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The non-allure of pricey guitars....


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He's a pretty good guitar player, gets the occasional coffee-house/bar weekend gig. He also makes good wages at his day job. But he is of the mind that any guitar over $1k is money wasted, simple as that. I've tried explaining materials/labor costs and such, and he fully understands it. He's played my Hamers and acknowledges their quality and beauty, but still thinks any guitar over $1k is money wasted; "They're just wood and some parts", he says. Other than never having to worry about him becoming a Hamer USA collector, does anyone see his point of view? Like I said, he makes good money so that's not an issue. It puzzles me, that's for sure.

specialk

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Objectively, he is right. But music isn't very objective. We get off on the beauty, the feel, and yes the exclusiveness (or individuality) of guitars, and even the investment potential... they're not really like a skillet or box end wrench. We infuse them with a lot of irrational qualities because we filter our music -- and a bit of our souls -- through them.

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Objectively, he is right. But music isn't very objective. We get off on the beauty, the feel, and yes the

exclusiveness (or individuality) of guitars, and even the investment potential... they're not really like a skillet

or box end wrench. We infuse them with a lot of irrational qualities because we filter our music -- and a bit

of our souls -- through them.

Very Zen-like observation. :P

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I know a dude like that. We argue about it from time to time. I've made some pretty boneheaded buys that were way too expensive for what I got, and he's insisted his import brand x guitar slays anything for 4x the price and I thought it felt like the $200 guitar it was. I don't necessarily agree with him, but I see where he's coming from. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

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I would tend to agree with his position, but would say that you have to spend up to a certain point to get into that area of "there isn't much difference". A $200 guitar will seldom perform like a $1000 guitar, but the point of little distinction is lower that 1k in my opinion. $750 gets you into true pro territory I think and anything above that gets you only incremental improvements in tone or playability. The bling and bragging rights are what you get beyond that, as long as we are talking about new purchases rather than used. Z

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Thanks for the insights. I know it's a personal matter, and as Z stated, the improvements get incremental beyond a certain threshold. Still I could see for me an absolute max of $3k for the right guitar, and it would have to be the RIGHT guitar.

You should have seen my wife's eyeballs pop out when I showed her the 1952 Tele on ebay right now. $60k and you can call it yours....

specialk

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I wonder if the cynic (not a slur from my p.o.v.) invests in anything like money market funds or whatever. Sounds like he's a bit of a pragmatist as well---prolly the kinda guy who'd intentionally own and drive a manual transmission car for reasons like better economy and a feeling that a driver is more in control, and less $ spent than for a similar car w/ an automatic. He seems to be looking at guitars for utilitarian reasons more than anything else.

Some folks post pictures of new acquisitions on this site, pretty much to share their good fortune with similarly-minded enthusiasts (the blue Std. is the most recent example). I always appreciate such posts because they're straight-on sincere, from what I can tell. But for me, anytime any snob appeal (the uppity variant of "Look what I've got") enters into the equation about expensive instruments (used collectible OR custom-made new guitar), I'm headed for the door...but that's never happened here, and somebody with the right equipment has posted some of my instruments on another site for like-minded collectors of another brand.

So I wonder to what extent your acquaintance's disdain might be due to thinking some or all collectors are snobs? Sounds like he could get into collecting himself if he wanted to.

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I find that some guys have a reverse snob attitude...

Kinda look what I have and I only payed cheap for it.

I can buy 10 Squiers for one USA Fender kinda thing and they do the same thing.

I used to have the $1000.00 limit but the guitars I wanted got higher priced so I have now set a limit of $2000.00

Till I find "THE ONE" and it's $2100.00

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If you are a player, you can make just about anything sound good. To me, that $500 to $1000 range offers you some very good choices and with a decent amp, you can rock your world.

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My best guitars, Ya know...the ones that I actually play and enjoy didn't cost me anymore than $500.00

Price does not equal a good guitar...I think people convince themselves that since they paid $1K $2K $5K or whatever that it's their end all be all....most are polished high priced turds.... :P

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A guitar that feels like magic in your hands is worth more. Making do with what you have is one thing, having a guitar that is all you have dreamed of is totally different. My korina Special is probably my most vibrant guitar, and it is worth more than $1000 if I had to replace it.

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We infuse them with a lot of irrational qualities because we filter our music -- and a bit of our souls -- through them.

This is beautiful. I completely agree.

I go back and forth on this issue. The Special FM I owned briefly had a great neck and feel and some of the best humbucking tone I have heard. I could have coupled that with the Tech21 TM60 out the door for under $1k and had a rig that needed nothing more for my purposes. The Charvel Model 4 I owned was a fantastic guitar as well - $400 (and I overpaid).

I'm sure everyone here could offer a list of their <$1K guitars that are excellent in all aspects.

I really wouldn't need any more than either of those, but.....

...a quick glance at Pirateflynn's latest makes my heart flutter - I've never any touched it, but it makes me giddy.

I still love opening the case, extracting, tuning and then playing my stupid-$ classical. I have another recent classical as well that honestly sounds amazing and was a real bargain. It's not the same magic, though, and I don't know any logical way to explain it.

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I agree with your friend. Yeah, the fancy maple tops look cool and all cool, but at the end of the day, it's the person behind it that makes the magic.

Doesn't mean we can't enjoy the more pricey ones...

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But he is of the mind that any guitar over $1k is money wasted, simple as that.

I believe he is referring to guitars as mere intruments, and I agree with him.

Show him what some of the guitars like the 4 digit standards are worth now compared to what they cost new.

This is more looking as guitars as investments, which they are really a rather por one, incomparison to others.

$750 gets you into true pro territory I think and anything above that gets you only incremental improvements in tone or playability. The bling and bragging rights are what you get beyond that

Absolutely. Nothing wrong with bragging of course, I do it also, but that is what it is.

You should have seen my wife's eyeballs pop out when I showed her the 1952 Tele on ebay right now. $60k and you can call it yours....

That is, actually, a pretty average (at best) investment, IMHO.

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i agree with your friend, i just bought a mim nashville tele for $500. and it just slays , i was gonna buy a talladega but i couldn't jstify it in the end, ya know what.....i love the tele and i saved $2000.........................

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Lets see, how many brand new USA made guitars can you get for 1000. hmmm.... not many. I have no problem with foreign made guitars, there are lots of good ones, but I'd just as soon support manufacturers that are still trying to make products in the US, and it happens that PRS feels the best to me of all the guitars that I've played anyway, so thats what I use. Brand New Mira cost me less than $1400, which isn't too far from that 1k price point.

So next time he gets on your case, thank him for helping drive the final nails in the coffin of our manufacturing economy. :P

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this sums it up nicely:

$750 gets you into true pro territory I think and anything above that gets you only incremental improvements in tone or playability. The bling and bragging rights are what you get beyond that

as does this:

guitars over 1k are no fun

yep! ok, i'm cheap, thats why i love used hamers.

i like nice guitars (and amps), but refuse to pay much more than $1k.

HHB & i were talking about this the other day; we can't seem to enjoy gear that is way high priced!

it may sound great, but not 3x better than a $1k piece, and eventually after the honeymoon is over

we just can't enjoy it anymore. the only thing i've owned over $1k was a $1400 used carr rambler amp;

it was nice, but a side by side test thru studio monitors w/ a rhythm section mixed in

revealed that a $400 mesa sounded better. bye bye carr.

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I'll just point out that if you buy used and wisely, you can play whatever guitars you want with very little financial exposure. I have a stable of hand picked custom shop Les Pauls, strats, and a tele that I really like yet can get out of if inclined for very little if any $ loss, and possibly some upside. With the exception of the tele which I bought new cuz I like it...

The only limiting factor is that only certain brands retain their value, as we all know.

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If a person doesn't want to pay much for a guitar, more power to them. As I don't "piss down"

on the person who won't or can't afford a higher price git, I also kinda expect them not to "piss up" on me, for

owning some higher priced guitars. I work long hours and work hard for my $$$, so it's my way of keeping my

sanity, (which has been questioned many times), by treating myself to a few frivolous toys.

Mostly higher priced guitars are more "blingy", ie: highly flamed tops, set necks, high end pick-ups, etc etc. And

I like blingy .... so sue me. :P

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this sums it up nicely:

$750 gets you into true pro territory I think and anything above that gets you only incremental improvements in tone or playability. The bling and bragging rights are what you get beyond that

as does this:

guitars over 1k are no fun

yep! ok, i'm cheap, thats why i love used hamers.

i like nice guitars (and amps), but refuse to pay much more than $1k.

HHB & i were talking about this the other day; we can't seem to enjoy gear that is way high priced!

it may sound great, but not 3x better than a $1k piece, and eventually after the honeymoon is over

we just can't enjoy it anymore. the only thing i've owned over $1k was a $1400 used carr rambler amp;

it was nice, but a side by side test thru studio monitors w/ a rhythm section mixed in

revealed that a $400 mesa sounded better. bye bye carr.

Yeah, I get really paranoid when I have pricey stuff. I really LOVE to buy a used instrument with a few scuffs and battle scars... and oddly I never seem to add so much as a scratch once I've found a comfy "player."

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At the low end of the price range, paying a little bit more can get you a whole lot better guitar. I think for electric guitars the curve flattens out after $1000 or so: you have to start paying much more money to get a much better guitar. For acoustic guitars, that change happens around $2000.

I'm just as happy playing my Eclipse as I am playing my Newport or 30th Ltd. Heck, I have a blast playing my $130 Dean Tonic. But after playing higher end acoustic guitars, the lower end acoustics mostly leave me cold. I think that's because I can make just about any electric guitar sound good through my rig, but a crappy sounding acoustic will always sound crappy.

For me it's all about how the instrument sounds and feels. Some lower end acoustics feel great to me, but they just don't have the sound of a well crafted guitar.

-Jonathan

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My best guitars, Ya know...the ones that I actually play and enjoy didn't cost me anymore than $500.00

Price does not equal a good guitar...I think people convince themselves that since they paid $1K $2K $5K or whatever that it's their end all be all....most are polished high priced turds.... :P

Umm, o.k. So does that mean cheap guitars are non-polished low-priced turds? :P

-Austin

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