worth spending more than $1000 on a guitar?

I think there is definite distinction between a guitar's 'sound' and its 'feel'.

Feel has to do with the shape of the neck, the frets, scale length, body shape, appearance, weight etc. aside from the sound.

Sound is basically just the sound that is output by the pickups, still dependent partly on the body shape/design and construction material.

I think the 'feel' is what you pay for mostly with the high end guitars. I think after a certain point the 'sound' is pretty much as good as its gonna be for the type of guitar/sound you are looking for and what you are paying more for is a better 'feel'. And the knowledge of the 'prestige' of the guitar you are buying.

I'm pretty sure if you played a $25,000 guitar, into an amp, recorded by a mic, mixed, mastered and converted to .mp3 and did the same thing with a $600 guitar you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

I have a guitar a got for $75 used at a guitar store thats beat to hell and has a cheap neck on it with "Fender" written in black marker. Its from the 60's according to the shop owner but only the body, pickups and electronics were original. Its made out of plywood and the volume knob basically is just on or off with the tone controls doing absolutely nothing. The pickup mounts are all cracked and wobbly and some of the pickup poles are rusted, but this things sounds AWESOME through an amp.

Also, Jack White uses a cheap plastic guitar he got for like $40 or something at a department store on most of his albums.
 
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Generally speaking, I can be perfectly happy with a cheap electric guitar + a couple/three hundred bucks for a good setup (&possible fret leveling job) and good pickups and electronics (probably replacements). So it just comes down to: what guitar do I want to throw a couple/three hundred bucks at? More expensive guitars tend to have more keep-able pickups and electronics, but I pretty much still wanna get them set up.

Sometimes durability is a concern on the really cheap ones, but not so much for me anymore because I'm not gigging hardly ever.

Acoustics seem a little more tied to their original form (especially sound, of course), but a good setup on a cheap acoustic can make a huge difference in playability.
 
ya' know ..... the actual answer to this would be it's worth it if the guitar gives that much extra value in some way. Not all expensive gits do.
Personally I like a good Squire about as well as a mex strat and I like that about as well ans an American Standard strat. Thats's me.

OTOH, I have a custom built jobbie that sounds better and sustains better and plays better than any of my other 14 gits .... some are cheapos and some are medium pricey.
So for me this particular git is easily worth the extra dough because it delivers extra goodness in all ways.
But simply because a git costs more doesn't automatically mean it's worth more.
I'd say it's on a case by case basis depending on the player and his particular needs and the particular git.
 
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Bristol Posse said:
The Epiphone is a very nice guitar, Especially after I dumped another $200 into real Gibson pickups for its. It plays very well and the tone is pretty decent and I enjoy playing it and like it a lot.
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Quoting myself maybe a little egostistical but...

Over the last couple of days I put a new tail piece, bridge and nut from GraphTech (Resomax tail piece/bridge and Tusq XL Nut) on the Epiphone LP

I also took the plunge and did some more DIY, scraped the fretboard and re oiled with lemon oil, levelled the fret wires plus the bridge and nut replacements

The Epi LP now plays like a thousand dollar plus guitar but then when I think about it original price $700ish, New Gibson 490R/T Pups $200ish, GraphTech Tail pice, Bridge and Nut $175ish. If you factor in the custom setup that would have been added to the price it is a thousand dollar plus guitar. It just didn't cost me a thousand bucks all in one go,

even with all of that work however, It's still not a nice as my real Les Paul but it's getting closer.
Next project is rounding the binding, filing the annoying edges of the currently less than perfectly finished fret wires, replacing the tuning heads, replacing the pots and switches (ughh soldering, the bane of my existence) and smoothing the neck. once that's done the Epi will probably be as nice as I can make it
 
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I spent $3500 for my Dake Traphagen handmade classical and it's worth every penny. For classical guitars, you'd be hard pressed to find a concert level guitar for less than $3-4K. If you buy from a trendy builder they actually appreciate decently.

Every classical guitar I've ever tried at a guitar center is garbage. Border line useless. Do not buy a classical guitar from them under any circumstances. If you know anyone who wants an entry level classical, tell them to order from Kirkpatrick Guitar Studio. There are decent beginner classical guitars out there in the $600-700 range. Anyone who wants a concert level classical can buy straight from the builder.
 
I used to tech for a guy who had a couple of Dake's guitars--they are excellent.


The most I've spent on ANY guitar was $400.00 for a mint '65 Strat in 1977--played it for a couple years and sold it. The way I play and sweat it would've started looking like Rory's guitar before too long, and it was just too nice.

Now, you'd almost have to spend $2000.00 to get a good acoustic, although I like my Charvel 625C for open mics, etc. It needs a better pickup and pre-amp, but even with that I'd have less than $300.00 into it.

I also have a Gurian S3M I bought new in 1973, it was $325.00 w/hsc. When I was playing it a lot it liked Martins and Gibsons for breakfast. That's the guitar to play Renbourn pieces on.
 
I have an early 70's LP custom that I paid $350 for in 1976 and an early 60's Partscaster that I paid $600 for in 1979. I love them both, but I'd hate to think what I'd have to shell out for them today. Just like the Million Dollar SG, they are not for sale. :D

I have a couple of basses that I paid over $1000 for (Alembic Epic 5 and MM Bongo 5 HHP), and they are both worth the money, IMO.
 
I think $1000 is right about the perfect price for a really good guitar. I'd never pay more, particularly since I couldn't afford more, but I think any more is just a waste. Especially if you pay it for some "signature" model. What a joke those are.
 
I'd have to say yes. My 73 strat was 350.00 in 1979, but not now. If I won the lottery I wouldnt fill a room with cheap guitars. Maybe one or two.
 
Well, right now I feel kind of stupid and smart at the same time. I lost a bid on ebay for a 1967 strat that sold for like 650. The reason I didn't bid more was because it was on ebay and I didn't have the chance to play the damn thing, for all I know it sounds terrible. Also I have my eye on a very specific other guitar which I know I like and costs less. Still I probably could have had that sunburst strat for like 7-800 bucks...
 
Sometimes it's worth it

My experience has been that I played an Ibanez RG 550 purchased new in 91 for around $800 for many years. That guitar was fantastic in every way. Then I saw the Gibson Les Paul Standard DC . I thought wow it's a Gibson and it's beautiful (blue with gold hardware and white binding) so it's gotta be great. So I sold my Ibanez and got this Gibson (online order) and it was NOT worth the extra money to me. Granted it was not a $2500 Les Paul it was a $ 1600 Les Paul but the point is it was well over a grand and I really never felt good about it. The tone was not as good and the playability was way off compared to the Ibanez. It WAS beautiful though but I put it on a stand as a back up and then began playing my original back up which is a 1970 Yamaha SG 1000.

Now I paid $300 for this guitar (the Yamaha) and it's an original pre lawsuit guitar so I have no idea what it cost new but it is a fine instrument. It plays like butter and is very versatile tone wise.

Time flew by like it does and 10 years later my Gibson was still gathering dust so I traded it for a Fender Highway One Strat hahaha. I know I know but the fact is I love the Strat and I hated the Gibson. And if you don't know it you can buy one new for around $600 and it's american. I did replace the pickups in it though and it is now sporting a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge and a Hot Rail at the neck. It sounds great stays in tune and plays beautifully.

I never got my old RG 550 back and I'm looking at the reissues now but I hate the colors they have currently.

So most recently I got an Epiphone Dot ($399)-not yet perfect but it's fun and I believe that with a little work (new pickups) it will be hot. And at the same time I got another Ibanez (finally). This time it's an S770PB($799)-this is a shredder BUT I hate the pickups on this thing. They do not sound good unless they are doing the Satriani thing. I love me some Satch but I need versatility so they are going to be replaced.

So in summary I have never bought a guitar for over $1000 that I loved but I have bought some for less that I loved. The exception is with acoustics and I think good acoustics pretty much are expensive. I have a Martin and a Seagull and it's night and day-the Martin is amazing and the Seagull is just ok. I played every acoustic in guitar center when I bought this Martin and it was just better-but it's FAR from the most expensive acoustic I auditioned that day.

Now that was only MY experience. Would I pay more than a grand for a guitar? HELL YES if it was the right guitar. 2 Grand? HELL YES if was the right guitar. 3? You dang skippy IF it was the right guitar.

I think it's important to make sure that the guitar is doing what YOU want it to do and sounds the way YOU want it too. And if it IS and you MUST own it then you gotta get out the cash. For me I'll take a risk on low end guitars that I can return but before I spend 2 grand on something I gotta really be in LOVE. (like with my Martin).

For what it's worth my plan next is to jump up to that $1200 range and get a Gibson SG Standard. Finally if I were rich I would just buy ANY guitar I liked because I just LOVE GUITARS!!
 
Yeah I'm not big on the sound of the ibanez pickups either. Maybe you could switch them out. I have a yamaha pacifica which sounds ok for 200$. I know this amazing guitar player who designs equipment for ehx, and he told me if you look you can find epiphone les pauls that sound just as good as the Gibsons, so I'd explore that option if you're a big gibson guy. I'm going to go to a store and find a good sounding epiphone, and a/b it with some gibsons to try to find the differences.
I also had an experience playing a Martin in a store, and the sound blew everything else they had there away. It kind of ruined me, because now I can't settle for anything else. Whenever I play anything all I can think is how inferior it is to the martin.

alockout said:
My experience has been that I played an Ibanez RG 550 purchased new in 91 for around $800 for many years. That guitar was fantastic in every way. Then I saw the Gibson Les Paul Standard DC . I thought wow it's a Gibson and it's beautiful (blue with gold hardware and white binding) so it's gotta be great. So I sold my Ibanez and got this Gibson (online order) and it was NOT worth the extra money to me. Granted it was not a $2500 Les Paul it was a $ 1600 Les Paul but the point is it was well over a grand and I really never felt good about it. The tone was not as good and the playability was way off compared to the Ibanez. It WAS beautiful though but I put it on a stand as a back up and then began playing my original back up which is a 1970 Yamaha SG 1000.

Now I paid $300 for this guitar (the Yamaha) and it's an original pre lawsuit guitar so I have no idea what it cost new but it is a fine instrument. It plays like butter and is very versatile tone wise.

Time flew by like it does and 10 years later my Gibson was still gathering dust so I traded it for a Fender Highway One Strat hahaha. I know I know but the fact is I love the Strat and I hated the Gibson. And if you don't know it you can buy one new for around $600 and it's american. I did replace the pickups in it though and it is now sporting a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge and a Hot Rail at the neck. It sounds great stays in tune and plays beautifully.

I never got my old RG 550 back and I'm looking at the reissues now but I hate the colors they have currently.

So most recently I got an Epiphone Dot ($399)-not yet perfect but it's fun and I believe that with a little work (new pickups) it will be hot. And at the same time I got another Ibanez (finally). This time it's an S770PB($799)-this is a shredder BUT I hate the pickups on this thing. They do not sound good unless they are doing the Satriani thing. I love me some Satch but I need versatility so they are going to be replaced.

So in summary I have never bought a guitar for over $1000 that I loved but I have bought some for less that I loved. The exception is with acoustics and I think good acoustics pretty much are expensive. I have a Martin and a Seagull and it's night and day-the Martin is amazing and the Seagull is just ok. I played every acoustic in guitar center when I bought this Martin and it was just better-but it's FAR from the most expensive acoustic I auditioned that day.

Now that was only MY experience. Would I pay more than a grand for a guitar? HELL YES if it was the right guitar. 2 Grand? HELL YES if was the right guitar. 3? You dang skippy IF it was the right guitar.

I think it's important to make sure that the guitar is doing what YOU want it to do and sounds the way YOU want it too. And if it IS and you MUST own it then you gotta get out the cash. For me I'll take a risk on low end guitars that I can return but before I spend 2 grand on something I gotta really be in LOVE. (like with my Martin).

For what it's worth my plan next is to jump up to that $1200 range and get a Gibson SG Standard. Finally if I were rich I would just buy ANY guitar I liked because I just LOVE GUITARS!!
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I'm very much in favor of other people spending big bucks to buy one of my guitars. That's how I funded my blonde 335 -- I gave about half of what I got for my '63 Chet Atkins Country Gent for it.
 
Sky Blue Lou said:
It's getting hard to find a Les Paul Standard or Custom for that. It's not a bad premise but I think inflation has punched it up to $1500-$2000.


lou
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Sorry, you are correct. I'm not an LP man myself so I've never shelled out any cash for them. But I do know they are up there.
 
Ive had two electric guitars in my life, one a squire strat and then I took the large jump up to a gibson lp studio. Ive owned it for 5 years now and I dont need anything else. in its years I think it needs a bit of work just to sort out a couple of little things. Is it worth the price? I decided to put my savings into this guitar (was quite young when i got it). but over all yes it was worth it. dispite the name. there is just somthing so so magical when you open the case for the same time. I remember looking at it for the first time and I was affraid to touch it. and I still feel that even now. you just dont get that from an Epi. Saying that having a good guitar dosn't make you good, I know a guy who plays a a stagg strat. and he plays it like a true god. I have seen guys playing the cream of the crop and being more concerned by showing off the price tag.
Saying that I know fairly little about guitars, but I think from a LP studio to the top of the range ones your only really paying for the shinny bits that make it look expensive really
 
alockout said:
So I sold my Ibanez and got this Gibson (online order) and it was NOT worth the extra money to me.
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In 1987 (or 88 can't remember), I traded a 1984 cherry sunburst LP custom for a road flare red RG550, which I have today. A few months ago, I priced both models out using ebay completed transactions :mad::drunk::spank::( - the story is that I *had* have an edge or floyd rose tremolo, knew I'd go to hell if I put one in the LP, and couldn't afford to buy the 550.
 
antichef said:
In 1987 (or 88 can't remember), I traded a 1984 cherry sunburst LP custom for a road flare red RG550, which I have today. A few months ago, I priced both models out using ebay completed transactions :mad::drunk::spank::( - the story is that I *had* have an edge or floyd rose tremolo, knew I'd go to hell if I put one in the LP, and couldn't afford to buy the 550.
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Ah yes...the ones that got away. I sold a twentieth anniversary (1972) LP Custom Black Beauty for $600 in 1989 for race car parts. Dumb fuck. I only paid $350 for it in 1979, still... dumb fuck.

:(
lou
 
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