How do you feel about inexpensive instruments?

[KenG]

I don't know about everywhere else but here if you go into a music store the breakdown of guitars by price is meant to reflect the buying publics' preferences in percentages.
So the quantities of lower priced models are the greatest and are sold frequently, then you have some mid-level whihc are purchased much less frequenty and finally a few top of the line instruments that can sit for a considerable time before being bought.
I don't think it's any different with other products either or else Walmart wouldn't be the giant it is.

 

[ScottMarlowe]

My first electric bass guitar was a Monkey Wards JBass clone from the 1960s. It was like $50 new. Honestly it was a decent bass. Then my step-dad (god rest his soul) bought me a real, US made JBass. It was definitely a step up. One of the best I've ever played. I think it was $300 or $400 back in thh '70s, a fair bit of money back then.

Loved both of those basses, and would have chosen the cheapo over most any other bass at the time, as I'd pretty much become addicted to the "skinny baseball bat" neck on a JBass by then.

Most of my guitars are not expensive / top of the line stuff and honestly they're all great guitars, whether they came that way or got made that way by me after the sale.

 

[paruwi]

I don't know about everywhere else but here if you go into a music store the breakdown of guitars by price is meant to reflect the buying publics' preferences in percentages.
So the quantities of lower priced models are the greatest and are sold frequently, then you have some mid-level whihc are purchased much less frequenty and finally a few top of the line instruments that can sit for a considerable time before being bought.
I don't think it's any different with other products either or else Walmart wouldn't be the giant it is.

Top 20 seller list from Europeans biggest music retailer...

Thomann Top Sellers: Electric Guitars - Thomann UK

though it has changed a bit during the last months...
there were more expensive Gibsons in the list when they were still available....

the semi-hollows speak a different language...
http://www.thomann.de/gb/topseller_GF_semiacoustic_guitars.html

 

[NRVPaul]

Agile, Epiphone, Gibson, PRS SE, American PRS I have them all and all sound great.

 

[E1WOOD5150]

I've always considered myself a snob; if it didn't have the right name on the headstock, I looked down upon the guitar with disdain. However, I've never had large dollars to invest in guitars, so I've made the best of a my lack of funds. My J B Player Strat copy might have cost $169 new. I wouldn't sell it for less than $2000. It fits, stays in tune and sounds great. Same with my Squier Strat and SX Tele.

A comfortable neck, stable bridge and tuners, good pickups, a great setup and a can do attitude can save you thousands.

And none of this means diddley...I'm STILL getting a Les Paul before years end.

 

[edro]

I've always considered myself a snob; if it didn't have the right name on the headstock, I looked down upon the guitar with disdain. However, I've never had large dollars to invest in guitars, so I've made the best of a my lack of funds. My J B Player Strat copy might have cost $169 new. I wouldn't sell it for less than $2000. It fits, stays in tune and sounds great. Same with my Squier Strat and SX Tele.

A comfortable neck, stable bridge and tuners, good pickups, a great setup and a can do attitude can save you thousands.

And none of this means diddley...I'm STILL getting a Les Paul before years end.

I played an Oscar Spit 335 copy once that was great.... Had it not been that putrid neon blue burst color from hell I would have bought it...

At the time, I had more Lesters than now but still wanted that guitar.........but not that damn color.

 

[cybermgk]

I've always considered myself a snob; if it didn't have the right name on the headstock, I looked down upon the guitar with disdain. However, I've never had large dollars to invest in guitars, so I've made the best of a my lack of funds. My J B Player Strat copy might have cost $169 new. I wouldn't sell it for less than $2000. It fits, stays in tune and sounds great. Same with my Squier Strat and SX Tele.

A comfortable neck, stable bridge and tuners, good pickups, a great setup and a can do attitude can save you thousands.

And none of this means diddley...I'm STILL getting a Les Paul before years end.

So every time you play, your disgusted at what your playing?

 

[Grey]

I've always considered myself a snob; if it didn't have the right name on the headstock, I looked down upon the guitar with disdain. However, I've never had large dollars to invest in guitars, so I've made the best of a my lack of funds. My J B Player Strat copy might have cost $169 new. I wouldn't sell it for less than $2000. It fits, stays in tune and sounds great. Same with my Squier Strat and SX Tele.

A comfortable neck, stable bridge and tuners, good pickups, a great setup and a can do attitude can save you thousands.

And none of this means diddley...I'm STILL getting a Les Paul before years end.

I'm sure others will call you out for it but I for one admire the honesty in this post. A rare thing.

 

[E1WOOD5150]

So every time you play, your disgusted at what your playing?

Quite the contrary...I'm rather proud of the fact that the 3 cheapies can hold their own, or even surpass, the abilities of my vintage Mockingbird. They each do what they do quite well. And I'd bet you a pack of strings that a lot of the members here would dig these guitars quite a lot.

I am often disgusted at what NOTES I am playing. Not the guitar.

I'm sure others will call you out for it but I for one admire the honesty in this post. A rare thing.

Thanks, man. Truth is, I'd just as soon have a wing of the estate dedicated solely to Gibson, Fender, Martin, Marshall and all the great equipment that we all want. The wholesale roofing supply business is not known for its overwhelming financial rewards, so I make do with what I have. None of us are afraid to mod a $6000 guitar, so replacing the pickups in a Squire Strat for the 2nd time isn't going to be a real big deal.

 

[smorgdonkey]

I'm sure others will call you out for it but I for one admire the honesty in this post. A rare thing.

Well, some people call you out for nothing...or your opinion about lobster so yeah, I can see someone calling him out for that too.

 

[sgberry]

And why exactly are Japanese made guitars (from 'well known factories) often just half the price of a north american made guitar with a comparable design/construction

I don't think work or factories are that much cheaper in Nagano...

That`s good point, but here in Europe, japanese or mexican Fenders are priced in the same range.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

Well, some people call you out for nothing...or your opinion about lobster so yeah, I can see someone calling him out for that too.

Or supporting slavery, right?

 

[Guitario]

Typical reverse snobbery with this comment. Though I'm not overly surprised & was waiting for someone to spout it.

North America Guitars cost more for more than "the name on the head stock" even though there is a "premium" on name brands, it doesn't just apply to guitars, it applies to clothes, cars, electronics etc etc.
The average min wage in S Korea is approx $4/hr in China just over $1.5/Hr. Add in the costs of facilities here, the rules & regs enforced over here, the benefits etc and you simply can't build a guitar for the same money.
Living in Ontario and seeing what's happened to the Manufacturing Industry there due to the high costs associated with Union Labor you should know better.

But min wage workers don't build guitars. There is a video of Rob Chapman doing a tour inside the Korean factory where his guitars are built (along with the PRS, Schecters, Ltds etc) and he states it's a misconception that it's all cheap labour. He said the average wage of the Korean luthiers is $3000 per month. I don't know how far that goes in Korea, but they are every bit as skilled as those in Japan and the US.

Obviously there are other ways to reduce costs, but the workforce isn't one of them. The same factory also produces custom shop guitars.

I don't know about China/Indonesia - but I doubt it's much different.

I don't know about everywhere else but here if you go into a music store the breakdown of guitars by price is meant to reflect the buying publics' preferences in percentages.
So the quantities of lower priced models are the greatest and are sold frequently, then you have some mid-level whihc are purchased much less frequenty and finally a few top of the line instruments that can sit for a considerable time before being bought.
I don't think it's any different with other products either or else Walmart wouldn't be the giant it is.

There's the Goldilocks principle in marketing, whereby the greatest profits are generated by the middle item in the range. The budget stock and the high end stock are created and priced accordingly to funnel people into the mid range guitars. This is true with guitars, computers, televisions, shoes - anything where a brand has a similar line of products at different points in the price spectrum.

 

[bum]

I like cheap guitars because it helps get guitars in peoples hands, it's that simple for me.

 

[hbucker]

Quality often translates into feel and playability, not necessarily tone. The big variable here is that feel and playability is 100% up to the individual.

I had a wine collector tell me once that anyone can buy a good $100 bottle of wine. The fun, he said, is finding a good $10 bottle of wine.

I think the same approach work for guitars... And there are a lot of $10 bottles of wine for us to choose from, anymore.

 

[Guitario]

Quality often translates into feel and playability, not necessarily tone. The big variable here is that feel and playability is 100% up to the individual.

I had a wine collector tell me once that anyone can buy a good $100 bottle of wine. The fun, he said, is finding a good $10 bottle of wine.

I think the same approach work for guitars... And there are a lot of $10 bottles of wine for us to choose from, anymore.

I agree. There are numerous examples of guitars that are built using the same woods and components as their more expensive variants, and the sound they make is completely indistinguishable through an amp - but where you may notice a difference, if you were to do a blindfold test, is the subtleties and nuances of the neck, fretboard and overall playability.

You could get a £3000 custom shop LP, with a grubby fretboard and dead strings - raise/lower the action a little more then is necessary, and suddenly you've got a guitar that feels like it came out of a starter pack.

On the flip side, you could a find random Epiphone with a neck so perfectly set up to your playing style, you let out a groan with every touch. An old band mate of mine had an Epi SG like this. Whether by chance or design, it was essentially a high end Gibson in all but name.

Of course, the pickups were awful - but nothing a trip to the local workshop couldn't fix.

I'm of the belief almost any non-entry level guitar can be tweaked into looking, feeling, and sounding exactly how you want. It all depends if you have the time, money and will to achieve it.

 

[smorgdonkey]

Or supporting slavery, right?

Possibly, but I never called anyone out on it. Check your facts...then you'll be ok. As usual, you respond to something that isn't actually factual. But on the bright side, you got a 'like' from a dude who can't tell a pic of a studio from a faded so...

I keep my expectations low.

 

[smorgdonkey]

I don't know about China/Indonesia - but I doubt it's much different.

It's way different.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

Possibly, but I never called anyone out on it. Check your facts...then you'll be ok. As usual, you respond to something that isn't actually factual. But on the bright side, you got a 'like' from a dude who can't tell a pic of a studio from a faded so...

I keep my expectations low.

That's right. You instead made a blanket statement saying all owners of Chinese guitars supported slavery. Or maybe I misunderstood you. It is the internet, after all.

 

[smorgdonkey]

That's right. You instead made a blanket statement saying all owners of Chinese guitars supported slavery.

That could be a connotation. Not what I said though.

Or maybe I misunderstood you. It is the internet, after all.

You could just look at the actual words written and go from there.

BTW - 2 USA Gibson Les Paul Studios for sale locally for $745 and under. That's the exact cost here of a Mexican Fender with no case tax included.