heh... thanks guys!
i confess i was a bit tipsy when i typed that... i'm a bit of a romantic, or better said, a nostalgic, or whatever you call it.
OF COURSE i find it fantastic that EVERYBODY can now get a cool jazzmaster. hey and they'll even find out about J Mascis, Dinosaur Jr., the 90s, the "grunge" movement, good music, heart and soul... the "collateral benefit" is huge!!
but i think, somehow, deep down, we all feel a bit like what i described in that post. at least us that were (at least) teenagers in the 90s.
trust me, i'm by no means an egoist, a snob or an asshole. (ok i CAN be an asshole sometimes)
but remember, i work as an primary school teacher. i try (and do) to show them (nowadays oh so) spoiled kids that life isn't a fucking picnic (without the f, of course), like my dad used to say.
it was and still IS delicious to want, REALLY REALLY want something, and doing the impossible to finally get what you REALLY wanted. work for it, fight for it, bleed for it.
i mean, i had to wait 32 years to get my VW Kombi... and even better, i got lucky and got a camper. i will baby that car ... like my baby!
so it was with jags/jazzers for me. ever since i saw teh kurdtz back then, and sonic youth, and dino jr... i was like "fuck what a cool guitar" - WANT!
then, when i graduated from high school in costa rica in '97 my dad gave me $500 to "buy something that makes you happy".
i started investigating how much a sunburst jag/jazzy costs. CIJ was $799. i needed to get $300 more to make my dream come true....
i worked as a tourist guide/translator, i did lawns, i even did shitty office/phone central work. and i EARNED THAT CASH.
sometime later, also as graduation gift, my aunt/godmother(?) who lives in houston, invited me to come visit for a week or two.
but she was always too busy to take me to a guitar store, until the last day. i looked for them jags and jazzers all over, but mars music had just closed (gone bankrupt, i think), and they did have 'em in blue and red, but i wanted sunburst.
finally, i found a s/b jazzmaster and jag at evan's guitar store. i tried them out. i REALLY wanted the jag (teh kurdtz and teh chrome/bling), but the jazzmaster felt SO much better. and IIRC it was even a bit cheaper than the jag. my aunt gave me another $50 and so i walked out with a brand-new sunburst jazzmaster AND a little wooden box with russian stuff on it. in it, a green sovtek big muff. (yes for $49.99) and some fender picks.
I
WAS
FUCKING
KING.
...ok did i get off-topic?
so maybe now, emo-kiddo sees that guy from paramore with a jazzmaster. wants a jazzmaster. goes to GC and gets a jazzmaster.
"mom i'm bored, guitar playing sucks..." and then he makes a youtube video of him flipping and/or smashing it.
...
get it now?
a bit apocalyptic yes, but full of love, somehow.
snobby? well no i don't feel snobby. but whatever.
btw, of course i still have that guitar. when i started going out with my (now) wife 10 years ago, i wanted to share something REALLY fucking special with her. so i cut/carved her name (Maria) into the back of the headstock of the guitar, then we slit our thumbs and filled the name with our blood (...) --- before engaging in intense coitus.
ok maybe not... the coitus part... *whistles*
i've used and abused the guitar, thrown it around, modded it, i drew and puked on it.
cuz it's fucking SPECIAL.
geez what a fucking snob i am, huh?
love,
Pat.