Thought about buying an SD7 a while back...around $3,800. That would take me somewhere between 38 - 50 gigs just to pay for the keyboard....probably won't do it.

By the way, been taking a few months off from playing.....wife wanted a break, hip hurts, learning to fish again.

And, fishing is cheap compared to buying music equipment. That is, until a person decides to buy a fishing boat $20k and up. 😊

just baught a Parker 2320 sportfisher a few month ago and restored it if you come to so cal I will take you out .

Serious?

👍

Guitpic1,

I have usually bought a different keyboard about every year. All my music gear is used as a tax deduction. I usually get an idea from our accountant about how much I can spend each year based on our combined income and it has worked out really great. Along with my music gig millage deduction it just about pays for a new keyboard. Why not spend it on me instead of giving it to Uncle Sam!

Deane

As far as performing equipment goes, I try to pay for a new piece with one recording (sound score) job. They are 30 hour marathons that pay at lease $150.00 per hour.

If I can't pay for equipment in a job or two (I usually book an extra job when I get the equipment "Jones"), I don't need it.

I don't have much of a studio...)use a large one in Louisville), I'm not constantly updating. All I need is enough to output client roughs.

In the future, it will be, sell or trade an existing piece for something new, or do without. With over 300 stringed instruments, 45 amplifiers and over 50 keys, I "ain't sufferin".

Russ (equipment junkie) Lay

R.

You need a better bookkeeper. In realistic terms, if you were paid $100 an hour and purchased that $3,800 keyboard, 38 jobs wouldn't even come remotely close. The payments come out of your net profit - not your gross income. From each of those $100 jobs, you must deduct the cost of transportation, car insurance, liability insurance, repairs and maintenance on the car/van, meals if you eat out that day because of the job's time constraints, amortization and depreciation cost of your original gear, office operating expenses, advertising expenses, telephone expenses associated with the business, heating and air conditions costs associated with the home office, retirement plan, etc... So, out of that $100 you took in for that single job, if you really do things right, your net income is probably in the realm of about $35 on average.

There's a damned good reason I didn't upgrade from my PSR-3000 for more than a decade - it didn't make good, economical sense. The keyboard sounded great, I sounded great to my audiences, and I didn't need to suck a big chunk of money out of my bottom line, which all looks great until the day you fill out that Schedule C. Then, reality sets in. You suddenly realize that because you changed arranger keyboards and other associated gear like you changed underwear, you blew your entire year's net profit out the window and don't have a damned thing to show for working your ass off for 365 days.

Now, if you just perform for a hobby, you would be better off going fishing and playing music during your spare time at home, thereby eliminating the expense of being in business for yourself. Fishing is more fun, especially when you have a great day on the water, than performing in front of an audience and not making any money. When I was a bit younger and a lot healthier, I always managed to find a few days to go fishing each month. Usually got in about a half dozen trips to the Chesapeake's lower reaches, and one offshore trip for tuna and marlin. I can still fish for the big guys from the decks of the sailboat, but it's a bit more difficult and cumbersome because of the rigging. If you get to this part of the world, I'll be more than happy to take you out on the sailboat to catch some striped bass and bluefish in the lower Chesapeake. However, in the sailboat, it takes me about 3 to 5 days to get to the best fishing area, which is 180 miles south of where I keep the boat.

Gary

👍

You are right. I think that's why many real "pros" don't use the TOL gear....

By the way,that's a lot of sushi and sasimi!!! I caught some large halibut in Kodiak, Alaska. The local guys were taking a gun when fishing. I thought they were joking. Indeed, I heard gun shots from other fishing boats. As they reel in, they shoot the fish. The fish are so large that people can get knocked off the boat, and you don't drown, but freeze to death in 15 minutes. I heard that by law a commercial fisherman has to wear a special suite. The water comes into the suite and your body warms the water. You can survive two hours instead of 15 minutes. Wild Alaska. No wonder they call it the last frontier.

I have changed keyboards a lot, as most know. The timing of when to buy and when to sell is crucial. A LOT of people don't know how to buy gear from sources such as Frank. I have often played a keyboard for a year or so and sold it for as much or very close to as much as I paid for it. I've even sold keyboards that I really liked because the time was right.
Because of forums such as this and PSR Tutorial the word is getting out, but I still know of a lot of people who gladly pay full MAP price for their gear. And I'm glad they do.
If you keep it too long you may not be able to get a good price for it. You also have to be aware of when new models are about to come out because that can quickly drop the value of an item.
I almost got caught once a couple years ago in that trap. I had sold my PA3X to buy Ketron SD7. I had to buy another PA3x quickly because I couldn't rely on my Ketron. A week later the 4X came out and I couldn't return the 3X for what I gave for it just a week or so earlier. I got lucky and was able to sell it to a friend in Mexico. I did lose money on the SD7 because AJ would not take it back after I tried to use it for several months without success. But I was able to sell it too, losing only a couple of hundred dollars because they were in short supply. I'm sure the buyer was happy once they finally got it updated properly. If you are playing at home and it crashes, no problem; you just turn it off and back on and wait a few minutes for it to reboot. You can not do that on the job. It has to work every time, every night.
Well this turned into a ramble, but the point is that there is always more than one way to look at a situation. I enjoy using the latest, greatest tools of my trade and can nearly always find a way to justify it to myself, and I really don't care if it pleases anyone else, other than my sweet thing of course. She understands. Mostly. The PA4X is sneaking up on its third year and sweet thing has been around for 37, so it's all good! Think I'll keep 'em both.