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Post by slacker 🐨 on Mar 29, 2022 8:09:12 GMT -5
I've noticed that there seems to be a huge uptick in people who buy brand new items and then immediately turn around and customize the crap out of them. Some examples:
People spend $60k on a brand new F-150 and then immediately do a left and/or level, update the exhaust, Change out rims and tires, etc.
People buy or build an AR and then start swapping parts out like crazy. This really is confusing for those who build. They literally pieced together all the parts to build the AR, then 3 months later they change out the sights, or put on a different handguard, swap out the trigger, etc. It's like they'd rather build/swap/upgrade/etc rather than take it to the range and shoot.
I follow crownline boat groups since I bought a boat last summer. They constantly are upgrading: tint windows, change the carpet, upgrade the stereo, add captain's call exhaust, etc.
My son bought a Ford Fiesta ST (performance hot hatch) and has done a bunch of mods to it. He keeps trying to talk me into a different intercooler and other mods for my Fusion Sport.
What's up with buying something new that you can choose what you want, then turning around and changing it all up? It seems like it's more prominent in younger generations.
Anyone else notice this?
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Post by Mfitz804 on Mar 29, 2022 8:11:24 GMT -5
What's up with buying something new that you can choose what you want, then turning around and changing it all up? It seems like it's more prominent in younger generations. Anyone else notice this? I think the number of people on this site who upgrade their pickups, saddles, bridges, trem blocks, etc might disagree... |
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Post by Leftee on Mar 29, 2022 8:26:42 GMT -5
It keeps me off the heroin.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Mar 29, 2022 8:29:02 GMT -5
What's up with buying something new that you can choose what you want, then turning around and changing it all up? It seems like it's more prominent in younger generations. Anyone else notice this? I think the number of people on this site who upgrade their pickups, saddles, bridges, trem blocks, etc might disagree... That's true. Interestingly, I only have one modded guitar....a strat with a SD humbucker in the bridge position. Everything else is bone stock. Maybe it's just a "me" thing. I generally buy what I want and use it. Others seem more interested in tinkering with their stuff than using it. |
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Post by Mfitz804 on Mar 29, 2022 8:32:30 GMT -5
I think the number of people on this site who upgrade their pickups, saddles, bridges, trem blocks, etc might disagree... That's true. Interestingly, I only have one modded guitar....a strat with a SD humbucker in the bridge position. Everything else is bone stock. Maybe it's just a "me" thing. I generally buy what I want and use it. Others seem more interested in tinkering with their stuff than using it. Definitely true, and years of experience tells me we have got a lot of tinkerers here. |
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Post by Leftee on Mar 29, 2022 8:44:27 GMT -5
I tinker
A lot
With all kinds of things.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Mar 29, 2022 8:49:41 GMT -5
My son has been pushing me to upgrade the stereo in the boat. We don't even come close to pushing the limits of what's installed, but he wants to upgrade. That would be like buying a riding lawn mower for a 20' x 20' yard.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Mar 29, 2022 8:49:52 GMT -5
When it comes to guitar related stuff, guilty as charged. Fortunately I don't know enough about amps to dive into that, other than speaker swaps. I did replace a transformer once in my Pro Jr.
It's a hobby, a distraction. I have a Warmoth Tele thinline that at first had a P90 in the neck and Tele bridge. Then it had a traditional configuration that required a new pickguard. Then I returned to P90/Tele pickup, then Minihumbucker/Tele config. I'm now going back to a standard Tele config but had to order a new pickguard from Warmoth. The one I had before was sacrificed to make a trussrod cover. My wife thinks I'm nuts. But as they say, idle hands=devil's workshop. I'm just trying to stave off Beelzebubba.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Mar 29, 2022 9:09:56 GMT -5
It's like they'd rather build/swap/upgrade/etc rather than take it to the range and shoot. Let me rephrase that. I do resemble that remark. It's like they'd rather build/swap/upgrade/etc rather than take it to the music room and practice/play I've been kicking myself in the A$$ all my life about that.  Edited to add: When it comes to firearms I don't have that problem, I take what came out of the box and go learn to shoot it. |
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Post by Mfitz804 on Mar 29, 2022 9:31:58 GMT -5
It's like they'd rather build/swap/upgrade/etc rather than take it to the range and shoot. Let me rephrase that. I do resemble that remark. It's like they'd rather build/swap/upgrade/etc rather than take it to the music room and practice/play I've been kicking myself in the A$$ all my life about that. Edited to add: When it comes to firearms I don't have that problem, I take what came out of the box and go learn to shoot it. I definitely fell into that a few years back. Get like I was upgrading, adjusting, cleaning and restringing far more than I was playing. I’m at a point I now where I don’t believe I could play effectively if I wanted to, my hands are in pain all the time. Probably time to get to an arthritis doc rather than a combination of self treatment and having my primary care doc tell me to make an arthritis doc appointment and then it doing it. |
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Post by Leftee on Mar 29, 2022 9:35:41 GMT -5
A lot of my tinkering involves guitar builds. And I do so many a year I couldn’t possibly keep them all. The time spent in my shop is therapy.
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Post by Mfitz804 on Mar 29, 2022 10:03:37 GMT -5
A lot of my tinkering involves guitar builds. And I do so many a year I couldn’t possibly keep them all. The time spent in my shop is therapy. Maybe one day you'll get good enough to stop accidentally building them all backwards.  |
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Post by Leftee on Mar 29, 2022 10:07:37 GMT -5
A lot of my tinkering involves guitar builds. And I do so many a year I couldn’t possibly keep them all. The time spent in my shop is therapy. Maybe one day you'll get good enough to stop accidentally building them all backwards.  I hope the day never comes. |
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Mar 29, 2022 10:08:22 GMT -5
I was surprised at the people on the F-150 forum that order a new truck and, before it's ever in their driveway, they have plans to lift and/or level, change out rims, change out the exhaust... etc. There's a lot of focus on how it looks and how it sounds over there.
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Post by Leftee on Mar 29, 2022 10:11:31 GMT -5
The only thing I've done to my truck (and done when it was new) was put a Flowmaster under it. Because Hemi.
To this day I love the way the truck sounds. It hasn't grown old.
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Post by Taildragger on Mar 29, 2022 11:16:59 GMT -5
The car customizing thing has been going on at least since the 1930s. Guys were making higher-compression/over-head valve heads, experimenting with custom cam grinds, casting custom pistons and enhancing induction for Model A 4-banger engines way back then. Such tinkering got even more popular after WWII, probably at least partly because there were lots of former USAAF* mechanics around who were familiar with fuel injection, super charging, high-octane fuel, etc.. There had obviously been great pressure to wring maximum performance out of aircraft engines and push them to the edge of their envelope during the war: it often came down to a matter of life and death. Most fighter aircraft designs, both allied and axis, evolved through several variants/upgraded versions during the war. *Trivia note: USAAF = United States Army Air Forces. The USAF didn't become a completely separate (from the U.S. Army) branch of service til 1947)
Tricked-out Ford Model A engine (originally a 40-HP flathead):
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Post by FlyonNylon on Mar 29, 2022 13:47:55 GMT -5
I think it's a socio-economic/personality/human thing rather than generational. Modifications have been around for a long time, for various reasons including the need to "feel special".
If everyone understood physics and had a genuine reason to use the vehicles in question unnecessary modifications would decrease imo. My main concern involves modifications that decrease the usefulness of the object and result in accidents.
My truck is basically stock because I don't want to compromise factory turn in due to driving multiple hairpin corners on my commute and because I'll probably never exceed the off-road capabilities of the factory truck with proper tires. I remember several people asking if I was going to "lift-it" or install etc lighting/sound modification after buying.. Nope. I bought the vehicle because I liked it and as long as it runs 300k miles and does everything I ask it, it's a win imo.
Only AR mod was Sig Sauer flip-up sights.
Have thought about putting an exhaust on my bike but tbh my area is very quiet in general so it's way more fun being able to go WOT without disturbing the peace..
Strats have custom pups/pots though, because music.
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Post by NoSoapRadio on Mar 29, 2022 14:35:47 GMT -5
People spend $60k on a brand new F-150 and then immediately do a left and/or level, update the exhaust, Change out rims and tires, etc. I didn't buy my F150 new -- but it's pretty new. I'm too cheap to scrap stuff on the truck until it wears out -- but as soon as the tires are done those puppies are getting swapped out with something taller and while I'm at it the wheels will go because the stock wheels aren't exactly awesome. Same with the exhaust -- living by the ocean in the Northeast, it'll rot out soon enough. I'll replace it with a premium aftermarket system when the time comes. I'm not a fan of the leveling kits -- the Ford rake is there for a reason and I tow and haul stuff from time to time so it stays stock. My ARs all started as stripped lowers. I have a lot of components on the shelf that I've used in builds over the years -- some work/look/feel better than others. It's easy to swap stuff out to try something new. ARs have been called Barbies for men -- I can't say there's no truth to that. To answer the OP question -- we're men, tinkering with stuff is what we do regardless of generation. |
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Mar 29, 2022 15:16:21 GMT -5
People spend $60k on a brand new F-150 and then immediately do a left and/or level, update the exhaust, Change out rims and tires, etc. I didn't buy my F150 new -- but it's pretty new. I'm too cheap to scrap stuff on the truck until it wears out -- but as soon as the tires are done those puppies are getting swapped out with something taller and while I'm at it the wheels will go because the stock wheels aren't exactly awesome. Same with the exhaust -- living by the ocean in the Northeast, it'll rot out soon enough. I'll replace it with a premium aftermarket system when the time comes. I'm not a fan of the leveling kits -- the Ford rake is there for a reason and I tow and haul stuff from time to time so it stays stock. My ARs all started as stripped lowers. I have a lot of components on the shelf that I've used in builds over the years -- some work/look/feel better than others. It's easy to swap stuff out to try something new. ARs have been called Barbies for men -- I can't say there's no truth to that. To answer the OP question -- we're men, tinkering with stuff is what we do regardless of generation. I'm certainly all about putting quality parts into my vehicles if the originals fail, but taking brand new tires/wheels off to put on something fancy ain't my thing. Worrying about how it sounds isn't my thing either. If I'm spending money on something, it better either perform better, be more reliable or be more durable. I don't generally spend money on things to make it look fancy or sound "cool". I know what tires I'll put on when the OEM ones wear out, but I'll keep the stock wheels unless they fail for some reason. As far as AR's, I've got a bunch of spare parts that I bought specifically as spares or for future builds (lower build kits, bolts, assorted other easily lose-able or breakable parts). The only things I've swapped out were better triggers when I could afford them (love the Larue MBT-2) and I did upgrade my first AR to a FF handguard. Other than that, I build 'em how I want 'em and then just shoot 'em after that. I'd much rather spend my money on another gun or more ammo than constantly trading out optics, handguards, stocks, muzzle devices etc. I also run mine with simple milspec controls (no ambi this, or enhanced that) so that they are all the same from an operational perspective. But I tend to research before I buy, so I know what I want.....plus my BIL's have a bunch of AR's so I've had the chance to try out a lot of different components before buying. |
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Post by rickyguitar on Mar 29, 2022 15:43:43 GMT -5
I try to buy what i like and use it up. I had a Tele I really liked till I modded it into a Tele I didn't really like.
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Post by Leftee on Mar 29, 2022 19:02:19 GMT -5
I have a bone-stock AR.
I feel so weird.
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Post by Mfitz804 on Mar 29, 2022 21:12:03 GMT -5
I have a bone-stock AR. I feel so weird. As in you customized the stock and replaced it with bone? 😀 |
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Post by langford on Mar 29, 2022 22:11:11 GMT -5
I'm (mostly)a non-customizer. I don't have a car or anything like that, but I have bunch of guitars. The only ones I've tweaked are the inexpensive ones, mostly pickup upgrades. Overall, I tend to operate with the idea that a decent instrument was built to do something and to try to figure that out. My problem is that I have a hard time getting past wanting every guitar to sound like a Tele. *sigh*
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Post by Lesterstrat on Mar 29, 2022 23:01:50 GMT -5
What's up with buying something new that you can choose what you want, then turning around and changing it all up? It seems like it's more prominent in younger generations. Anyone else notice this? I think the number of people on this site who upgrade their pickups, saddles, bridges, trem blocks, etc might disagree... That was my first thought. Lol |
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Post by LTB on Mar 30, 2022 0:05:27 GMT -5
Multitude of reasons I could imagine.
A. People love projects
B. People buy something then find out something is not quite to their liking
C. People buy what they can just afford then as time goes they add something maybe one at a time until they get to the point they would have loved it to be in the first place.
D. People (I have been one that has done this) Buy a cheap bass they could afford and over time add more and more things trying to make it sound and play better and one day they wake up and think "All this money I spent I could have bought what I would have loved to have in the first place). Having said this now I try to buy the best I can afford with PayPal 6months zero interest for 6 months or with Sweetwater 6months, 12 months, 24 months 36 months then try and pay it off in 6-8 months.
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MoJoe
Wholenote
Posts: 855
Formerly Known As: quiksilver
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Post by MoJoe on Mar 30, 2022 5:03:25 GMT -5
I'm (mostly)a non-customizer. I don't have a car or anything like that, but I have bunch of guitars. The only ones I've tweaked are the inexpensive ones, mostly pickup upgrades. Overall, I tend to operate with the idea that a decent instrument was built to do something and to try to figure that out. My problem is that I have a hard time getting past wanting every guitar to sound like a Tele. *sigh* That's me. To a tee. 🙂 Minus the cars and bikes, that remain also left unmolested if right from stock. Some bikes need to be labored into a better ergonomical fit but that's about it. No bling. |
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