Like a lot of you, I like amassing gear. I read gear reviews on guitar sites, and I scope out the best shops with lefty inventories and spend a lot of time looking at guitars and basses, lusting after a lot of them. 99.9% of the time, I look at and read about gear that I absolutely don't need. Actually, I want a Ric 12 string and an ES-335, but it'll be a while before I buy anything big. Truth is, I'm really happy with my 8 guitars and basses, and I'd rather right now just enjoy playing them.
I had an uncle who bought a new car every year, always lost a fortune on the trade-in. But he HAD to have a new car. He'd trade in a Lincoln with 7,000 miles on it for an almost identical new one.
I wonder how much some gear heads are like my uncle.
My mother has always told me. You don't need to buy anything new--just polish what you have, and it'll look new. That's true. I remember going into a shop and seeing a lefty AmStd Strat. It was identical to mine, but the lighting made it gleam and beckon. I remembered what my mother said (yeah I'm 56 and a mama's boy; wanna fight about it?).
The guitarist in my band has twelve guitars, all but two really great. Six of them are new from trade-ins of perfectly good guitars, and these new ones will be traded before too long. He never settles on one guitar, so he never gets to know a guitar well, never gets into it's vibe.
Yes, I know gear is tools. Many of us want to get our sounds to match our ideals. But I get a musical and emotional connection to my gear. I like sticking to the same guitars. I'm not a sessions player, so I can get by with that.