the finest guitar i own is a USA made PRS, 2001. my lowest quality guitar is also USA made, the Gibson Les paul.

the gibson is, however, my current favorite. despite the poor finish and a few cheap plastic parts, it plays and sounds so great.

so who's the big photographer and what is he fooling people into buying?

I can name brands that i'm certain would no longer exist if they weren't played by a few legends fifty years ago.

If it plays and sounds great, that is a fine way to define high quality;it doesn't have to be based on construction and component costs.

Well, there are a lot of photographers that are well known within an individual niche, and not outside of it.

For example, Jeff Ascough is (deservedly) a "legend" in wedding photogrqaphy. He is a "Canon Explorer of Light", and he shoots a Canon 5D II. Many other wedding photographers use the 5D II, because he does.

The 5D II is actually a great camera (except for not being super-sturdy, nor extremely water resistant). People aren't getting fooled into buying something terrible by buying it because of him; but they are buying the latest cutting edge-technology, and buying more than they need, when their old gear is fine.

They keep buying the latest and greatest technology, every few months, hoping this will be the camera that makes all the difference – instead of looking within themselves, as the source of making better pictures.

And so they tread water with their photography business because they constantly throw money into the money pit of constant upgrades of unnecessary uber-technology.

i can pick up any USA PRS in a store and it will be great. took me nine years to find a gibson worth my money.

i could get both the godin and the prs for less than the gibson alone.

gibson is out of the running!

same thing in music!

everyone has a big rack of effects, a ton of pedals, a huge stacked amplifier, and a guitar with batteries!!! batteries?!?!?!?!!??!?!

they forget that all the led zeppelin albums were recorded on small, low power tube amps with a passive guitar!

Yep, same thing!

the godin is the only one i haven't shown you. it's also the fanciest.

I'm not sure I can tell that it looks more or less fancy than the others you've shown, but it looks nice. I like the wood grain. I think I'd find longer term satisfaction with visible wood grain than shiny white paint.

hi guys.

hows everyone doing?

i think you're right there, too. only two of my nine or ten guitars have opaque finishes.

Hi, T.

I'm still very shook up, over the same reasons I described the other night. However, I had a pleasant day shooting (pictures).

How about you?