Guitars you've owned that you thought are worth more than the price you paid? Less?

[Steven Mal]

When it comes to musical instruments would you say "you get what you pay for," or have you ever owned a piece of equipment, modded or stock, that you thought you got more than what you paid for it? What about a guitar you paid for and thought "this isn't worth what I paid for it." For example, I've noticed some guys say Epiphone or PRS SE guitars are similar or better than Gibson guitars, and other similar comments.

[Bucksstudent]

All of my guitars, save for the Rickenbacker and Fender Mustang, play and sound better than their original price.

[Ancient Mariner]

I tend to take the line that there are great guitars, OK guitars and lousy guitars (sometimes subject to modification) and they can be found at pretty much every pricepoint. I've owned some 'nice' guitars that were a mistake, like the Heritage HC150 that was as twangy as a tele and never sounded good whatever pickups were tried, or the Gibson V that had odd overtones and felt like it was made of scrap wood. And I've owned some budget guitars that needed nothing more than a setup to play and sound great, like the AXL Tele copy that I bought for £40 at a guitar show and the Dean baby V that was £50 on ebay.

 

Ironically I don't still have any of those guitars, but I do have some decent instruments that generally play well and sound good to me, and I'm grateful not to have to put a value on them.

[Minitruth]

The Agile MN-201 strat copy. Paid I think $159 for it and another $50 or so on GFS texas special pickups, plus a GFS bridge and tuners.

[badpenguin]

Personally, if it isn't worth more then I paid for it, I don't own it. For example: My 81 Paul Custom I paid 250 for, my Ibanez S2540 Prestige, thru a trade, worked out paying 125, or the Electra X310 I got yesterday, with 11 MPC modules that's worth in total 4 times what I paid for it. (Pics when I find my damnable camera charger.).

Yes, I have guitars I paid "market" value for, my Ric, my Guild, but they have a different kind of value. PLAYERS value. Nothing else I have plays like them. (Any owner of a Ric would agree.)

And then there is the emotional value. The 79 Epiphone Genesis I got as a wedding gift from my wife, or the 07 Gary Kramer Simulator T that was an anniversary gift.

On the other hand, I have had PRS's that I personally wouldn't have paid over 100 for, and hated them. And lost money in flipping, just to get them out of my house. (Hey, I really tried to love them, but the magic wasn't there.) Fender strats.... Never cared for them, think they are overpriced when you consider the plethora of decent copies for a 5th of the price. My friend has a 62 RI that is a killer guitar. 1100 killer? Nah, not when my Ibanez Talman 630 cost e 95, and plays exactly like it. Modern Paul's at over 3K? Are you serious? When I have a clone that equals or surpasses most of them? No thank you.

Value is such a personal thing.

[Minitruth]

"Value is such a personal thing" Profound statement. My Agile strat has no real $$ value, but the model is no longer made, therefore irreplaceable. (To me)

 

[Freeman Keller]

I have several old Martins and an old Dobro that I plan to sell this year (along with a couple of vintage cars and some other stuff I don't use). They are all worth far more than what I paid for them. I'm going to keep a bunch of my home made guitars. I happen to think they are worth more than I paid for the wood and parts. Others might disagree.

[WRGKMC]

I owned many vintage guitars I bought back in the 70's for chump change. For example I paid $150 for a 60's SG,$50 for a Vox, $200 for a Gold top Deluxe, $75 for a Moserite Celebrity $50 for a Vox Apollo and many more.

 

I made money selling every one of them or trading up for something better. I lacked the foresight of every thinking they would be worth what thay do today. Back then they were simply someone else's used instruments and though they had the quality, I'd be just as pleased owning a new version of them.

 

Today, 50% of the guitars I have now I built myself, many from scratch. I could buy factory guitars of equal quality for less then I have invested in them in parts. I average about $200 in parts so I probably wont recoup my labor on several of them. They get counterbalanced however by the ones that are true one of a kind gems.

 

I don't earn a living at building or using guitars any more. I've been there, done that and moved on. I see them as simply tools that allow me to produce works of art, no more no less. I know most of my factory guitars have doubled in price but I also know its not the best way to invest money and earn a profit but I look at it this way.

 

If I put the money in a bank to earn interest I might have earned more money, but you name me one investment you can make where you can enjoy using that investment all the time you own it and still turn a profit when you sell it? A Car depreciates so fast its nothing but a loss unless you use it for employment and get paid for its use. A house is a money pit. You may enjoy living in it but you have to pay for it big time. Maybe there are some other hobbies that go up in value. Allot of them are simply collecting and predicting they're value.

 

People collect everything under the sun. Its not like you can take stamp or coin collection and make music from them. Grown men rarely play with the collections of toys or sports memorabilia they collect. Musical instruments can be collected as investment pieces or used as working tools.

 

I think musicians who use instruments as creative tools of expression get the most money's worth out of them. They could care less about they're cost compared to the great memories they have using them too. Cost and value don't always equate to tone and playability unless you're experienced enough to choose from amongst the mediocre and lemons and find the best value for the money.

 

Its actually detrimental for an artists skill when he starts using market value as a crutch to supplement his performing skills because its just too dam easy to shoot the rungs off that ladder is he's tempted to do so. You cant rob or buy talent. Nor can it be gifted to others or obtained from an instrument they owned. Anybody with a set of ears can recognize the difference between someone attempting to storm the gates with a ladder and someone who earns the right to climb to higher status through his hard work and dedication.

 

Art is a measure of many skills. The tools to create great art, is so often over rated.

 

No one remembers the hammer Michelangelo used to carve his statues or the piano Mozart used to compose his symphonies. Reason being is they simply didn't matter. The artists ability to formulate his art with his mind and hands was the only thing that mattered.

 

If a guitarist owns a $50 piece of crap and can shred the living crap out of the thing it when he plays is what matters. The kid with the rich dad who buys him a $5000 guitar and cant squeak two notes is the ones who's forgotten the quickest. Music is an abstract form of communication. What you say is more important then the pencil you use to write it.

 

Many don't like facing that fact because it removes all obstacles and excuses to why they aren't better artists then they are. Surely its nice if you can have both but its more about hard work and dedication then how much you spend on the tools you use. There simply aren't any easy short cuts like that which give you and edge over artists with less expensive gear. Of course making them think there is practiced by every guitar company out there. The Old Rolling Stones lyrics "You cant be a man because you don't smoke the same cigarettes as me" is alive and well.

[DeepEnd]

I'm relatively late to the electric party so no electrics. My first electric, a Fernandes Strat, was an absolute POS and I felt robbed despite it costing $50 used with a gig bag. My current one, a Schecter Gryphon, was probably worth about what I paid, maybe a tad more. OTOH, my old Sakura S-12-9 12-string acoustic was an amazing guitar in its day and easily worth more than I paid.

[Emory]

Considering the care and detail you put into building your guitars, I think I'd chose one of yours over the old Martins (that jazz box you posted the other day... OMG). I buy a guitar because I like what it does, could care less about selling it later or any of that

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

I think I remember those...some of Kurts stuff was very good, but some was utterly dire, especially the MIC Saien castoffs