In france, we have a lot of people who think if they have a good guitar, they 're good musicians... that makes me laugh. I always though that if a guitar player is great is only because of his experience and his work that he's done to have a great level.
But, now, it's not only that side ... the other side , for me , to be a good musician is the way to be part of a band (and i'm not only talkin about playing or jamming, i'm talkin about how the guy take part of the band's life)
You should have shoved your guitar in his face and said "here, have a closer look at my BALL"
Some people have a way about them. Eventually it will catch up with them.
Meh. Worrying about what people think isn't really a rock 'n roll attitude.
I don't worry what people think of how I spend my money nor do I lose sleep about how others spend theirs. While we love our instruments, when you get right down to it they're just tools. If the tool does the job for you, great. It's gear, not morality.
In fact, that's right that in France, it can happen that you find decent guitarists who do not know about MM guitars. Bass are more famous. I've been also living in Spain for 4 years and played my JP6 BFR in a DT cover band, and I can say that there only few people have these sparkles in the eyes that should be consequence of me taking out my axe (then they laugh when I play).
Now I live in Berlin, Germany, and here more people know MM, I see quite some in the music shops.
To summarize, long live EBMM!