Thanks everyone.
To Jay and Brian with the differing viewpoints, here is my take:
Well Jay, I completely understand your viewpoint. I often lose sight of my music. Sometimes I listen to shit I've recorded through a crappy guitar amp simulator in my digital workstation and it sounds fantastic music-wise even if the sound sucks. Meanwhile, I just upgraded my entire front-end from low-end (and I mean low-end) mics, mic pre's, a/d's (audiotechnica at4033 not a bad mic though, yamaha digital mixer a/d's, etc to top of the line (crane song a/d, api mic pre, soundelux tube,aea mics). Perhaps none of that mattered.
When I listen to mixes I myself make, the quality of the actual song perhaps isn't any better with all of the new equipment compared to my old stuff. Depending on the day, sometimes I will get an extra smile out of listening to the higher quality of my recordings while other days I solely zone in on the vibe of the song and the quality doesn't matter at all. Some days I can't stand my own songs, some days I love them. Some days I believe I need fresh ears to mix my stuff, other days I feel like a control-freak and don't want anyone to mess it up. Definitely no absolutes in this liquid world of primordial energy flowing through the phantom channels of my mind.
More toward what Brian suggests: On the other hand, I'm a perfectionist and I want my mixes to sound as good and emotionally moving as possible, and was hoping a highly artistic mixer/masterer can help elevate my recordings. Perhaps I could do it all myself, but still feel that a top guy doing this every day will make better mixes (as I'm more a guitarist and songwriter), a top mastering guy a better master than me. I will probably go through with this whole process and see what happens!
By the way, the 'key players' most satisfied would be me, and anyone who hopefully will buy this cd (though probably more me, as many people I give my own mixes never question the quality of them!) Final thing is that money is a slight issue, and I have tons of more songs ahead of me (I have several hundred compiled from the last decade that I now want to churn out albums!). So the question is blow my load with a top mixer/mastering combination with one cd, or spend less and have enough for each ensuing album. Ah, who knows! Every other week I fantasize about giving up music completely, getting out my backpack and doing a non-stop around the world for a year and half, as opposed to my usual 2 month excursion.
Then again, as Jay said, "if it sounds good, set it free" I like that!
For anyone who just made it through this slightly discombobulated symphony of non-sequiturs, pm me and perhaps I'll try you out for the mastering!