The Guilty Pleasure of Cheap Gear

Maybe someone should use that as a band name.

So I was planning on laying down some tracks yesterday, but when I actually started recording, I felt like adding some acoustic guitar to a song. It immediately hit me that I don’t actually own an acoustic, except for a nylon-stringed, of course. I’m Brazilian, guys, in every Brazilian household you can find three things: a tv set, a soccer ball, a nylon-stringed guitar.

Anyway, long story short, I went out and got myself a cheapo Chinese-made guitar, and it got me thinking how much easier life is for kids these days. Except for Chinese kids, I hear someone say. Yes, I know it’s a moral dilemma, it’s probably as bad as buying Nike shoes. Or eating meat.

Yet, where would I be without all the cheap gear? I have Chinese microfones, Korean guitars, Japanese soundcards. Yes, I also own American-made stuff, but that’s far and few inbetween. And I’m not alone in this, as there are plenty of other musicians all over the World who would have a much harder time making music if not for the fact that somewhere in China there’s a kid in a sweat shop cranking out cheap guitar after cheap guitar. Or cheap microfone after cheap microfone. Or — you get the idea.

To sum it all up, I’d never have released a single record if not for borderline slave labor. I feel guilty, of course, and yet I went out yesterday, and got myself yet another piece of cheap gear made in China. What does that make me?