In a recent conversation about the merits of pioneering Filipino photographer Teodulo Protomartir, accolade upon accolade are tossed out by my brother Joey, punctuating his tirade with eager chants such as “He uses a Leica! He’s not just a photographer; he’s a connoisseur!” Ultimately, the implications of Protomartir’s pioneering work with 35mm film or his keen compositional eye are difficult to assess for a pedestrian photography enthusiast such as myself (seeing the photos were a different matter altogether; you sure missed a lot if you weren’t able  to check his exhibit out). However, the idea that mere choice of equipment would somehow be equated to status or even proficiency is something right up my alley.

G.A.S., or Gear Acquisition Syndrome, is a self-explanatory ailment that usually befalls enthusiasts of a creative field associated with expensive equipment. Photographers don’t just worry about what cameras to use, but also the myriad of lenses, filters, and flashes, whose limitless array would be enough to drive The Count crazy (“Ah! Ah! Ah!”). So, too, for the aspiring musician dreaming of copping Clapton’s woman tone or Eddie Van Halen’s brown sound; the multitude of tonal options at one’s disposal in this day and age are just staggering. Everybody and their mother are either designing new ways to mangle the signal coming out of an electric guitar or tweaking the tried-and-true circuit designs that mangle the signal coming out of an electric guitar. And that’s just effect pedals we’re talking about, proverbially the tip of the iceberg.

Very knowledgeable of said iceberg is singer-songwriter Barbie Almalbis-Honasan, who after years of hitting the gig circuit with standard issue Boss pedals is now chin-deep in boutique gear. It might have been the search for a particular sound to add to her sonic palette, or maybe something inspiring and unique sounding that drew her attention to more pieces of newfangled guitar gadgetry. Whatever the reason, her pedal board is now a gearhound’s wet dream.

“A few years ago, I was kind of bored with my music gear [pedals, guitars]. I really wanted to create some new, unique sounds but I didn’t know where to start. So I asked around and surfed the web. The first ‘unique’ effect I got was the EHX Microsynth,” Barbie recalls.

Some of her current favorites include the Z.Vex Super Hard On (“[It’s a] simple pedal but [it] makes a lot of difference in the sound. I use it a lot in recording, to push and sweeten the amp’s overdrive.”), the Empress Superdelay (“[It’s a] delay pedal that does it all—well, almost”), and the Lovepedal Eternity (“[It’s] my favorite overdrive”).

“Before we get hung up on equipment, let us not forget, it also has to do with the indian, not just the pana,” says Mark Villena, guitar player for the defunct band Tungaw, and proprietor of Playback Audio. That being said, Mark has nine guitars, ten if you count his MIDI guitar controller, and eleven if you count the amateur classical guitar he has on loaned custody. Eleven guitars!

“Some guitars can be made to sound like other types of guitars, but in general, each type of guitar has its own particular flavor or sonic signature. Sometimes you fight that, trying to look for a new sound; sometimes, you go with it, knowing it’s how people expect certain lines to sound like.” Villena’s is a utilitarian way of looking at things, wherein each instrument has a purpose in a player’s arsenal. This might be a cold way of looking at the oft-romanticized search for that instrument you’d refer to as “the one,” but in Mark’s case, he rationalizes that he has “the one” for different applications (touché). His cherry red Gibson SG, his “Tungaw guitar” (because he used it in his band Tungaw; fellow Tungaw bandmate Jing Gaddi has a beautiful Ibanez Roadstar bass he calls the “Tungaw bass”), covers the humbucker side of the tonal spectrum. But I’d wager my own gear that those PAFs weren’t the straw that broke the camel’s back that fateful day in ’93, when he first laid eyes on that mahogany beauty in Pete’s Music.

Inspiration or utility aside, G.A.S. is still an irrational, borderline-obsessive infatuation, one that drives sensible people to impulsively buy and sell gear. These are usually highlighted by spur-of-the-moment sorties, triggered by some obscure ad on an internet forum, or some opportune sighting of premium goodies. Tether’s guitar wunderkind Beejay Esber tells a classic story of going to Perfect Pitch just to buy new guitar strings for a gig that night, before unexpectedly succumbing to the lures of a Squier Jagmaster. “Bigla ko s’yang nakita tapos parang kinindatan ako,” quips Esber. That wink led to simply trying out the guitar, to withdrawing money, to having a new guitar to play at his gig that night. “High school pa lang ako, pangarap ko na magka-Jaguar or Jagmaster, basta mga ka-korte n’ya,” says Esber, who has since covered “Blazter” in silver sticker paper, “para maiba naman sa ibang banda dito sa Pinas.” Similarly, Villena remembers buying his beloved G&L ASAT Special with “all the money he earned from playing in Tungaw” from a salesman who used to sit in on session guitar for the Talking Heads. “It was love at first sight,” Villena says.

However, G.A.S. isn’t as simple as “monkey see, monkey buy.” There’s always that innate collecting instinct, ingrained in us since our hunter-gatherer days, that factors into every purchase and purchase-to-be. Joe Fontanilla of Ang Bandang Shirley expounds: “You can never have enough, and you’ll never know when you need it,” referring to everything G.A.S.-inducing. Rio Vargas of Shoulder State and Halik ni Gringo, for example, has four Boss DS-1s. He uses only one of them at a time, and he doesn’t know why he has so many. Fontanilla, who already has two fantastic guitars to his name, still dreams of one day owning a Jazzmaster. Chalk it up to hero worship, and the experience of holding James Baluyut’s magical guitar during +/- rehearsals on one of their Manila jaunts. “‘Di ako kakain, ta’s bibili ako ng original na 1959 Jazzmaster,” he says to me with a straight face. A plea for help? A convoluted get-thin-quick scheme? Welcome to the wonderfully absurd world of G.A.S. (Manuel Nicolas Alvero)

Photography: Barbie Almalbis, Rio Vargas, and Mark Villena’s respective photos courtesy of their good selves; Beejay Esber’s by Inez Moro; and Joe Fontanilla’s by Jon San Pedro.