Even if it’s not expensive, Is there a high quality item every serious enthusiast owns?
Or maybe it’s a highly prized holy grail item you’d give your right arm for.
Is there something you’ve had an eye on for a while and you’re just waiting for an excuse to treat yourself?
What, no bread-makers yet?
- Zojirushi Bread machine (I use it for the dough cycle. Don’t at me.)
- Electronic scale. It can be a cheap OXO, but you need one.
- Banneton and liners
*Lame (honestly, my favorite is the cheapo Breadtopia one with the plastic handle–much better than the walnut-handled one my mom had) - More Emile Henry ceramic bakers than I’m willing to admit. Crown rolls, anyone?
I haven’t ventured into sourdough but I’m teetering on the edge. Looking at the King Arthur crocks.
For guitarists you have either the 100% analog guys that can spend tens of thousands on a collection of amps, or the ones that went more digital with modelers. The big ones being the Kemper, Fractal, Nueral DSP and Line 6. I have the Quad Cortex and it’s a killer, thought I wish the rate of updates was a little faster.
I like to split the difference and use one of those nutube amps, I got a voxmv50 AC and it works very well for what I do. Tube purists will stick their noses up, modeling people will gawk at the lack of features, but for someone who doesn’t even use reverb or delay it’s perfect. (Plus it weighs nothing!)
If it sounds good, I’m into it. I’ve seen really, really expensive amps sound horrible, and relatively cheap ones sound great. But pretty universally, I prefer tubes amps sound.
Tube amps always sound better. Just saying.
Can we tell which category I fall into?
Can we tell which category I fall into?
Forearms that can carry a boogie stack from the van to the stage by their damned selves.
That category.
You know what? Fair enough.
I pined over the Dual Rev G when I could actually use one as a gigging guitarist in the 90’s - but, as a gigging guitarist, I couldn’t afford one.
Now I have a bad back, but it’s a Marshall bad back. So I guess it all worked out.
Might well be this one:
Repurposing an Accom Axial Control Panel
as it combines my previous career in TV, my lifelong interest in programming, my nostalgic tendencies, and my sheer love of buttons galore!
(Work in progress, full write-up is here.)That’s wonderful! I have a 1994 AIO machine I just acquired as I moved; I need to set up a workstation and get to fixing it. You should join the retro computers community on the FMHY instance.
Knitting can be quite fun and somewhat low cost if you don’t get influenced too much. But ask any knitter about their stash and you’ll discover we’re all hoarders who will not hesitate to pay ridiculous amounts of money for a single skein of hand died yarn (in the ugliest colours) that most likely will end up in the stash and never get knitted. Tools are the same. Why settle for a very basic and fully functional set of needles when you can get the most expensive one?
If you know a knitter, just know they are most likely sitting on a small fortune worth of yarn and tools.
This is a highly contagious problem, and it effects those who crochet as well. I uh, got the bug and made this yard winder from scratch for my girlfriend lol. I use it too, when I get nice yarn in hanks, but it was wildly unnecessary.
Oops, here’s the photo: A solid steel yarn winder, mounted on a black walnut base with brass legs and sorbothane feet
My wife took up knitting one summer and now we’re stuck with this huge stash of yarn.
As my GF likes to say, buying yarn and knitting are 2 different hobbies.
A coffee mug gifted by one of your favorite students.
Followed by a working pencil sharpener and the nice stapler you don’t let freshmen hands touch.
As a writer and teacher, I was wracking my brains trying to think what item would be most desirable. You’ve summed it up perfectly, I think. I’d maybe throw on some kind of fountain pen, like a Twsbi Eco or Kaweco Sport.
I use an eco (I don’t like the nib i got, too fat). Nothing like correcting work in red ink with shimmer!
For me it’s my home server. 110TB at the moment, running UNRAID as a VM under proxmox. Also a load of software setup to share it’s resources with my friends.
Two for me.
For simracing - a set of pedals with a load cell brake. Building muscle memory for the force you push on the brake is so much better than trying to be consistent with the angle of your ankle. The consistency you can achieve with braking is unreal.
Home espresso - a set of accurate scales and a timer. Reducing variables when trying to dial in a new bag of beans or when chasing that perfect cup is so handy. Like the the load cell brakes for sim racing, it allows you to be consistent and just change small things at a time and then stick to what works.
You seem like a very cool person, same exact hobbies for me!
For sim racing everyone in my groups are losing there minds over MOZA hardware. I had the chance to try an R9 and instantly fell in love
For Espresso all my friends are still obsess with the Niche Zero and the Decent Espresso DE1. I roast on a Ailio Bullet and am still very obsessed with it!
A good quality micrometer. Some will go for the classic Starett, others will get a modern digital Mitutoyo. Doesn’t matter if it’s a lathe or mill guy, CNC or manual. Any decent machinist will have their mic.
Where the audiophiles at? Haha.
An industrial sewing machine, or an old sewing machine. It seems like every time I meet somebody who’s dedicated to the craft, they’re rocking some post-war anvil as an every day workhorse.
Also a serger and coverstitch machine set up in the same space.
CRT monitors: the Intergraph Interview 28HD96, informally known as the “Carmacktron” (see picture)
A true 16:9 aspect ratio PC CRT monitor with a maximum output of 2042x1152 @ 80Hz. Not the highest horizontal frequency out there but an absolute monster in 1995.
Edit: Check out https://kbin.social/m/CRTs if you’re into this shit 👍
I had one like that in the late nineties. Felt like pure luxury at the time.
that must weight a ton
Right? It’s huge!
Photography: Peak Design quick detach clips, strap and baseplate.
Photography is just a hobby for me, so I tend to lean towards 3rd party lenses and accessories that have a good price to quality ratio. I can not overstate how substantial a difference these clips and straps have made for me. There is no comfortable way for someone to hang a camera around their neck or over their shoulder for more than a few hours with the OEM straps, let alone a full day. With these things I have backpacked multiple long weekend trips, taking my camera out of my bag in the morning and having it out all day. I can transition from a cross body dangle, to hanging from my backpack strap in seconds which is critical if I need to free my hands quickly.
Love these things.
I have a bunch of hobbies and most of them are diy focused so top gear without going pro would be like an electronically controlled all stainless RIMS system and a jacket chilled conical fermenter or vintage griswold cast iron and hand made carbon steel knives or those SNES carts I lost when I was a teenager.
The absolute pinnacle of my collection would be enough time to actually use what I already have.
for all the keyboard peeps…
Gimmick or… do you think the hall effect keys might not be as bad as chicklets? I’m intrigued by the ability to clean it easily. (the keyboard frame itself pops off and can be rinsed.) Not sure I want a screen under it, though.
Mechanical keyboard peep here, and to me that’s very gimmicky.
A good bench scraper is useful for anything you do on a cutting board.
