Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard Klepper
As I've said to you before, Mau, you assume that beauty and ugliness are objective qualities and that people agree about which guitars have them. I see ample evidence that this is not the case.
For one thing, many of us consider some of the guitars that sell well to be ugly. But let's put that aside, because those guitars mostly have well-regulated fit and finish (I like David Pye's use of the term 'regulation' to mean uniformity since it is so much more objective than 'good' or 'bad'). What people may dislike about these guitars is an aesthetic concept rather than its execution.
Instead I'll remind you of my "Wabi-Sabi" guitar, with which I set out to pursue an aesthetic that rejects highly regulated visual aspects. You and Juston criticized me for suggesting an alternative to the standard of high regulation, and when you said that people just want a beautiful guitar, my reply was that there is more than one standard of beauty. Juston said that I would never be able to sell the guitar.
It sold within a week of being completed, the first day I brought it to a small guitar show. It's owner does not just like the way it sounds; he thinks it is beautiful.
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Howard, I think your memory is playing tricks on you on this very topic as you keep putting words in my mouth that I did not say.
I have never said that your Wabi-Sabi guitar was "ugly" or that it would not sell. Quite frankly I thought the discussion was awful but the guitar was pretty and I'm not surprised that it was a success.
What I did take offense with were some of your harsh and judgmental comments about people who obsessed about certain visual aspects. I mentioned it to you offline and you edited your comment, presumably because you agreed with me. We're cool here, no need to revisit.
I actually like a lot of the Wabi-Sabi art and would welcome it in my home anytime. But like I've said before, some imperfections are prettier than others. If anyone here thinks that Wabi-Sabi is NOT regulated, I'd suggest that they think again.
This is not to say that there's only one standard of beauty -- but some artists are simply more talented than others, regardless of the style that they're going for.