How much would you spend?

[marshall409]

I don't get it.

Needless to say I'll probably never be able to afford it, but lets say I had the money for a 2500 dollar gibson, prs, fender, fillintheblank, etc.

I don't see myself justifying that kind of money on a guitar.

I play a relatively cheap guitar now (500 bucks~) My next guitar will probably be about the same plus upgrades over time.

How much do you guys spend for the name on the headstock? Is it worth it really?

A decent mid priced guitar will probably have a decent body/neck/joint. Is this not all that's needed to build pretty much as good a guitar as possible?

How many of you guys buy American guitars? How many of you opt for a cheaper guitar and choose to upgrade? How many of you just buy a cheap guitar and spend all the money on crazy effects and your amp cuz you think they're more important?

Adam

[CIRO]

I have two "cheap" eletric guitars.

First is a Yamaha Pacifica, I changed the frets, the nut and all the pickups (Emg SAV/SV/85). The reason I bought: I like the wood sound (price too... ) of Pacifica .With the modifications... :

Second is a Tele Model Tagima, made in Brazil,an excelent instrument.
Changed, again, the frets , nut and placed two hambucker with the single (built in).

Well, my opinion is: if you really know exactly what you want by a guitar sound (acoustically,first) and you have a good Luthier/technician to make this mods, go way. But a Gibson ever will be a Gibson, and ...

Ciro

[marshall409]

good point on the listening to electrics acoustically. i always notice that in electrics. mine are pretty good, but i often notice higher priced instruments lakc here, so i know its gonna show up when you plug it in.

my friends jackson for example is barely audible. then again, its just a tiny little piece of wood with two big ass spikes sticking out the end.


Adam

[Gorty]

I have some cheap and nasty guitars, I have some expensive guitars. They all play differently, but the best guitar and the one I use the most for gigging and recording is a middle of the road Ibanez.

It is nice to be able to afford the nice things in life. I have been playing guitar for a long while now and it was only a year ago that I decided to treat myself to a couple of Gibson Les Paul Customs.
I have accumulated a lot of guitars over the years and sometimes it is hard to justify the price difference in regards to say my Ibanez Roadster II Series, which cost me about $300 new as opposed to the Gibson Les Pauls which were $4500 each, and that was a special deal price bought down from the retail price of $6400. These prices are in Australian dollars.

Here's a picture of one of my Gibson Les Pauls and my USA Fender Stratocaster Deluxe. The price difference between these two guitars is around $2000, but they are two totally different guitars. The Strat produces some beautiful clean tones whilst the Les Paul grinds ass big time!

[pikingrin]

I voted for the $400.00 and up, 'cause I like to switch around stuff on mine. But, at the same time, in the intial process of purchasing a new guitar, it all depends for me. It has to feel right in my hands, has to sound the way I think sounds good, etc... I can't buy a guitar from a magazine for this reason, I have to feel it and fall in love with it almost immediately to even consider.

For what it's worth, my favorite guitar of all time was a (gulp) squier strat that I talked guitar center down to around $130 on. It had the smoothest, most fast and comfortable neck I have ever layed my hands on. If I would've been able to keep it (rather than pay my bills) it would surely still be one of my main pieces of equipment.

I guess it's all subjective though, just like anything else.

(BTW, those are some nice looking guitars there Gorty!!!)

[c7sus]

You're not paying for the name on the headstock.

Those instruments command those prices because they are worth it.

You're paying for consistancy at that level, and for workmanship and attention to detail and QC that somebody cranking out $500 guitars cannot begin to match.

Have you checked wood prices lately??? Metal prices are near global historic all-time highs.

Anybody spraying nitro has to have pretty advanced air quality capability to even consider using nitro.

The list goes on and on............

[Outlaws]

That poll doesn't even get close to what I paid for my acoustic.

[timthetortoise]

I'm a fan of buying a mid-priced guitar with quality wood and a stable neck and upgrading from there. But building from scratch is also very fun (albeit extremely time consuming).

[32-20-Blues]

Originally Posted by timthetortoise

I'm a fan of buying a mid-priced guitar with quality wood and a stable neck and upgrading from there. But building from scratch is also very fun (albeit extremely time consuming).

Good attitude. Once you tick the boxes in the main categories - solid tone wood, excellent fretting job, comfortable neck - you can upgrade the midrange hardwear to a higher standard.

Having said that, the max I have spent on a guitar is 1400-1500 dollars.

I also have a nice classical that was around 500. It pisses me off when I see guitars at this price advertised as 'for the player on a budget,' or 'entry to midrange level price; pro-level sounds.' For fuck's sake - I'm only a student, 500 bills is a hell of a lot of money.

[rory]

Many of my guitars were handmade by American folk. I own some cheaper guitars too, but they rarely see the light. I agree with whats already been said, you're paying for craftsmanship, wood quality, SOUND, feel, looks, etc. My latest purchase was a bourgeois archtop with one of those benedetto pickups. Check out his site, ridiculous stuff, but some of the best guitars I've seen or played. www.pantheonguitars.com I think.

[VomitHatSteve]

Originally Posted by c7sus

You're not paying for the name on the headstock.

...

You're paying for consistancy at that level, and for workmanship and attention to detail and QC that somebody cranking out $500 guitars cannot begin to match.

...

This is quite correct. However, the corllary to this is that the off-brand, cheap guitar is not guaranteed to be bad. There is less quality control, and the workmanship probably won't be to the same levels. There is still a chance that you might stumble upon a really good instrument. It's much more of a grab bag when you get cheaper.

My personal electric guitar of choice is a cheap ($100) unlabled guitar. It's probably homemade, but I have no idea where it's from. It sounds great, and the price is right, but I have no guarantees about workmanship, warrantee, or material quality. It just so happens this budget guitar has panned out very well.

[hungovermorning]

Old wood is worth every penny. You can swap out the picups, tuners, pots and everything else, but old wood can't be replaced. That being said my favourite guitar is a 64 Hagstrom 12 string electric which I paid $400 for. It's whatever sound good. Sometimes it takes more money to get your sound. The late Gibson Norlin years (early 80s) are great guitars for the money, I was in mine at $750 like 3 years ago, put a set of Fralin p90s in it and the thing is a Mahogany tone machine. Sometimes it doesn't, I have a Harmony Jaguar copy that I paid $30 for in a pawn shop before they discovered this whole "ebay" thing and ruined my fun. That guitar I absolutely love too. I guess it depends but you do have a whole lot more options going vintage instead of buying new.

[gcapel]

you can find some middle of the road goodness. For example my gibson SG-1. Made in the early 90's is an sg with only one humbucker (500T). $400.00 bucks on ebay.

[ggunn]

I am so glad I bought my Strat ('61) and Les Paul ('74) back in the 70's!

[gibson59neck]

The answers in the poll are too specific, so I didn't check one - if you had just put in the numbers...Anywayz, (after a trade in of a Mexican Strat they gave me $350 for) I spent $1482.87 for my Gibson Les Paul Standard new. I financed it for two years to be able to get it, and it had been the guitar I longed for for many, many years. The most guitars I've owned at a time was 7, and other than the Gibson, all were under $700:

1) Epiphone Dot Deluxe (trade)
2) Mexican Fender 72 Thinline with two humbuckers and an "F" hole (trade)
3) Epiphone E series Slasher ($199)
4) Gibson Les Paul Special Faded, ebony (new, $649)
5) lame Epiphone acoustic (free)
6) pretty lame Ovation Celebrity acoustic ($399 new)

Though I would eventually like to, I don't really do much to mod my guitars other than change out trim colors, knobs, pickguards, etc... I buy them because I like them "as is". I only own three now, and the other two are: a new Ibanez RG321 I got for well below $300, and an Epiphone Nuclear Extreme Les Paul copy, which was used for $229. Both of those have really low action, play effortlessly, and sound great to me.

If I could afford it, I would get a McNaught. (http://mcnaughtguitars.com/) My local Guitar Center had one that was either the same one or an exact copy of one that I saw the band Clutch play just a week earlier, and I think they had it listed for something in the mid $4000 range. I think the one I built on their site was around $6000 - until I have a boat, it's only a dream to own such a crazy guitar...

Gorty, that LP Custom pic gave me wood!

[thewanderer24]

I am primarily a bass player, but the same rules basically apply. I have two Sadowsky's, one of which I had custom made for me, and a fretless that I bought used after falling in love with it. I have a custom from another vendor that just got ordered that I will be waiting quite a while for.

Reasons for spending the big bucks and dealing with small american based makers:
1. I get what I want. I choose the detailed options I want. Do I really need to expand this?
2. Customer service. If I have a question or problem or any issue at all relating to my instrument, I can contact the folks that designed and built it directly, and they stand behind their product. The difference in the level of customer service is not even comparable, and that is a big deal to me.
3. Quality of materials and workmanship and attention to detail, if you are dealing with
a good shop, is far beyond you'll get from anything made in an overseas factory. And, if you have any issue, see #2.
4. I am a big believer in supporting small local businesses even if it means paying a little more. ESPECIALLY, if the choice is something made in america by americans being paid in american dollars vs. cheap overseas labor. I've seen too many jobs shipped overseas that effected myself and my friends and family personally. It is a big part of my decisionmaking process when I have a choice.
5. Paying a few grand for an instrument I am gonna keep and cherish for my whole life is a small investment, considering the return. Think of what orchestral people pay for a nice instrument, and you'll realize how lucky you are to play an instrument you can get as cheaply as a guitar.

The above applies to a lot of my music related purchases. Not just the axe. It also includes amps, cabs, mics, etc. whenever possible (and reasonably affordable).

[Milnoque]

If you're lucky, you'll always be able to get the sound you want out of a modded Squire. I wasn't so fortunate. I came of age with guitars working in a music store in the early seventies. I had my hands on a lot of tasty guitars. Now, I'll pay a good chunk of change for tone like that. That said, I think there are a lot of great cheap electric guitars out there.

I've never been able to get "That Sound" out of any of the lower end acoustics.

Put me in the $1000+ club and I hope you never end up there. (You Will)