Has anybody else noticed that their taste in guitar stuff rise in price?

[bengerm77]

So I just got back from the guitar shop after impulse buying a $65 fine tuning tailpiece for my les paul that I also just bought. Walking out to the parking lot I realized that my tastes in guitars and in guitar things has grown more expensive. I used to buy parts on ebay and piece together an entire guitar for $200, but now I'm buying entire guitars for $500+ and them putting more expensive mods into them. Maybe I just have more money to throw around, but I definitely have sunk more and more money into guitar stuff.

 

Even better, has anybody gone in the opposite direction? Eschewing their expensive guitars for cheap beaters?

[grumphh]

More like the opposite.

I am totally into my (fairly new to me) mim strats atm - certainly a lot cheaper guitars than most of the rest i own.

 

So you can go back from expensive stuff

[Kid Klash]

Nope. Still trolling CL every day for good stuff done dirt cheap. The only things I buy new are strings, picks and tubes.

[Inazone]

I've tried to find a balance between the cost of the guitar and the upgrades I know I'll buy for it. For example, I love some of the `90s MIJ Jacksons that sort of fell through the cracks - obscure but not rare enough to be sought after by collectors - and generally expect to spend some money on repairs or upgrades. If I spend $200-400 on a good player, I don't mind spending a couple hundred more for better pickups, hardware or even paint. I've spent more on the repairs and upgrades than on the guitar itself, sometimes at a 2-to-1 ratio, but only if I played the guitar numerous times and felt that it was worth the additional expense. I've had much better results fixing up a great player than I have buying an expensive new guitar and not bonding with it. Sometimes I find a hidden gem that doesn't need ANY work, in which case I'm thrilled.

 

Part of it has to do with my gigging and recording needs. I know I'm not going to make enough to cover the cost of my gear purchases through music-related incoming - not by a long shot - so I basically have a mental list of what can usually be found for reasonable prices and in good shape used, and what things I know are better bought new. I've had some bad luck with certain pickups, pedals and amps that I bought used, but rarely have had issues with used guitars overall.

[Doctor Morbius]

Oh Hells yes! When I first joined the forum I owned 1 approx. $300 Yamaha acoustic, a single $100 Squire '51 a $30 used Crate amp and I was happy at the time.

 

Jump forward a little bit and I raised the ante when I bought my first 2007 MIM Standard Strat (for $265 because it had been used for 3 days and returned) and a Vox modeling amp and I was happy at the time.

 

Jump forward a little more and the bar was once again raised when I bought my first 2008 American Standard Strat. I'd like to at least think I'm happy at this point, but when I go into guitar shops I deliberately don't pickup any high end {censored}.

 

I've gone through the same progression with pickups and amps too. That first Squier '51 was totally stock, then came GFS pickups, then Fender Custom Shop pickups and now I'm into Lindy Fralins. Concerning amps I've gone from a $30 used Crate to a Vox modeling amp to a '69 Twin Reverb that I have $1300 in including tubes and speakers.

 

Fortunately for my wallet, I think my overall tone and guitars' playability is at a point where I can live with it. Just a couple more mods and upgrades and I'll be 100% there ... until the next time, that is.

[grumphh]

One thing to note though - i believe that you at least should have owned at least one really good guitar at some point - just to see what "more money" sounds and feels like.

This of course means that as you advance as a player you will tend to buy more expensive gear - until you hit a breaking point where you know what you can do with a few pieces of wood some strings and some pickups.

After that i guess it is up to your wallet which route you go.

 

In my case i could go back to cheaper stuff, others may not be so fortunate

[Flintc]

Generally I know what sort of guitar or amp I'm looking for, and I try to find what comes closest. Price is generally no object, so I don't have more than a ballpark idea of the price before I make my selection. The last 2 guitars I've bought were an Ovation Celebrity and an Ibanez AF75, both new for $350. With which I am delighted. But I also tried the $3000 George Benson. Wasn't quite as comfortable, didn't sound quite as good as the AF75. I think once you get past guitars so cheap they warp, crack, are out of tune, etc. then you're getting a good guitar.

[BeanoBoy]

When I was actively gigging I bought 'name' instruments; Fender, Gibson, PRS etc., and 'name' gig-worthy amps; Marshall, Mesa Boogie. Now that I'm retired and I'm not making much money playing I've gone the cheaper route. I still own and enjoy the 'Big 3' but purchased a MIM NashVille Tele, PRS SE Singlecut, Vintage VS 6, Xaviere XV900, Dano 12 string. All work quite well for infrequent recording projects for friends or at home. All except the Tele got pickup upgrades, Lollars or WCRs. Amp-wise I practice thru a Fender Vibro Champ XD, Vox AD15VT or Roland Micro-Cube. My son has my 100 watt Marshall, I've sold both Boogies I had.

[tantamo]

Every once in a while I buy a deluxe strat and sell it again. I try not to buy anything too fancy because after a good setup most guitars are no better/worse than any other guitar. But yeah, a year or two ago I was balking at buying a 90$ used valve junior and now I'm buying delay pedals for 400 dollars.

[honeyiscool]

Nope, my dream guitars keep going down in price.

[schoolie1]

It's like any addiction. I started with imports, but soon moved on to the expensive USA stuff to provide the same thrill. Once you move into vintage amp syndrome, you're screwed.

[cratz2]

Well, my second, third and fourth new guitars (in approximately 1985, 1986 and 1989) were all new and were my most expensive. Then I settled on a Peavey Vandenberg and an American Strat (both bought used) and a Silverface Twin and about 6 dirt pedals that was my rig from about 1992 - 2000. Then I got away from guitars for a while.

 

Got back into it about 2005 and during that time, I've been going up the scale in terms of cost. Not that I was being cheap, I was just blown away at how good the $150 - $300 stuff was compared to maybe in the mid 80s. I mean, it was almost professional grade by comparison.

 

When I got back in it, my first electric was a used MIM strat and a Peavey Special 130. I bought both for maybe $400. Right now, my two main guitars are partscasters with about $400 of pickups between them.

 

 

And my amp is a Dr Z and my next will likely be a Morgan.

[notjonahbutnoah]

In short, yes.

 

However, I think 1k is about the most I'd pay for a guitar unless I was super rich and "investing."

 

I think 1k is around the line when you get the most for your money and it starts being about little details and not the overall quality. Of course, I'm being very general here, there are surely tons of exceptions.

[kayd_mon]

Well, I still look at some (relatively) cheap guitars, but now since I can afford them, I've been buying nicer ones. My last purchase was a Gibson ES-339. I tend to get more excited about cheap pedals than guitars, though.

[super56k]

I was getting to be that way, but had a change of heart within the last year. Before cleaning house I used a Valvetech 1x12 15w combo, ~'79 Epiphone Riviera, First Act Lola USA made, Line 6 M9, plus some cheaper backup instruments/gear.

 

I sold the Riviera earlier this year, and just within the past few weeks sold the Valvetech combo. It wasn't a ton of money tied up, but neither was getting used enough to justify keeping.

 

What I'm left with is:

 

First Act Lola USA

First Act Lola DC USA

First Act Lola import I know I have a problem, but I Lola specs.

Jay Turser strat with mods. The sub $30 deal guitar; pretty much lives in a case. I would sell it but it's not worth anything and I have so little invested in it.

 

Vox Pathfinder 15r + Line 6 M9

Pod studio GX /w some amp packs (my main toy to play through)

[animalwithin]

In short yes. Before I got my first guitar, I only said I was going to spend no more than $500. It ended up costing me twice as much lol. Now I find myself a few months away from buying a guitar just as expensive, and a Gibby LP somewhere down the line. And I'm getting a bigger amp. I blame this forum partly lol.

[photon9]

In general it has lately, but that has more to do with finding higher end gear ridiculously underpriced than more expensive taste. If I can buy a guitar brand new for equal or less than I can buy it used, or buy it used at 1/2 what I could flip it for the very next day it makes it extremely hard to pass up. That is the case with three of my last four guitars. Then again they all play amazingly and are probably keepers, but I do sleep better knowing in a pinch I break even or make a profit on them if I had to.

[docjeffrey]

Once you acquire enough disposable income to be able to afford the gear of your dreams, you become more and more disillusioned about supposed high end gear. At least that's what has happened to me. I went shopping for my 5th Les Paul last winter prepared to spend up to $10,000 on something really special. I tried all kinds of single cuts--Collings, PRS, Gibson, ESP among others.

 

After 5 weeks of chasing the dragon, I decided that it was just insanity to spend ten grand on a guitar. My ears, eyes and hands just weren't buying the hype, and there were so many R9's, R0's, CL's, SC 58's that all had the same basic look, feel, smell, and even claimed to have the exact same tonal attributes. I got to the point where I would go to a shop and have an R9 in my lap and think, "Well, here we go again. Perfect flame top. Faded cherry burst, extra special ultra authentic bits, blah blah blah.

 

In the end, I found a very cool plaintop Gibson Les Paul 1960 RI in a unique Golden Apple Burst made especially for my favorite retailer here in Colorado. $3200 was still a lot to spend on a plain jane looking instrument, but it was so much more satisfying than the dozens of flametop Collings, PRS's and Gibsons with basically the same finish and voicing. This one looked, felt and sounded unique. And, I'm not afraid to gig with it!

 

Most people probably think this is pretty boring, but to me, it's perfect!

 

[Guitarfetish]

My Interest in new high end guitars died a loooong time ago... I still buy several vintage pieces a year as the budget allows, and I'm always building some one-off piece or other for myself- Helps when you have a warehouse full of parts!

 

After a while I think everybody gets somewhat jaded- expensive stuff can be just as disappointing as budget stuff- old vintage stuff just as uninspiring as shiny new stuff- It really takes a LOT to get me excited these days-

 

I've probably bought 30 PRS guitars over the past decade- sold 29 of them... New Les Pauls the same story- Got a few Masterbuilts that I like but the real deal- old guitars is where it's at for me.

[tiltsta]

I guess I fit your scenario. I've played enough {censored}ty cheap guitars over the years that I don't typically bother looking at what is new in that market space, unlessI hear good vibe from people about something specific, and then I'll give it a whirl. I clearly have an upper end, and I will not spend much more than a a few grand on a guitar, as my abilities are lacking and once you get into the high end stuff there just isn't much difference (to me, at least) between a 2 grand guitar and say a 4 grand guitar. If a guitar really is fantastic, I might go a little higher in price, but those are so rare that I don't really worry about it. I know lots of people feel the same price difference between 500 and up, but I can usually tell the difference between a 500 dollar guitar and the higher end stuff. No judgement or negative sentiments intended, and I totally get the cheap guitar movement here, I just play better on nice stuff. Probably a lack of skill on my part. YMMV. FWIW, I've been playing for 27 years, so I've kind of learned what I like, and what feels good, so I don't play 'headstocks'. In fact, a lot of my favorite guitars are generally {censored} upon around these parts. I certainly do recognize that the low end guitars, price wise, have increased in quality in a dramatic way in the last 4-5 years, so the price issue is becoming less and less relevant.

[dabbler]

Nope. But then I'm a roll-your-own kinda guy. That and the fact that I've come to the conclusion that a really good setup (and I do my own) goes farther than a more expensive guitar for playability. Now I will admit that I don't typically pick up high end stuff when I go into shops any more, but that's because I have never played one that made me dissatisfied with my stuff. In the interest of full disclosure though let me say, I'm not a pro (my only gig is church) AND I'm not looking for a guitar f with action so low you hardly feel anything (and I don't/can't shred).

 

Maybe I'm just a cheap guy (though I do have a few grand in gear, acquired over time) but I can honestly say I'm happy! And once I get my hands on a Switch Aurora, I'll be satisfied!

[stormin1155]

Yes. My collection of gear is of substantially higher quality (and price) than several years ago. My mods and upgrades are also better (ie. handwound pickups vs. GFS). I still have and enjoy my cheapies though.. (ie. Mustang I and SX Callisto).

[ashasha]

I've been able to accumulate more stuff over the years and by making smart purchases I've been able to help offset costs for new gear by selling off other stuff without taking a huge hit. So if you buy a guitar for $1k, sell it a year later for $750 and save another $1k to add to that you can get into a $2500 guitar with some looking around. You do that for a decade or so and next thing you know you've got a bunch of fairly expensive gear.

 

What a lot of people do incorrectly is look at someone's gear and think of the cost in terms of if they went out and bought it all outright. Very rarely is that the case. So once you get to a point of accumulating stuff where you don't need more you start to get into upgrading what you've got.

 

At least that's how its been for me. But as a general rule I don't care if it's 'expensive' or not because I'm looking for value based on it's own merits, i.e., deals. $1k for a $2k guitar is not expensive, $200 for a $220 guitar is if you get my drift.

[RaVenCAD]

Back in the day, I loved cheap crap. Epiphone, Samick, whatever, I didn't care. I didn't have the money to plop down on $1000 guitars. As I've gotten older, and my bank account has become a wee bit fatter, I'm less concerned with saving a buck than I am with getting something I'll keep long term. So while I'm not ready to start plopping down $10k on some sort of weener wagging guitar, I'm not afraid to spend a few bucks to get what I really want.

[metallica_00]

I never really spent much time chasing inexpensive or mid-priced guitars, with the exception of my first one of course. I pretty much have no interest in anything (new) costing under $1000 and haven't for awhile. I'm fairly young, so I need to save/plan a bit to get the things I want, but I have an entire lifetime to buy guitars...there's no reason not to shoot for the dream collection. And if you're patient, you can get it.