It just doesn't matter anymore.

This is the fundamental truth.

 

I heard that. before I gave it away I played that squier affinity every day. loved the neck on it.

 

here is one of the few improv things recorded playing that affinity.....bout 7 or 8 years ago.....
that's not a backing track I found either.....I did the whole thing with that br1180
https://www.reverbnation.com/kellyshelton/song/18399080-noodling-on-the-squire

 

It ain't the arrow...it's the archer.

 

I agree, it doesn't matter. But there is a segment of the market...people call them cork sniffers. Some people ridicule them. There is a another segment of the market...maybe they could share a name with a modern phenomenon, humble braggers. They turn their nose up at anything other than the bargain-basement dustbin finds. While it is true that any given tool can do the job. Certainly there are players much better than I who choose to play very inexpensive guitars. These humble braggers deride people who like a better crafted tool than humble braggers might be able to afford. I grew up around really really high-end furniture...a family owned business. We can go to IKEA and find a desk for $149.99 that will perform the job of a desk. I can then take you to a custom shop where a craftsman hand makes a knee hole desk for $15,000. They both provide the same function but one is art and one is a tool. In the same vein, there are Yugos, and there are any number of handcrafted supercars they both get you down to the grocery store and back, but again one is art and one is a tool. So the cork sniffers shouldn't imagine themselves any better then the humble braggers, nor should the humble braggers think they are on a higher esoteric plane for their thriftiness.
If I had the opportunity and the funds, I'm going to get myself a custom shop Les Paul...just because of the craftsmanship. If that day never comes I'm still a hack who has always been blessed by having guitars that we're better guitars than I am a guitar player.

 

that kind of thing isn't just with guitars.....it's the same with tennis rackets, car stereos, bicycles, pool cues.....you name it.
I once ran into this cheesehole in Dallas who was super proud of his fake tan. I'm not kidding when I tell you his license plate said " tan-pro". I wanted to beat him up but didn't.

 

Kelly sometimes you crack me up. if you would have beat up fake tan boy all you might have ended up with is orange knuckles.
But you're exactly right athletic shoes, freaking underwear, anything that one can purchase there is one upmanship involved often. I was brought up to believe that you buy the best you can afford. And I've grown to understand that whatever I have I consider it a blessing and I should be grateful for it and appreciative of it.

 

I have guitars in all price ranges. From 100 bucks to well over 6k. Most of my guitars are in the 800 dollar arena. Some say Fender, some Epiphone, and one generic with no brand. Some other brands. And I can play them all, and like different features that each has. I enjoy them all.

One guitar that I absolutely hated was a Suhr that I had. It was gorgeous to look at. But it sounded like crap to me. To be fair, I had four other Suhr’s at one time or another that were awesome.

It doesn’t matter what the name is on the headstock, there will be good and bad ones at all price points.

 

I just play them.

A '71 Les Paul.



A parts Tele ( maybe 200 bucks in it)

 

if I make just one person laugh every day, I'm happy.
but there are my actions and there are my private thoughts.
to this day I find myself wanting to beat the hell out of people.....but I don't, because that would be bad and I got sick of going to jail a long time ago.

 

I used to have the older BR8... actually I still have but the zip drive no longer works... those were the days!

 

I figure if someone is such a peckerhead that I want to beat them up, they are their own punishment.

 

man that first thing with the Les Paul.....the rhythm part.... reminds me of some John Lee hooker Chicago stuff, and the second thing was just badass.

 

well, I'm not a young punk anymore.
I mean....I'm not that young anymore.

 

Thanks man.

A lot of the guitar stuff is about where your head is at....you know... what you want to do and why you want to do it?

I've got some really nice guitars. Expensive and cheap.

 

I understand completely. Sometimes I have difficulty comprehending the speed with which I am hurtling towards the winter of life.
In my mind and in my heart I'm still 20 years old. But when I stand up or walk down a quiet hallway it almost sounds like a compulsive bubble wrap popper.

 

it ain't for pansies