Sunday, March 12, 2006

Inordinate desire - for guitars?

I've been having fun with my Intro to Philosophy class lately, reading Augustine's dialogue "On the Free Choice of the Will." An important part of the dialogue tries to define sin, as "inordinate desire."

As long as I've been reading this with the class, I've been thinking about inordinate desires of my own, specifically, my inordinate desire (or maybe not) for guitars. In the last couple months, I've gone from interest to desire to lust for amplified guitars, and after buying a 40% off classical-acoustic-electric Cordoba last month, and nearly buying a hollowbody electric instead, today I went and did the deed, picking up an Ibanez AG85 for about 40% off list price. And, you know, hubba hubba hubba. (This is an update to the entry: I had originally posted a picture of the AG86. Turns out, the AG85 is no longer in production, which could explain the low price. Frankly, I like the look much better.)

I took the pick guard off, so the f-holes on both sides are visible in all their loveliness (I'm a sucker for f-holes; they're unbearably sexy to me). Actually, the guitar on Ibanez's site isn't as nice as the one I picked up. The grain on mine is much prettier.

So, for anyone keeping score at home, that leaves me with my old Takamine classical, my Seagull 12-string, my Cordoba, and the Ibanez. In my office I keep a crappy Greg Bennett Samick just to noodle with to restore calm.

Can a guitar be the object of lust? Can it be the object of "inordinate desire"? If one intends to play this guitar, and if, instead of the $3500 Gibsons and $2000 Gretsches offered by one's local guitar shop, one seeks out a $350 Ibanez, is one truly inordinately desiring?

No comments: