i think of jack white who sounds awesome playing on a plank of wood for a guitar. such a guitarist might say your $3000 instrument is a vanity thing as well. speaking from my own experience, a topre keyboard or a heavily damped backplated keyboard with red switches invites me to type all day. so its subjective. i guess here i see the analogy to the footstool but id argue its more like your chair (and man, just look at the chairs in the valley...). your chair wont make you an elite software developer. but elite software developers tend to notice their ass is seated in this thing all day every day and they take it seriously.
> such a guitarist might say your $3000 instrument is a vanity thing as well.
No, they wouldn't. Playing well on a shit instrument is a way to demonstrate skill good enough to overcome shit, or part of your public persona. Or they have a good quality instrument that looks like shit because it hasn't been treated well in the past. All professional musicians know what to expect from a good quality instrument (up to a point of course - spending $15000 on a guitar puts you right back with the audiophiles).
