Let me just say that it’s all mere child’s play until you get into fly fishing. That can suck time and money like nothing else.
Speaking of fishing, I had a forty-inch barracuda sent to a “taxidermist” for a ghastly and unspeakable amount of money, and our fish has been rendered completely unrecognizable. I’m not even sure if there’s an animal underneath all of that spray paint. Fishing is fun, often cheap, but can be costlier than buying a stick, a worm and some twine. And if there is something to be learned from my haste, please research your taxidermist before letting them ruin your prize catch.
Expensive Hobbies I have Dabbled in:
SCA. Just get some clothes, right? Not really. You want to have new stuff periodically, which means you have to pay for it, expensive, or buy fabric and learn to sew (also expensive). CAmping gear is good, but if you go all out, you’re gonna want a Pavillion, which is the opposite of cheap. And if you start fighting… forget it. Just seel a child or something.
Airsoft. I got a springer pistol! Cool! And now, to have a better gun than my friends, a gas blow-back pistol. Oh, you got an AEG? I guess I’ll need to get that sniper rifle. Huh, doesn’t shoot far enough. I’ll need to redo the internals. What’s that? CAmmo is needed for this game? Ok, that shouldn’t be to bad. What’s that? MOLLE vest? Yeah, that’s cool. Oh, no snipers in this game? I guess I need an AEG then. And I’ll have to upgrade it to…
Straight Razor shaving: I got a RAZOR! Cool! Wow, it’s really dull. I’ll send it to this guy I saw online who does honing. That’s not to bad either. OUCH! Man, this shaving cream just isn’t cutting it. Soap? Special shaving soap? And a mug? And a badger brush? And a strop? And another razor, to alternate? And honing stones? And more soap? Hey, I bought this beat up old razor on Ebay… I think I’ll restore it…
Restoring Straight Razors: I’ll get back to you. Haven’t started yet… but I know it’s not gonna be cheap.
Speaking of, I hear taxidermy is damned expensive. 
Scones are easy. every time I try to make bread I get a loaf of scones! LOL!
This thread has finally explained to me why I am always broke.
Freshwater aquarium: I started with a little betta in a vase. But he looked so bored in there, so I got him a six-gallon tank of his own. 5 years later my clown loaches are beginning to outgrow the 100 gal tank in my living room. Now I spend hours on the tenecor site dreaming of a 120x30x30 Simplicity Plus with a cherrywood stand and canopy. . .
And did I mention I have discovered waterscaping as well? There’s nothing quite like watching $300.00 worth of plants melt while you desperately research light temperatures and CO2 diffusers. (And no, blowing bubbles into the canister intake through a straw won’t work. . .)
I saw an article once where an investigative reporter was interviewing burglars and asked how they choose for/against houses to mark. One guy said " . . . but if there’s an aquarium, forget it; that’s where all there money goes. they probably won’t even have a TV."
And fibre arts, forget it. I still can’t understand why I can buy a sweater, rip it out, and knit a new one with the yarn cheaper than I can buy the coned yarn. (Seriously, go down to the thrift shop the next time you need yarn. The possibilities are endless!)
And books, yikes! WordMan introduced me to the Ahearns site, I think my electric may be turned off next month.
I bought a new seat for my mountain bike last month. Myabe I’ll just leave it int he garage this Summer. . .
The best advice I ever got: when I mentioned to a friend that I’ve always wanted to try fly-fishing, he said “Order the catalogs first, and read them for a couple months before you commit.” the prices talked me out of it. I think I’ll do that with all hobbies from now on.
Yep. There’s the problem. It would be bad enough if I were just a gear whore for guitar. God knows you can spend lifetimes worth of income JUST on guitar. Gotta have my strat. Oh, and my tele. I have to save up for year, but I really MUST have my Les Paul standard. And amps. I want my Princeton. And my Harvard. And my 2203. And my JMP. And my Sunn. And my Deluxe Reverb. And lord, I love the sound of a Super. And hey! I just found a silverface Twin for $300! Let’s not forget about all the other flavors! The young metalhead kids love the Mesas, which pigeonholes them a bit, but they’re really fine amps on their own. Oh, and shoot, I loved that Peavey Classic 30 I played. And the Orange Rockerverb. And that Hiwatt clone. And that AC15. And and and and. Ampeg! I love Ampeg amps.
God help you if you want to put together a rack system.
But wait! I need my baritone guitar, my lap steel, my dobro, my good acoustic guitar, my classical, my 12-string (acoustic AND electric, thank you), my semi-hollow body, my hollow jazz box, and OH YEAH, I just saw a great deal on a classic Rickenbacker for just under $1000! :rolleyes:
It never ends. And that’s just guitar, without even getting into the bottomless pit of replacing cables, pickups, knobs, switches, necks, tubes, output transformers, pedals, effects, and a million other little things that we just MUST have to perfect “The Tone”.
Woe betide the poor fool who is a multi-instrumentalist, or who is trying to set up a functional recording studio.
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Assume we’ve already spent a bazillion dollars in guitars, amps, effects, and parts, as above.
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Bass - Bass guitar is as bottomless a pit as regular guitar. Rack system? 4 string? 5? 6? Cabinets? Do you like 15" speakers? 18"? Or do you like the classic 4x10" or 8x10" cabs? J bass? P bass? Stingray-style humbuckers?On top of that, do you really even need a live set up? OF COURSE you do. But you also need a good DI for recording, cause you will destroy your relationships with anyone within 1/2 a mile if you try to mic up a SVT 450/8x10 in full roar.
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Keyboards - You want your soaring synth lines, don’t ya? Sure you do. Better hock your wedding ring to pay the down-payment on this massively expensive top-of-the-line Roland or Korg synth. Oh, and an amp. And didn’t I just see a cheap Hammond (WITH internal Leslie!) on Craigslist? How about Farfisa? Rhodes piano? Gah!
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Drums - Drums are the biggest money pit on the face of the planet. Cheap shells are cheap. That’s how they get you. But eventually, you’re going to want to upgrade. And good shells are anything but cheap. Look to spend at least $1000 - $1500 on a good quality shell pack that wasn’t made on the same assembly line as every other cheap drum shell on the planet. Then, heads. Good heads are essentially $2 per inch in diameter, so an Evans EMAD head for your 22" kick is going to run you $45. And that’s just for the batter head. You still have to worry about the resonant head. Oh, and it wears out and must replaced with some frequency. Now, you ALSO have a 13" snare, 14" and 16" rack toms, and two floor toms, each with two heads. Yikes.
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Drum hardware: very expensive. Boom stands, hi-hat stands, drop clutches, thrones (which are in a class of overhyped bullshit all by themselves), bass pedals (dear God, where to start with this? You can pay as little as $50 for one, or as much as $1000 on the pedal of your choice.)
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Cymbals: LUDICROUSLY expensive. Want a good set of rock hats? $250. Also need a crash, a ride, a China, and a splash? Better budget at least $1000. You DO NOT want to lowball and get cheapo cymbals.
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And eventually, that old steel snare isn’t going to do it for you anymore. You’ll also want a shallow maple snare. And a deep brass snare. And a soprano snare. And a piccolo snare.
- PA - may not use it in recording, but hell, you have all this other shit hanging around. Can’t forget about your lead singer. Might as well have a PA laying around for your next gig.
OK, so we have the basics, right? Wrong.
- Recording - Oh sweet mother of God, where do I even begin to start to begin?
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Microphones: dynamic and condenser. You want both. Plan on spending at least a few hundred bucks just on mics, cables etc. Or spend a few thousand on matched pairs of Neumann industry-standard mics.
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Mixing board: 4 track? 8? 16? 24? Anywhere from $100 for a cheapie all the way up to $10,000 for a really good one.
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Recording interface: First, digital or analog? Want a tape machine? You poor, destitute fool. Digital? OK, buy a cheap interface for $120. You’ll want to expand later, I guarantee you. Fortunately, there are some good free DAWs out there (Reaper, not technically FREE, but with an unending “trial” period), but what if you want Sonar? Cubase? ProTools? $$$$$$$
*Studio rack effects - mic preamps ($35 to $1000), compressors ($200 to $3000), EQ’s, limiters, gates, reverbs, delays, vocal processors. You could spend all the money an average schlub ever makes in 3 lifetimes, and still never get to “industry standard”.
- In addition, if you want to do multi-tracking, you’d better either dummy up some sort of isolation booths, or pay $$$$ for out-of-the-box treatments or solution. This stuff ain’t cheap. A single foam Auralex pad to treat part of one wall is at least $25. And it’s pretty ineffective if you want true isolation. Now we’re talking building “room-in-room” setups for total decoupling.
Even on a hobby level, this stuff is cripplingly expensive and complex.
To be fair, it can be done on the cheap. You just have to resist the urge to be a total gear head. What appealed to me about it the most (and I’m not really that into it yet) is the idea of tying flies when I wasn’t on the water. It’s like 2 hobbies for the price of…two.
I once started to get into whitewater canoeing. Until I realized it involved getting together with a club, driving several hours to wherever they’re going, juggling the cars around so we can drive back from downstream, etc., etc. It seems like it’s almost always an overnight trip just to spend a few hours on the water.
Cycling is much easier. For training and recreational rides I can just ride from home. Even for organized rides, it’s just a matter of driving to the starting point and unloading the bike from the car. Though equipment cost is probably higher. I ride recumbent bikes, and through my pursuit for the perfect bike I’ve bought (and subsequently sold) literally dozens of bikes. (But I did finally find the perfect bike for me - the Quest velomobile.)
I’m a wimp, I’d need the good hip waders, and the special socks, and the gloves, and those sunglasses that help you see through the water . . .
Tell you what, if you decide you won’t use that sock yarn, I know a good home it would be happy to be adopted into. Just sayin’. 
I spent years paddling whitewater, often in an open boat. We used to joke that the actual sport was tying strange looking boats onto the top of your car and driving through the mountains. Damn, those were some fun times. (It’s easier when you have friends who do it, so you don’t have to join a club.)
Well, yeah. I’m just saying it’s possible. Theoretically.
Sorry about that up there. I apparently had some things to get off my chest. Didn’t mean to seem like a psycho.
I read a column recently in which the author seemed to be suggesting that her new beading/jewelry making hobby would save her money in the long run.
I still haven’t stopped laughing.
Beading can be bad. Worse, for me, was silversmithing. Precious metal costs add up fast.
No worries, there, Ogre, you are absolutely right. Might I add lust for endless plugins (or is it endless lust for plugins?), which of course require constant upgrading of computer processing power and RAM? And you might be able to ditch some of that Auralex if you just invest in the happy ARC room correction system. Damn, there’s always something. I’m rinky-dink, so I buy what I can afford, which is not much, but it sure is fun to dream about the perfect setup. I salivate just reading your post (rant?).
Ogre - no worries; I just blame the G.A.S (and yeah, it’s crazy-making)…
I’m skeered to go to a bead show!:eek: Oh, and I’ve got polymer clay, but I limit myself to making little pretties out of it, not beads.
My Dad has a cousin who occassionally persuades his wife to go canoing by promising that they will follow the boat ride with a nice long walk. Back to the car, obviously. She likes hiking, and biking, and such, but isn’t so keen on canoe rides–which he enjoys.
My main hobby is hiking and trail maintainence for the NYNJ Trail conference. I got my boots for a reasonable price, got a hand-me-down knapsack, and I use whatever dead tree limbs for walking sticks. The expensive part is the schlep, it takes me an hour’s drive to get to any place decent to hike. It was bad last year when gas prices were so high. Low toy, high schlep.
I tried evening pottery classes when our high school offered it a few years ago. It wasn’t too expensive for the materials and using the kiln and I loved it. I just started getting decent at it when the kiln broke. They never fixed it and didn’t offer the classes again. Now I’m checking out the high schools of nearby towns, but haven’t found anything yet. I want my own kiln, but I’d have to find somewhere to put it, I’d probably have to build a shed. Then there’s the price of the electric to run it. And then find the time to do it. Someday…
What hobby isn’t expensive the more you pursue it?
Heres how music began for me:
Cheap guitar: 300$
Guitar Strap: 20$
Method Book: 20$
Electric Guitar: 300$
Patch Cord: 50$
Amp: 300$
Fast forward 12 years:
5 Guitars: 9000$
2 Amps: 1200$
Accessories / Pedals: 1000$
Music Book Library: 500$
I’ve never calculated my music costs before…it’s scary!
Running also began simple:
Shoes: 180$
Now four years later I’ve bought:
8 pairs of running shoes: 1000$
Marathon Registrations: 240$
Running Clothes / Jacket: 300$
God! No wonder I live in an apartment!
Oh, it’s totally worth it!! I had to get myself into the mindset something akin to going to a museum. You may enjoy all the pretties, but you can’t take them home.
Most vendors have some kind of deal going on and you can get freebies at some as well, so you can still have fun and not spend a fortune.
Now that I know what it’s like, I’m practically salivating to go to this year’s show!