"The Truth About Expensive Guitars That No One Wants To Admit"

[ronzhd]

Lol, make that money Sir, he was honest about it. I think most of us have known this for a long time, if you're honest. The guitar journey for each of us, seems to bear this out as we learn to play. A hard lesson never the less.

 

[CB_2005]

I worked at Radio Shack when CD technology came out. It was an amazing improvement over tapes since there was no background hiss, better dynamic range, etc. We would play the Star Wars theme for customers on a "good" system and most people were amazed and the improvement in quality. Others couldn't hear any difference. We all don't hear things the same is what I guess I am saying.

 

[superbadj]

This is why these threads can become so contentious - some people telling other people why they are doing something.

I apologize if you took offense. I was quoting/explaining the video author’s point and then generally agreeing with it. It's called an opinion my brother, and the internet is full of them. You are, of course, free to agree or disagree with it.

And to be clear, I didn't judge anything--I didn't say expensive guitars are crap or a bad purchase or that people who buy them are doing something bad or wrong or silly or stupid. Not at all.

All I said was that as prices go up, in my opinion, the inherent quality of the instrument doesn't keep going up at the same pace and other factors come into play.

Is a $1500 guitar better than a $150 guitar? Most certainly.

Is a $15,000 guitar better than a $1,500 guitar? I don't know, maybe, maybe not. I

s a $15,000 guitar better than a $5,000 guitar? Most likely not based on the price. But it's probably rarer, or has some fancy wood in it, or was owned by someone famous, or whatever.

Again, my point would be: at the lower end of the spectrum, higher pricing reflects better basic elements of the instrument. Those upgrades can affect sound, playability, consistency, reliability, resistance to weather changes, etc.

Enter the mid-tier and your basic components are kinda just fine now, the higher pricing can reflect better QC, better finishing, etc. But it doesn't necessarily reflect better pots or wood or whatever. Those components frankly are pretty cheap. It can reflect better setup/human effect. But the pots? Good pots are cheap and there are no "ELITE" pots. Same for frets, or body wood, or whatever you want to choose. You hit a point of seriously diminishing returns in terms of basic quality.

Go beyond that $1,500 or $2K mark and you get more time-intensive finishing or rare woods or whatever, but that has no bearing on the "quality" of the guitar right? It doesn't affect the quality of the sound or the playability. Just like fancy-ass crystal shifters and rare wood inlays in a Mercedes don't make that care any better of a car. But they do have costs associated with them, and they make it feel "luxurious" and people like that. And that's fine. But it's not a quality issue.

So a $10,000 custom shop guitar isn't really gonna be any higher quality--in terms of the basic function of a guitar other than make really good sound/music--than something in the...I dunno....$1,500 or $2K range.

But that isn't passing judgment on people buying $3K, $5K, $10K guitars. Buy what you want. And if you watched the video, that dude even says that--buy what you want, don't apologize for what you want. He isn't passing judgment.

NOTE: All of the above is my opinion. We're on a freaking guitar/music message board. This is what we do. I'm not knocking your choices or anyone's choices or even their opinions, I'm sharing my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[teletail]

I apologize if you took offense. I was quoting/explaining the video author’s point and then generally agreeing with it. It's called an opinion my brother, and the internet is full of them. You are, of course, free to agree or disagree with it.

And to be clear, I didn't judge anything--I didn't say expensive guitars are crap or a bad purchase or that people who buy them are doing something bad or wrong or silly or stupid. Not at all.

All I said was that as prices go up, in my opinion, the inherent quality of the instrument doesn't keep going up at the same pace and other factors come into play.

Is a $1500 guitar better than a $150 guitar? Most certainly.

Is a $15,000 guitar better than a $1,500 guitar? I don't know, maybe, maybe not. I

s a $15,000 guitar better than a $5,000 guitar? Most likely not based on the price. But it's probably rarer, or has some fancy wood in it, or was owned by someone famous, or whatever.

Again, my point would be: at the lower end of the spectrum, higher pricing reflects better basic elements of the instrument. Those upgrades can affect sound, playability, consistency, reliability, resistance to weather changes, etc.

Enter the mid-tier and your basic components are kinda just fine now, the higher pricing can reflect better QC, better finishing, etc. But it doesn't necessarily reflect better pots or wood or whatever. Those components frankly are pretty cheap. It can reflect better setup/human effect. But the pots? Good pots are cheap and there are no "ELITE" pots. Same for frets, or body wood, or whatever you want to choose. You hit a point of seriously diminishing returns in terms of basic quality.

Go beyond that $1,500 or $2K mark and you get more time-intensive finishing or rare woods or whatever, but that has no bearing on the "quality" of the guitar right? It doesn't affect the quality of the sound or the playability. Just like fancy-ass crystal shifters and rare wood inlays in a Mercedes don't make that care any better of a car. But they do have costs associated with them, and they make it feel "luxurious" and people like that. And that's fine. But it's not a quality issue.

So a $10,000 custom shop guitar isn't really gonna be any higher quality--in terms of the basic function of a guitar other than make really good sound/music--than something in the...I dunno....$1,500 or $2K range.

But that isn't passing judgment on people buying $3K, $5K, $10K guitars. Buy what you want. And if you watched the video, that dude even says that--buy what you want, don't apologize for what you want. He isn't passing judgment.

NOTE: All of the above is my opinion. We're on a freaking guitar/music message board. This is what we do. I'm not knocking your choices or anyone's choices or even their opinions, I'm sharing my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less.

Did you even read what you wrote?

“But just admit that it's less about the pure quality of the instrument and more about other factors." And if we're being honest, it really is.”

 

[jazzlettuce]

If you had watched the video you'd have seen him deconstruct all your arguments very convincingly.

Skimmed it. Still think it’s clickbait. They’re all personal opinions and not good hard facts about what goes into expensive guitars vs a Firefly Telecaster.

 

[superbadj]

Did you even read what you wrote?

“But just admit that it's less about the pure quality of the instrument and more about other factors." And if we're being honest, it really is.”

I wrote it I don’t need to read it. Do you have an issue with it? If so, elaborate. FYI that “just admit” line is quoting the video. And as I said in my multiple posts I tend to agree. But once again I’m not judging you or anyone for their choices. Maybe you disagree and think the point of dismissing returns on core quality is at a higher price point. Ok, super. That’s your opinion and that’s cool. I’m not getting twisted over it.

 

[superbadj]

Skimmed it. Still think it’s clickbait. They’re all personal opinions and not good hard facts about what goes into expensive guitars vs a Firefly Telecaster.

The video literally says as much. He doesn’t call it clickbait but he says straight up that the topic gets views so he keeps making videos on it because people seem to want that content.

But again, he very clearly also says you should buy what you want and can afford and not feel bad about it.

I’m not sure what all the consternation is about.

 

[jazzlettuce]

The video literally says as much. He doesn’t call it clickbait but he says straight up that the topic gets views so he keeps making videos on it because people seem to want that content.

But again, he very clearly also says you should buy what you want and can afford and not feel bad about it.

I’m not sure what all the consternation is about.

This video is like kicking a beehive into a guitar store lol

 

[Monoprice99]

@Monoprice99 -

I'm not particularly heavy-handed, yet said guitar was indeed cooked after just a year's play, so I decided to stick a fork in and call her done. Refret was out of the question, and buying a new neck for a guitar that heavy and unremarkable wasn't IMO particularly sensible either, so downstream she went and that was that.

Some Squier runs are known for soft frets, others are not, so I just got the short end ot the stick there. Too bad, but life goes on! Regardless, based on this experience alone I'm NOT keen on obtaining another one.

That's just me, though. YMMV etcetera, and that's of course all good too.

For any of the affordables I have, maybe I help them live longer than they would. I don't tune them to the highest tunings. but do tend to set them up for lowest string action, that way I'm not having to fret with a death grip & finger press. I was just trying to relay that some players are harder on their guitars than others. Responding to your comment, yet not intending to insinuate that you were abusive. Just clarifying that.

The only times though that a refret starts to be a real topic, the guitar has to have sufficient value to justify it for anyone to go seek a professional to perform the repair. The sub $ 100 GLarry is going to be someone's DIY learning experience. I know t would be mine. But I'd also look at an Amazon replacement neck that's essentially the same neck with a different headstock and then/now all of a sudden one has a a guitar that's ready to play for lining up 4 screws. It's a GLarry partscaster/Custom Shop of sorts. And if the guitar stuck around to wear down the frets, why not give it new life ? You can tell I don't like throwing a guitar away for a worn fret or few. I also don't perceive that even a GLarry for it's basswood & maple bones is unremarkable. Too often, I've found that it's the player to be the unremarkable variable in the equation. I find myself quite unremarkable. Every guitar I've bought has been a keeper. I can fix the wonky out of the worst of them and then they're a solid player grade instrument waiting for me to take it to be all it could be. They're like puppies, they're loyal that way. The Squier Bullet I bought, handed it to a more accomplished player & the riffs of rock & roll were in that $ 25 parking lot purchase. Granted it need some work to restore it to do it, but that was toothpicks & glue, a shim. I played it early in the journey, and it sounds like a toddler beating on it. I'm getting there. Hopefully I won't kill it. It plays well in spite of me.

Some of the other things I'll do, especially with ceramic pickups, is adjust the pickup heights to enhance their sound, output & whatever else. I've thought about chasing Alnico magnets & then I'll dial in ceramic pickups & I can't tell much, if any difference in the way they sound. I suspect, if I do live a few more decades, the $ 100 Chinese guitars I have will play as well as anyone's Custom Shop Fender/Gibson. At least that's my unofficial project & test for the Monoprice guitars I bought 2021-2024.

Anyway, I love to watch Jeff Beck's play, those video close ups, probably took him a lifetime to go thru a set of frets on the same neck. I often wonder what his tech/luthier ever had to do performance toi performance of even a tour. whether the same guitar was used for decades before being retired ? I try to strive for that gentle touch myself, the control. The only guitar I have that seems to be more of hand to hand combat with the strings are my acoustic with the set of 12-53's on it. But since I play chill music with it, that helps to be easier on the neck for fretting.