Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Buy an HD-DVD Player

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Sat, 3 Nov 2007, Vern Green wrote:

> I am far from disgusted though, I have paid more than $1,000 for a bass, 
> and I am somewhat ashamed to say it, but I have done it more than once.

My brother paid quite a bit for his Kubicki bass.  It does seem like you 
can get a really good bass for a fairly low price.  If you are playing 
professionally though, and you were, it makes sense to put some cash into 
your one major tool.

People do get crazy sometimes.  They will collect instruments and have a 
massive stockpile worth many thousands.  That can be a way of investing 
though, so it isn't always a way of losing money.


> Its not a matter of disgust, it is a matter of value to the person who 
> is spending the money. As someone who appreciates the sound, playability 
> and just plain workmanship that goes into a quality instrument, I can 
> see where someone would consider the better quality of picture and sound 
> presented by an HD device.

In the end I will get one.  Right now, with the prices dropping by 50% 
every year, it doesn't seem like a good time for me to give up my very 
adequate flat-screen Sony Trinitron WEGA.


> > I'm going to take a third approach, and disagree with Vern. I will 
> > agree that more than $1K on a *solid body electric* seems pretty silly 
> > if you're just talking about the sound of the thing.
>
> Instruments are a difficult thing, I have played $4,000 basses and hated 
> them, I have played $400 basses and loved them. Generally speaking the 
> quality of the instrument is going to be better the more you pay for it. 
> However, there are times when the subjectivity of the player rules out 
> one of these expensive instruments.

When I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan back in 1983 he played his usual Fender 
Strat, which was probably a '62 or somesuch and worth lots.  He beat the 
living shit out of it though.  He also played a Tokai, which is a cheap 
strat knock-off but it also sounded great.  It is quite possible to make a 
really good strat copy for very little money.

I bought a decent strat for my son.  It plays fine and sounds really good. 
He can't play very well (but he plays well for the amount of time he has 
spent practicing) so he thinks he needs a better guitar.  I've explained 
"gear addiction" to him, and he claims to understand, but he still thinks 
that it's partly the guitar.  It's nothing to do with the guitar though 
because if I play it it sounds very much like my guitar which is a 
somewhat better strat.

But, like father like son:  Back when I dumped $2000 into the guitar/amp 
combo I was making sure that it really was me and not the guitar/amp.  So 
I bought the same kind of equipment that my fave, Larry Carlton, was using 
back then.  I didn't sound like him and I knew why:  I sucked.  So it did 
help me to spend some cash because then I knew where the problems with my 
sound were coming from!  This also motivated me to practice more.  So 
maybe I should buy the boy a better guitar.  I'll have to think about it.

By the way, I just ordered this instructional CD set from Larry Carlton 
via TrueFire.com:

http://truefire.com/335blues/335blues.html

It's nice that now I can easily follow what he is doing.  It took me 30 
years, on and off, to get to this point.  Meanwhile, Larry Carlton has 
played over 3,000 studio sessions including 100 gold records.  He is a 
pretty spectacular player and he plays what I like.  So I'm still a big 
fan.

Mike

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