1. You drive past three local lumber sources to go get the "good" wood for your builds.

2. You go to flea markets/swap meets, pass up the better stuff, and scrounge through the "scratch and dent" bins at the back of the spaces looking for old hinges, bolts, hardware, metal scraps to restock your building inventory.

3. As you ponder a household purchase, you mentally calculate how many pickups, pots, tuners and fret wire you could buy with that money.

4. On the night before trash pickup, you glance around at other local household recycle bins on the block for prospective git parts and ornamentation (or is that just me?)

5. When a friend who knows about your hobby says "you want some wood?" you always say "sure", knowing that most of it will be fireplace-grade, but you don't want to miss out on the occasional gem.

6. When you see a desk, dresser, table out by the curb with a "free" sign, you have to stop and look to see if it's oak, or pine, or MDF, and potentially usable.

7. When an acquaintance tells you "My uncle has a bunch of old cigar boxes he needs to get rid of" you bite your lip while you try to steer that person into letting you drive them over there Right Now!

8. For those of us in the U.S.A. - you had a vague recollection of being taught the metric system as a kid, but now you own a bitchin' metal ruler in millimeters after you discovered that string spacing and fret spacing, was much easier using the metric measurements.

9. You delight in finding a cheap, beater, no-name, Strat-style knockoff in a thrift store as a treasure trove of parts for several future cbg builds.

Must be a couple of dozen more...what are yours?

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Replies

  • someone posts  "what should i do with these boxes?" and you spend the next hour replying with ideas....

  • Haha! These are great! 

    Can I post some of these on FB? 

  • The security guard at the liquor store watches you like a hawk and follows right behind you as you check out the shape of every single bottle neck for slides.

  • I always carry a multi tool with me on dogwalks cause you never know when you will find some cool hardware on an old dresser, or an old TV with the speakers still in it!, especially on trash pick up day. 

    • Shhhhh! Don't tell everybody. Lol, I do the same. In the last couple of years I've picked up 2 Strat guitar bodies, a tube amp, computers, monitors, TV's, a 5 piece drum set, a solid state amp, furniture, scrap wood and 3 sets of 3-way stereo speakers.

    • ha

  • I get interesting looks at the thrift as I tap and thump on anything I pick to see how it sounds, even if it is an ashtray!

  • Yup.  Dat's  me.

  • You have a tote full of orphaned 56 gauge low E strings

    • Hey JL....you use those for bass diddley bows!

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