she said"What did you do,buy two guitars?"To which I replied"No,in fact I bought three,the John Lennon 65 Casino will be here in 7-10 days,it's all paid for."What followed was not fit for man nor beast to hear but she finally came around, they always do don't they?Bless 'em.Oh yes I forgot this as it was so so long ago.When I first started work I was still living with my parents and they wouldn't have been too pleased if I came home every few months with a guitar so I would buy a guitar on credit and keep it at my married buddy's house until I figured it was safe enough to let the cat out of the bag.I must have bought 3or4 like that.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

A while back i got hammered after work with some work friends. last i remember we were passing one of the guy's acoustic guitars, that he had in his car, around and jamming. i awoke the next morning with the Epiphone Dot I had been eying out at the local shop lying on the couch downstairs.


Hmm only picture of it was right after my nephew was over, and got it all fingerprinted up.
the receipt was in the case, i have no recollection of buying it, but I still have it and don't regret the purchase at all. I am in the process of talking myself into a set of TV Jones pickups for it as an upgrade.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

I am really lucky. My wife and I always select my gear together. She never says no and I don't have to sneak anything. Then again we don't have any debt, but I still save up for it before I buy anything.

Hey rkreisher, if you'd like I could break the news to her. Sometimes having the opinion of an unbiased third party is helpful The pictures on the desktop are a good idea. Try printing out a copy and hanging it on the fridge, or attaching it to one of her silly purchases.

The other guitarist in our band has like 10 guitars. So when every my wife gives me a hard-time (it's just in fun), I show her a picture of Bob's collection and tell her should could be married to him.

I have told her that this guitar pictured is gong to be my next purchace, I just do not think she knows how soon it is going to be. I have been saving for a while. I like the idea of attaching the picture on one of her books or shoe boxes (lol).

When I married my wife I had 4 guitars in my collection. I never had more than 4 guitars in my collection at any one given time, and at this moment this next purchace will be #3 (because I have used some for trade-in's for the stuff I have now). However, this will be my last guitar purchace because I will finally have the perfect collection (for me).

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

I have a surprise purchase and it was not gear. My son signed up to get his motorcycle license to start in 6 weeks. Well it turns out a deal come along he could not walk away from and he talked MOM into giving him 4500, plus he got a loan of 3000 and he bought a used motorcycle. No tag no inspection and still sitting in the previous owners garage. My son has the title and bill of sale but the previous owner has the bike and the money!!!! I know the person he bought it from the past so I think he's OK that way. I hope it been awhile? The problem is he has a bike no tags and to get tags it needs to be inspected. There is a loan on the balance and that means it needs to be insured, you have 7 days for that and they won't insure without tags. Now I have to get this thing some how inspected, tagged and added to my insurance ASAP and I knew nothing about it until it was done.
I can't believe the wife (mom) got talked into to this behind my back so I fuming BAD MAD and have not spoke to either for two days and counting. I gave him his first car then help buy a new one six months ago and now this all when money is tight and I have not had steady work in a year+

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Amatures, you gotta know how to approach the situation. For the past 6 months I've been telling my wife about the amp I was planning on buying and I told her it was $2500. So for the past 6 months all she's done is nag me about the price and asking that I reconsider. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when it arrives and she says "I can't believe you spent $2500 on that thing", I say "no I didn't, it was only $1500". Her reply, "Oh ok nevermind."

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Well Iin the early days I used to have everything sent to a friends address. I then would say I was going over to hang and take an empty case with me. When I came home I would return with two cases and then say checkout what I just borrowed and down the basement it would go .