Be honest please

The operative word is "bragging" that triggers a certain response.
Bragging high or low is rarely an admired trait by third party witnesses to the said bragging.

Why?

(1) Taters nailed it. As in life in general, you invariably only get what you pay for.... Full stop.

(2) Then those certain types publicly "bragging" in open forum about throwing around nickels like they are manhole covers, and extending the bragging further with their solely anecdotal heavily biased personal value judgements about how great the gear performs vis-a-vis today's equipment; won't garner much support IMO. Would they repeat their dumpster diving bragging using their real names and direct contact information instead of hiding behind that central plank of anonymity provided by the forum pseudonyms..... Hmmm.... Dunno..... but I doubt it.

Listening to my $5 vintage NAD 3020 and $25 vintage JVC XL-Z1050 right now.

+1 Mofi, Brownsfan, Roxy54, and others who subsequently made similar comments.

As a sidenote that may be of interest, a very famous member of a very famous rock band (everyone here probably knows his name), who happens to have a house in my town, and whose net worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, has been reported in the local media to frequent the nearby Goodwill store. Perhaps he's looking for some rare vintage guitar.

Regards,
-- Al

I don't look down on anyone for any reason unless they're loud and obnoxious about it.

""As a sidenote that may be of interest, a very famous member of a very famous rock band (everyone here probably knows his name), who happens to have a house in my town, and whose net worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, has been reported in the local media to frequent the nearby Goodwill store. Perhaps he's looking for some rare vintage guitar.

Regards,
-- Al""

That's addiction and devotion that does not depend on social status. I still also prefer to find stuff from fleamarket, estates and goodwill. Can't stop that.