Rain
natural relic'ing

The best kind.

Now, what I don't understand is this. When Fender knock a new guitar about, sand the paint off and generally beat it up, that makes it a "relic" which is worth more, so I should expect to pay more for it.

But when I "naturally relic" a Fender by, well, actually playing it and gigging it for years, I'm told that's "damage" which makes the guitar worth less so I should expect to get less for it if I sell or trade it.

Why is damage inflicted by a master luthier worth more than damage inflicted by me?

 
A "naturally relic'ed" '73 Artic White (yes, I said "Artic White!") Strat belonging to Walter Trout (sitting on the table in front of me while I change a D-string he broke). 

Are those Alesis monitors (I assume there's another one on the other side) any good ? I been thinking of getting a couple of M1 MKII's  http://alesis.com/m1activemkii

I'm obviously not Rain, but I've had a pair of Alesis M1 Actives for many years and they're one of the few pieces of gear that I've kept!  Monitors, like headphones, can be a very personal thing, but I've really liked these (and would probably never buy a non-powered set of monitors). 

I do like them, for what they are - a decent pair of desktop speakers. I'm not sure how they'd compare to similar offerings by M-Audio and such, but I do find them useful when it's time to check a mix.

hmmm, that's makes the decision harder, I was also looking at some 8inch ones, M-Audio's BX series, and some JBL's, don't know how much I want to spend, never really bothered with monitors as such, always just used headphones. If I just got some 5 inch ones, and found out what I have been missing, as I'm fairly sure would be the case, it would be a waste, because I would probably go out and buy some 8inch ones, leaving the others to gather dust. Wish there was somewhere I could compare. I'm just a hobbyist, and don't want to go over kill, but a half descent set of monitors would be good and do me.