My first guitar was one lent to me by a boyfriend of a neighbor in an apartment complex I first live in NC. He was visiting NC and left after they broke up, never came back and I was stuck with the right-handed guitar. It was a Jackson and I played it upside down. I played it without an amp, without effects, just straight into my Yamaha cassette 4 track! The neck warped after 2 years and it would have cost $300 to either fix or replace they told me at a new store called Fat Sounds in Cary, NC. I thought to myself "Who in the world would pay that much for a guitar?!?" lol.
Then I got side-tracked by life, more schooling, child, soccer coach, teams, etc. I got back into guitars and bought 2 cheap online lefties for $70 each and thought I had a steal. Then got the Fender Squire which was quite a step up. Then the MIM, then American, then Custom.
Not like I deserve a great guitar or anything by skill or profession, but I enjoy a work of art and the newly applied tech that can make a classic Fender into something perfect (in terms of keeping tune, neck staying still, low action, every setting sounds great, feel of the neck fits the hand, frets glide, cuts through the mix just right, and on and on)
I really love my 2012 LP Trad Plus but I also really dig being able to throw business to entrepreneurs who bring something special to the field of guitar making.
And Ron will pimp the guitar however you want it, him being an inlay specialist and all, but I really dug Emerson Swinford's version, the simplicity of his guitar, letting the wood and metal be the beauty.
I went over the specs with a guitar store friend, Mike, who worked at Fat Sounds for many years until they went under, and who was used to selling hi-end guitars and has sold Thorns in the past and he said for the price and for using Brazillion wood, I was practically stealing it from Ron, lol!
I recently got into MTB again (my last bike given to me 25 years ago after doing some electrical work for a friend) and when I saw I had to drop $2-4k to get a decent one I thought "who the %#$@ would spend that much for a bike?!?" lol. Here we go again!