Just as a quick example:

You won't find a strat below 2.000 that comes even close to this sound.
I hate relic guitars, most ridiculous trend i've ever seen, but the sound is fantastic.
The nearest thing would be a LSL for around 2.500 (or a good used one).

 

I am firmly in the camp that thinks for a pure solid body electric guitar all the tone is a function of the string type, nickel, steel, bronze,alloys and the pickups.
Everything else on the guitar exists to support those components and hold them in a comfortable playing position.
i've never seen a 3k$ guitar pickup. les paul's Log is a good example. Though that rough timber is probably priceless these days.
it would be seen as a 100k$ guitar. not for practical reasons though. its just one of a kind by a genius.

 

i think you prove my point, prices are arbitrary - based on what the market will bear, not on any particular intrinsic value.
we value, what we are told is valuable....

 

if you're playing iron man in your garage, with a fuzz pedal and delay. you def need a 3k$ fender custom to get those
subtle nuances. /s

 

That's ridiculous!
Read my posts, i didn't say that with a single word. No need for "/s".
The other way round: All those famous and/or ambitious guitar players are all complete idiots when playing a guitar worth 2.000 or more?
From Bonamassa over Gilmour, Knopfler, Vaughan, etc. etc.
The question was: Does it make a remarkable difference, and i said (and showed): Yes, it does!
I own enough guitars over the complete price range, from very cheap, and self-made to quite expensive, electric, acoustic, whatever, to say so.

 

Guys, if you're willing to pay $3k for a guitar, don't give them to the big brands. Find your local luthier that will 100% do a better job and put love into his work. He's an artist more than a businessman.

You want to spend this amount for a flawless neck (shape, finish, fret leveling, fret dressing, nice inlays), very good tuners, a great looking wood (don't use this budget for plain paint I beg you), a very good bridge, quality electronics and a flawless finish. Theoretically, $1k to $1.5k is enough to expect this quality. Buy a work of art, not a "high-end guitar", or lower your budget.

Jim Lill's video was posted in 1st page. That's all you need to see to scrap tonewood out of you criterias. I'm gonna add 2 more videos to stop worrying about pickups as well.

Having bought multiple pickups myself to improve my tones, I already came to the conclusion that they don't matter way before he released these videos.

Conclusion : above $1.5k for branded guitars, price don't match quality anymore. It matches legacy and branding marketing. For luthier-made guitars, it matches level of art, attention to details and dedication.

 

how about this at 7 minutes?

i mean...there's effects involved...audio interface..effects..but why u say its impossible to come close to a $2000 sound? i can't understand why it matters so much when there's effects involved/amps and all sorts

 

perhaps a last thought.

I don't beleive in magic guitars, but I do beleive in magic guitar players.

Bonamassa's Dad owned a music store, i'm sure he got good deals on his guitars plus got to play a butt load of trade-ins till he found his favorites.
most famous artist(guitar players and others) usually get a deal from manufacturers to play their brand.
it works, look people think a Fender Strat will make them just like David Gilmour.
There is music and there is the music business, and there is the musical instrument business, please don't confuse them, though its easy to do.

marketing is to drive desire, a chevy and a porsche will both get you to the grocery store, often in equal comfort and time.
So why do some people buy Porsche and some buy Chevy? Marketing, they have been told the Porsche is "better" because it costs more, looks "better", goes faster, mostly things that don't matter when going for groceries.

Same goes for guitars, you couldn't possibly play Dark side of the moon on anything less than a premium Fender american made Strat, because.....?????

I've personally never felt that a 300$ guitar was holding me back from playing anything I wanted to play anyway I wanted to play it. I'd rather have 3,000 dollars in the bank or in silver bars, than in a guitar, but thats just me.

 

Please tell me, that you can hear the immense difference between these two examples? They are lightyears away from each other.
It's a pretty good guitar, especially for that money. But it sounds like a dozen other guitars. And that's even with all these fx involved.
I know there are a lot of products out there, where you pay, let's say, 80% for the name. But there also is a reason, why a Porsche is much more expensive than a Kia or Daihatsu. It's simply because it's the far better car. Period.
It's not always the bad capitalists and the stupid customer relation.
Sometimes you pay exactly for what you get! Not always, but sometimes.

 

I've got a great Ibanez strat, and Yamaha strat from the 80's hair band era, both sound great and play well.
think they were both built in Indonesia.

 

And exactly that was NOT the question.
You can play whatever you want on that (or any) guitar, but you will absolutely not sound like gilmour or whoever or what you wanna sound like.
And that's simply the main point.

 

Last edited: Nov 24, 2023

That's good to hear, i did not say that's not possible. Absolutely not.
But "sounds great" and "plays well" are very stretchable terms!

But enough of all this. To each his own.
Let's make more music!

 

Presuming each guitar is well set up it's pretty much 99% player and 1% the guitar.

The caveat would be that certain guitar setups are better for certain styles of music or types of playing. But even then a good player will make just about anything work. A bad player will make just about anything not work (check out my music).

 

A question about if either a $300 or a $3k guitar make any difference, is like answering my girlfriend when she asks what pants make her butt look fat.

 

Hm, crazy how only one person so far here think's it really MAKES a difference.
Sure, a $300 guitar can sound and feel good, nothing wrong with that.
But c'mon know, I cannot believe how that many people telling there is no difference. Are you serious?
I can totally understand that many people playing the guitar are not willing to pay $3000 for a guitar.
But saying there is no difference in terms of overall qualities between those two price ranges seems really weird to me.

 

I prefer the sound of this Gibson SG

 

I am lucky to live with my gf that has a private stock PRS Paul's Guitar, that could sell at around 8k€. I have a standard SE, their cheapest model. So I play both regularly.

Hers is similar to this one (can't take a picture rn, but it's just a bit more green) :


And this is mine :


In terms of sound, they're different (mini vs regular humbuckers), but not one necessarily better than the other, and certainly nothing that simply changing the mics can't do.

In terms of playability, nothing different if you know how to setup and clean a guitar.

In terms of looks, the private stock looks waaay better. The shape is more complex, the finish is deeper and prettier, the wood grain is gorgeous. The SE is simpler, with a flat top.

In terms of stability, mine goes out of tune 3 or 5 times faster.

This has pretty much been my experience with every cheap guitar I've played. Most of them (but not all) aren't very stable, but they sound and play as good as the expensive models. Other than that, you're just paying the American/European/Japense factory premium, better looking wood and more complex finishes.

So if you're lucky to find a cheap model that stays in tune, my opinion is that paying more will just be for looks, or for extra features (like floyd rose, Manson-like electronics...).

 

Last edited: Nov 24, 2023

Thanks, 9ty!
I really felt so lonely.

 

Not exactly. Usually things decrease in value due to depreciation once they are "used". So do instruments. Your money becomes worth less against cost of living increases and other inflation. "Collectibles" will increase in value, but it's not always directly tied to age. If you have something which is a "consumable", they increase over time because scarcity increases. Supply becoming lower does not necessarily mean any increase in demand. Being just "old" does not make something collectible. Nor does it indicate "quality". Some instruments like Synthesizers which have become the bigger gains in "value", were units that people hated, so the number of units produced was very low. tb-303, ensoniq fizmo, hartmann neuron, Solely "age" does not make something valuable unless it is a deliberately aged "collectible" in the first place, because it is something that actually changes with the amount of time it is aged.

It is supply and demand; and not related to "what we are told". But that will also not make something play any better.

 

Last edited: Nov 24, 2023

100% sure the player is key to what makes good musical results.
But I am 100% sure there is a "real" difference between a $300 and a $3000 guitar, too. At least in the vast majority of cases.