Cheap v expensive guitars - your real world experiences!

[bcole]

I have to admit .... I was a name snob for a bit until I picked up one of the Ibanez Artcore semi hollows. That guitar is a ridiculous steal at its price. Two weeks after I got my band was recording in studio with a pretty sweet guitar vault. The owner sees me playing my Ibanez and comes back with a 60's ES335 and said I should check it out. I was stoked.... until I played the Gibson. I would take that Ibanez over most of the 335'sI I have played. Also.... having gotten our van, trailer and all our gear(except for my 76 LP custom that I had in the hotel).... probably wouldn't take expensive guitars on the road anymore. I guess my point is that you can find awesome and inexpensive guitars out there nowadays relatively easy

[jojo68]

You get what you pay for

[bclaire]

You get what you pay for

I paid $130 for my 1966 Strat. $325 for my 1965 Fender Electric XII. $400 each for my MIJ Fender Esquires. $400 and $450 for my two vintage Orange 4X12's. $275 for my 1964 Danelectro. I don't think the statement has any merit....

[bcole]

I must agree with bclaire.

[jojo68]

You get what you pay for

I paid $130 for my 1966 Strat. $325 for my 1965 Fender Electric XII. $400 each for my MIJ Fender Esquires. $400 and $450 for my two vintage Orange 4X12's. $275 for my 1964 Danelectro. I don't think the statement has any merit....

That's cool for you. You lucked out I guess. My "real World experience" differs so it most certainly has merit.

[Les Paul Lover]

You get what you pay for

I paid $130 for my 1966 Strat. $325 for my 1965 Fender Electric XII. $400 each for my MIJ Fender Esquires. $400 and $450 for my two vintage Orange 4X12's. $275 for my 1964 Danelectro. I don't think the statement has any merit....

How long ago did you pay that for those axes/cabs?
Bet each one has its own lucky story!!!

In the main, you do get what you pay for - but the price for a good guitar can be reasonnably low.

[OrangePaul]

I have to admit .... I was a name snob for a bit until I picked up one of the Ibanez Artcore semi hollows. That guitar is a ridiculous steal at its price. Two weeks after I got my band was recording in studio with a pretty sweet guitar vault. The owner sees me playing my Ibanez and comes back with a 60's ES335 and said I should check it out. I was stoked.... until I played the Gibson. I would take that Ibanez over most of the 335'sI I have played. Also.... having gotten our van, trailer and all our gear(except for my 76 LP custom that I had in the hotel).... probably wouldn't take expensive guitars on the road anymore. I guess my point is that you can find awesome and inexpensive guitars out there nowadays relatively easy

Ibanez do make amazingly good playable guitars that can feel amazingly slick to play...
Their sound is not to everybodies taste, but I did play a semi Ibanez very briefly when I picked up a used JMP50 and that sounded pretty darn nice to me!

[Randy Bass]

You usually get what you pay for unless you have crazy-good-deal-finding skillz .

I don't think any of my cheap guitars are top-notch, but I don't really need a top-notch guitar to get the sounds and playability I want. If it don't sound or play right, rub some dirt on it .

[sgpornstar]

I've had a few custom shop Gibsons, and right now I have a LP Standard that I love, but to be honest, the best bang for the buck deal I ever got was a 72 Tele Deluxe Reissue I picked up a few months ago, a MIM one. I paid $400 for it and the playability is better than any of my other guitars that cost twice that or more. Some people knock the "wide range" pickups, especially vs the originals, but honestly... it sounds great to me. Definitely a lot of guitar for a "cheap" price.

[Y0UNGBL00D]

i honestly find midrange to be the best.

high end gibsons ive played: too glossy and dull feeling
epis and other bargain brands: same thing, or incredibly cheap feeling

my gibson faded SG: just right

though as a disclaimer, it definitely makes other fadeds look like crap. it was a good day at the factory i guess.

[bclaire]

I find having some money available at the right time helps... for example, my 1968 SG Jr. for $375 that needed restoration and my 90 SG Jr for $350. Both were right place - right time.

Granted my guitars have all been bought over the years but I still say I'd take a Joe Strummer Mexican-made Tele over a Custom Shop any day for the sound, value, and playability. Gibsons are a different story - while the Historics are nice and expensive, they're not worth the money IMHO. Gibson's quality control is so all over the place that you have to try them all...

Ditto my Duesenberg- I got it used on ebay for $1K which was a real steal but I would not have paid what they go for new...

[bclaire]

I find having some money available at the right time helps... for example, my 1968 SG Jr. for $375 that needed restoration and my 90 SG Jr for $350. Both were right place - right time. Also being in the know - I used to carry a copy of Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars in my car's glove box...

Granted my guitars have all been bought over the years but I still say I'd take a Joe Strummer Mexican-made Tele over a Custom Shop any day for the sound, value, and playability. Gibsons are a different story - while the Historics are nice and expensive, they're not worth the money IMHO. Gibson's quality control is so all over the place that you have to try them all...

Ditto my Duesenberg- I got it used on ebay for $1K which was a real steal but I would not have paid what they go for new...

[Le Chat Noir]

If you're going to play the 'you get what you pay for' card, at least try to qualify it rather than just putting it out there as if it's gospel truth! Perhaps it was true 10 years ago, but I don't think you can really say price is commensurate with value in the guitar market these days, which is what I've always taken 'you get what you pay for' to mean.

[Les Paul Lover]

But you do get what you pay for......

For the sake of that argument you've got to keep it to new gear exclusively.
2nd hand market is something else altogether IMO.


It's just that what you get for the price you pay varies greatly from country of production.

I've held some cheap Vintage and Tokai, that I just wouldn't consider buying - plastic feel, neck feeling dead, poor fret work, crappy pick ups, selling for aroun £150/£200 mark.

Where it gets difficult, is that squier is able to produce some very reasonably decent instrument for that price point, qlthough again, some of them are pretty poor.
One of my mate bought a epi SG 400 that was very good, pick up included. He then bought the LP 400 (he wanted the case that came with it, cheaper than new case), and had to sell the LP 400 so poor it was.

But as you budget increases to £250/300. there's a wealth of very decent guitars available. All MIC/MIK or wherever, but very good instruments.


The thing about you get what you pay for, is that if I was paying £300 for a new guitar, I wouldn't be surprised if the tuners weren't so good or the pick ups left me wanting at some point.

As your budget increases, this things should be expected to be all fine.
At £500/600, you get some very very good instruments, from anywhere in the world.
You chinese/korean guitar will be REALLY nice with excellent hardware, where as for MIA, it'll be the more basic strats or faded gibsons.

Not their prettiest, but really good instruments, especially the gibsons IMO.


Above that, from any country, you should get something that's pretty too. Because I reckon that's pretty much all pay for past a price point.



That said, my Vigier has buckets of technology thrown in that must increase its cost substantially, like their own design ball bearing/roller saddle bridge unit, the 10% of carbon through the neck to make sure it will not bend over time (no truss rod), and a few more details that have to have a cost involved.

[bassdrop]

Used deals also depend on either/or proximity to a good used market, not counting eBay which can be very risky for instruments, and of course luck. I know folks that live in NYC metro area that can find killer deals combing pawn shops and 48th street. Boston has great shops like Wurlitzer's and of course the pawn shops too.

I live in a rural area in Maryland and the closest shops with good used gear are in the Baltimore or DC areas about an hour and a half away, but you generally don't have the same sheer volume of used gear as you see up north. I lucked out with my Warmoth bass when I bought it for $150 from a friend's dad in high school (that's some luck right there). Not so much with my aforementioned CS Fender- not a great bang for the buck at all, but then again, I wouldn't trade it for the world now that I've got it modded and hotrodded. I'm certainly not afraid to gig it all the time either.