$300 vs $3000 guitars, does it really make a difference for what you get in terms of sound?

 

For almost everyone, no.

 

Yepp.
When I play guitar it's as shitty on a $3000 guitar than on a $300 one.
And that's true for 99,99% of mankind. The last 0,01% (or roughly 800,000) may be good enough to make a difference.

 

in most cases, you are paying for "prestige" or "status".
in its most basic, the merits of a good guitar are.
1.stays in tune - shows stability of components - cheap tuners slip, badly made nut pinches strings, they hold, then slip
(guitars will need retuned based on ambient temperature - this is not a defect, its physics)
2. Action is within normal playing standards without excess string buzz - shows neck is flat, frets are in good condtion and level
bridge is properly adjusted (or adjustable to proper)
3. Produces a pleasing musical tone. if the pickups are dodgy or the wiring is shit, or the switches are crap, or if its an
acoustic the braces are loose and buzz, none of these will help the sound, they will instead obscure or destroy the tonal
properties.

with modern computer machining, wood tolerances are close and build consistency is easy to maintain.
a 300$ squier will play as good as 3,000 guitar if properly setup.

 

I can actually afford to buy a $300 guitar. Even if I was rich I don't think I could justify spending
3K on a guitar. And sometimes part of that high price tag is just the name on the headstock. Some Epiphones that cost less than their Gibson counterparts are actually better playing guitars IMHO. And the vintage market is even crazier. I see '60's MIJ guitars that used to sell for $50 now selling for $500. Guess what? They still play like $50.

All that being said.....you may find that a $1000 guitar more to your liking than that $100 one. For me, it's personal. I've bought some cheap guitars that I loved and some pricier ones that I ended up quickly re-selling. Playability is the main thing.....but....bang for the buck can be equally important if you're on a budget. If that $300 guitar is to your liking and does what you need it to just think how much other gear you could buy with that "extra" $2700!

 

but stay away from the chinese sub 200$ guitars unless you know how to do simple repairs. They rarely come from factory or seller in best playable condition. Typically need truss rod adjustment, fret leveling and deburring of fret edges, sometimes need neck shimming, String thru bridges often have holes in the wrong or "off center" position

the low end gibson (epiphones) and the low end fenders (Squiers) are often available nearly if not as cheap as the chinese products and are usually much better buys. I've got 3 epiphone lps that were under 100$ when I bought them. My Squier was about 130$. All play well and just needed new strings, factory strings are always shit, its apparently a rule.

Yamahas are also a good bet.

 

Just for fun!

 

Found that if I spend about $1400 US (2,000 Cdn) I get a guitar that I don't need to modify and actually want to pick up and play.
Jackson and Ibanez are good in that range.
You won't need to sell it down the road as you get better.
Of course, with a taxpayer financed gov't pension money's not as much of an issue for me.
I'd rather cheap out on Behringer synths than sacrifice when it comes to my guitars.

 

In terms of sound, when it come to electric this will answer many questions:

In acoustic instruments the build maters.

 

I haven't seen a $3000 guitar that could do the job better than a $800 guitar.

$300 may be pushing it. But who knows.

I spent $800 on a guitar that was just under pro series quality. I saved money by switching the hardware out myself. Pickups, OG Floyd.

The wood and the build were what I was looking at. Jackson hadn't made guitars like this at an accessible price in a very long time.

The custom shop has been a joke.

It's really all about what you want. I'll personally pay a little more but $3000... Idk. I can't really think of a guitar that's made me feel like I need to part with that much money.

Once in a while ya get lucky, there's a line of trash guitars and you get your hands on one somebody put a little extra care into.

I've rocked some serious $150 and $200 guitars over the years. Bought new, supposed to be junk. Got the job done.

 

i play my guitars daily and my most expensive guitar was 350$. The thing about less expensive guitars, is it makes it easy to own several,so you can change up for different sounds and to keep your interest level high.
I own electrics, solid body, hollow body, semi-hollow body, Acoustic,acoustic electric, classical. I probably have 5k$ total in my collection that comprises approx 30 instruments. I consider it money well spent.

 

That was the first that came to my mind. Ear-opening.

 

I love Jackson, but all those $1400 - $1600 signatures are ugly.

Dave Davidson is addicted to ugly paint jobs.

 

Yes the $3000 guitar is likely to be better but it's unlikely to be $2,700 better. If you shop wisely, anyway. But that said, certain guitarists will have certain requirements that may require an investment in a much better instrument; it just depends.
But for me, I play a used Epiphone SG that I absolutely love more than any guitar in the world and I paid- wait for it- $300

 

some people think of guitars as tools to make music
some people think of guitars as "art" or "status pieces" to give their lifestyle a certain aura or sheen.

usually price can be seen as good indicator of which camp you fall into.
though there is nothing wrong with owning a $3,000 tool if it allows you to achieve something you cannot easily achieve with a lesser priced tool.

for a beginner or most intermediate players a 3k$ guitar will not provide any noticeable difference and may actually get in the way since you may be so worried about putting a ding or scratch in it that it becomes a "case queen" rarely to be taken from its coffin and actually played.

 

I have older guitars that are valued between 2 to 3 thousand dollars each, I bought them many years ago.
They cost in the price range of 100$ to 350$ when I bought them.
Guitar prices are often arbitrary. A 300$ guitar can become a 3k$ guitar over time.

 

It does .....for some
Handmade by a talented Luthier who only does a few a year

Costs a few bucks more

Mr Midon before he was big, with a much cheaper git

 

It does matter!
You won't get the sound of a well-built Fender Custom Shop Guitar out of a Squier made somewhere in Asia.
No matter how good or experienced you are.
Nevertheless, there may be guitars in the 3.000 range that sound shockingly lifeless, and guitars around 800 that really open your eyes.
But thats not the way it usually is.
And, yes, a good tone always comes from your fingers as well. But don't expect miracles.

 

What do you mean by “sound” exactly? Because the majority of the sound that anverage folks associate with being good is produced by the player themselves. As for sound relating to the inherent timbre of an instrument, I’d say 90-95% of the difference between a $300 vs $3000 electric guitar is all placebo voodoo bullshit when it comes to electric guitars. Acoustic guitars however Id argue the build quality, bracing, body type play a huge role in what the average person would consider good…. You can strap custom shop pups on a Home depo plank of wood with a bolted on crap neck. Align the pups to the exact spacing as on a 59 LP and attach a cheap harness to it & it will sound 99% like a 59 LP. There are Youtube videos of some German guy proving this.

 

Last edited: Nov 24, 2023

Only in rare instances is this true, where the instrument jumps in value any higher than the rate of inflation and your money just being "worth less". That's like wine, as an example. Sometimes they will figure out a certain vintage was sold cheaply, and turned out to be surprisingly excellent; but only a few hundred bottles were made. So the value goes up, up, up. Short of those kinds of unexpected conditions, an instrument does not become more valuable just by sitting around and getting old. If you want to see an extreme example of this, look into some Pianos. A one year difference between two from the same maker and model can be the difference between a $20K piano and having to pay someone to haul it away for free.