Relative worth and critical value...

[William Jennings <william-jennings@xxxxxxxxx>]

I don't need a $15,000 Bass Boat to catch fish.
I don't need a boutique amp, emulators, FX pedals,
and custom, hand-built harps to make a joyful noise.

On the other hand, I gain great pleasure from paddling a
Welsh-built, fiberglass & kevlar West Greenland style sea kayak.
This does not make me an Inuit hunter.

I also love my tweed Clark Congaree  and vintage Les Paul Jr. amps,
my vintage mics that Fritz tweaked, and the occasional foray into 
POD-ville.
These do not make me an accomplished player.

Gear posing has more than one form. It's as much of a conceit to think
you can buy a soulful tone as it is to think that soul can only be 
attained
through yard sales and learning to solder.

My great uncle was a cabinet maker and over the course of his career he 
amassed a remarkable collection of vintage woodworking tools.
I coveted them and when I had the chance to ask for his help on a 
project, I'd find myself in his shop, drooling over his array of 
molding planes, boxwood chisels, brass back saws, and ornate machinery. 
  I asked him to teach me to use a molding multi-plane with a dizzying 
selection of cutters.
He finished rolling a smoke, lit it, took a deep draw, and said,
"A $25 Sears Router'd do that job cheaper, faster, and ten times better.
It's only romance if you ain't trying to earn a dollar, son. Buy the 
router."

- -wjj