[Hambone]

Playing my guitars becomes a daily "experiment" in tone. Different strings, pick, attack, humidity, etc all influence the results of my experiments.

Over time I conduct certain tonal experiments that have controls on them. For instance, right now I have a 2 year old D18A and a 3 month old D28MM that I'm comparing daily. They have the same flavor of strings, changed at the same time, get about the same amount of play.

I've been doing this to see how the new guitar changes over time in comparison to the 2 year old.

There have been significant changes since the D28MM came out of the box. (It was a factory order and other than the store's luthier giviing it a quick once over to check the action, etc. I was the first person to play it.)

If I "hear something identifiably different" as part of my daily "experiments" in tone, that to me is a first hand experience and therefore becomes something I know to be true.

If I know it to be true, it becomes a "fact" in my mind. Other's may dispute my claim, other's may not be able to discern what I hear, but it does not alter my reality. Therefore, I feel quite comfortable describing my experience and making the claim that what I hear is, in fact, a fact.

Without getting political, we can look at the ongoing debate over AGW. There are scientists and politicians on both sides of the debate convinced of the "rightness" of their conclusions. Both sides can't be right, but they are entitled to put forth what their conclusions and beliefs are for all to hear.

As I often say, I have friends who can't tell the difference between a $5 bottle of "Merlot" and a $100 bottle of Opus One. That doesn't mean I can't write a review that extoles the virtues of the top end Cab, while dismissing the cheap generic. It's my taste, and frankly I don't care about anyone else's taste. If anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any fecking Merlot!

Believe what you want, but to tell someone that they shouldn't believe what they believe, and defend those beliefs, strikes me as arrogant and dismissive.