I got given a second hand bike the other day, thought it just needed some air in the tyres but turns out the back inner tube was fucked, by the end of the day I’d basically completely disassembled the thing and put it back together (including fucking Kmart selling me a tube that had a fucking hole in it). My hands were covered in grease, and the bike was back in excellent order, rode so much better.
I basically only changed a tyre, but I was out in the yard in the afternoon sun, some music playing, and at the end of the day I had something to show for what I did. Can’t recommend it enough.
You’ve described my exact problem with hoarding collecting and repairing/upgrading/modding cheap guitars. I swear, I will finish fixing you up someday, pawn shop Starcaster. Right after I finish the setup on the 7-string Jackson, and a fret level/crown/dress job on my kid’s Ibanez…
not getting cheated out of repair costs is really satisfying. I made an $800 water line repair for $20 parts and three days of digging. GODLY feeling.
Also keep in mind that capitalism wants you to buy a new thing if something is broken, so fixing things counts as praxis.
Yep, that dopamine hit you get after fixing something is really nice.
fuck yeah. I recently started learning to sharpen knives. Not quite the same thing, but being able to spend some time just making a thing better feels so fucking great, especially when it’s something useful like that. Laboring feel good when not alienated from the fruits of it??? :curious-marx:
