“Some people might think it's a waste, but it's fun for me. Isn't that what matters?”: Why there’s nothing wrong with collecting gear as a hobby - even if you don’t use it

Many of you will have experienced it. You post a photo or two of your studio on social media, proud of the gear that you’ve amassed over the years. Inevitably, the comments appear: “Do you even make music with that?” “What a waste.” “You should sell it to someone who will actually play it.” What started as a way to participate in an online community (and yes, maybe show off your studio a little) devolves into feelings of shame and guilt.

For many of us, music is a hobby, a way to take our minds off the grind of our (usually non-music-related) nine-to-fives. Hobbies are supposed to be fun, and yet we’re often made to feel guilty for not playing our synthesizers or guitars enough, or failing to finish songs with our gear. Some of us may not even play with the gear at all anymore but still like having it around. Is that so bad?

It’s not bad at all. And here’s why.

We're all frustrated musicians

Someone at Roland once remarked to me, “We’re all frustrated musicians.” I imagine a lot of people reading this are too. We all started off with aspirations to make music professionally but for whatever reason, we’ve ended up doing other things.

I first fell in love with synthesizers and electronic music in my youth and have spent most of my life making music as a hobby. Now that I’m older with a family and responsibilities, I don’t have the freedom to spend nights and all weekend holed up in my studio.

The gear that I have accumulated does get used - just not as much as I’d like. And I imagine that’s the same for a lot of you. You still like the gear, you like buying it and interacting with it and even occasionally working with it, but this doesn’t happen nearly as often as you hope.

Does this mean we no longer deserve to own the equipment we have spent years accumulating and enjoying?

“I abhor collectors”

Three years ago, user TVSKS posted this statement in the /synthesizer sub-Reddit: “I’ve noticed a lot of negativity towards people who have a lot of gear and I don't get what that's about. Someone else might think it's a waste but it's fun for me. Isn't that what matters?”

I tend to agree with TVSKS but I know not everyone does, so I posted on Facebook, asking for opinions about gear collecting.

“I absolutely abhor collectors that have multiple rare synths sitting in a room somewhere that never get used,” answered one user. When pressed on why they abhor collectors, the poster replied, “Because instruments are meant to be played. What's the point of having a Yamaha CS-80 if it lives in a room unplugged and dormant? I don't care about large collections that get used, it's just the ‘collectors’ that don't use the stuff and treat it like a museum artifact.”

This is a common gripe with anti-collectors, that instruments deserved to be played. But to what extent? We can’t all be full-time musicians. This poster likened studio collections to museums, but I would argue that even museums have their place.

In many ways, Japan is a country of museums. There are museums of all kinds, from the Extinct Media Museum to one that focuses exclusively on parasites. So it makes sense that there are also museums for musical instruments.

The Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments is located in the same town, that being Hamamatsu, as the headquarters of Roland, Yamaha, and Suzuki. It’s something of a music city. Along with large collections of historical pianos, gamelans and other unique instruments from around the world, it has a particularly impressive collection of mostly Japanese synthesizers, including Fumio Mieda’s original Prototype 1, Japan’s first synthesizer. Very few instruments are available to actually play but the museum fulfills a different objective: it’s a place of history and education.

A few hours away, over in the mountains of Gifu, is the Nakatsugawa Korg Museum, a private collection dedicated to the synthesizers, drum machines and other gear made by the Japanese company. The focus here is on instrument and product design. While a few items are available to play, most are not, and yet it remains an invaluable resource, one that Korg and its employees even sometimes take advantage of.

These are just two examples of collections where the musical instruments are not often played, and yet are absolutely worthy of existence because they provide a different value than just music.

Restoration has value

There are many ways to work with music gear that don’t necessarily involve playing them. I’m not a rich man. One way that I’ve been able to afford the gear that I have is by buying broken and fixing it up. Restoring gear is a surprisingly intimate endeavour. Taking something apart, figuring out how it works, getting into almost a conversation with it to find out what’s wrong - by the time you’re done you won’t be in any hurry to part with this equipment that you’ve developed a relationship with.

Musician and collector Brandon agrees: “Most of my gear at this point has sentimental value to me often from the journey of finding, fixing, and in many cases modernizing. I often consider how difficult it would be to replace something if I sold it.”

Asking me to part with a machine that I have come to think of, in a sense, as a friend just because I don’t use it in the way you think is ‘right’ feels intrusive and unnecessary.

I think most people with sizable collections of gear will say that they have relationships with most every piece in their studio. Whether that’s from restoration work, playing or even just existing alongside it, they can tell you about each piece, where it came from and the quirks of each one.

“I have about 10 synths,” said LeSynth in answer to my query about thoughts on collecting, “and most of them are complex and beautiful and unpredictable and great-sounding enough that every time I play one of them, I get a warm feeling inside - like love, but not.”

This feeling of "love, but not" is one that we can all understand, I think. Selling gear can often be a difficult thing to do for this very reason. Ask a musician about the gear that they regret selling, and they’ll have stories going back decades. We don’t forget. Like a lost love or long-passed beloved childhood pet, the instruments stay in our hearts because of the bonds that we forge with them.

And if you think just collecting and not playing isn’t enough to develop those bonds, ask an art collector if they could easily give up the pieces hanging on their walls.

A library of potential

Something I love about having an extensive collection of instruments is the variety that this provides me. There are many different kinds of synthesis, from analogue to FM and so many others, and even within the same synthesis type, every synthesizer is different.

A Moog has a different timbre from a Roland from a Sequential from an Oberheim. You know what I mean. Having a variety of synths, or guitars, or even pianos means that you have an arsenal of sounds available when you need them - even if you go long periods of time between use.

“I see it as a library of functions or potentials,” commented Palle Dahlstedt. “I never use very many machines at once but focus on a few. Everything gets used at some point, even though there are sometimes years between the occasions. That doesn't bother me. I am aware of what's in the machine library, and this conditions my thinking, my imagination and my creative process.”

Hobbyist musician Ron Ramos has a similar approach to music-making. “I've accumulated a lot of gear, enough to be called a sizeable collection. My view is this: it's like each piece of gear has a different character/tone, like paint brushes. A painter won't always use every brush for painting, they'll use it when they feel the need or when inspired to use it.”

A metaphor I like to use is spices in the kitchen. A good chef will keep their pantry stocked with a variety of spices. They may not need turmeric everyday, but at some point they’re going to want to make a curry.

Just for fun

Think about the people you know with gear collections. Most of them are part-time musicians or hobbyists. How many do you know that are strictly collectors and nothing else?

“A common thread I see online is that when someone sees a nice collection they assume it’s never used,” said Brandon. “This is at least sometimes true, but I know for a fact it’s not always true.”

BoBeats agrees. “Thinking back on my 10 years of being active in the online synth space, I can't remember talking to anyone who was only a collector. I am sure they must exist but I think they are quite rare. And if you are specifically asking about the small percent of people who for some reason collect synths like someone would garden gnomes, well, each to their own. There are worse things to collect, like said garden gnomes. They are creepy…”

There are many different ways to enjoy gear, whether you actively make music with it or not. While I make a few albums a year, most of what I do is sit amongst it and write. Just being near my synths and effects is enjoyable and inspiring. Do I wish I had the time to use them more? Of course I do, but that doesn’t mean I have to give any of it up because I don’t.

Nor do I have to feel ashamed about it, a common feeling among music hobbyists. “I often feel guilty about not using my gear as often as I feel I should,” echoed Brandon.

Many of us also feel guilty for not monetizing our hobby. Although I enjoy putting my music out into the world, most of what I make never gets released, and that’s perfectly alright. “I don’t understand why the ‘hustle’ mentality is so strong in the creative arts,” said Mr_Bo_Jandals on Reddit. “People who play golf or soccer, or surf or go to the gym in their time off have to pay club fees, purchase new equipment, etc, with no expectation of ever making money from doing something they enjoy. I just want to play music and enjoy my life.”

Whatever your relationship with gear, whether that be playing synths everyday and releasing a torrent of music to Spotify, noodling on a guitar in the spare bedroom on your day off, restoring old gear, or simply collecting instruments because you think they’re beautiful - there’s value in all of it.