$250 Guitar vs. $1000 vs. $3000+

You need to compare like with like in terms of where it is made. You can always find one cheap guitar that the wood was coincidentally good and the CNC was working properly .This is a BS comparison though because get a great player and a great amp and the difference in only tone from that luck find and an actual musical instrument that was built by people that give a shit and actually got payed will be smaller than you may think. This means nothing though because that is not something that anyone with a $300 guitar shaped piece of wood is going to experience.
 
Thing is though, with cheap but capable labor, and CNC routing a $3000 guitar is nowhere near as much better then a $300 used to be. It used to be that if you wanted a really good guitar you had to fork out the big bucks for a made in USA axe. Nowadays the workforce in China or Indonesia or Mexico is pretty well trained, their tools are good and CNC is the same there as it is in Fender or Gibson USA. Worker motivation is usually the biggest thing these countries lack, but then again are we still as well motivated to deliver quality work as we used to be? Now a cheap $300 entry level guitar from Indonesia is sure as hell ain't as good as a $3000 MIA guitar. But as has been said the difference is mostly in quality parts being used and salary. Not better skill or worker motivation. Now if you buy a $1000 guitar made in Indonesia, chances are you're getting a product that is probably better then your standard MIA guitar with as good if not better hardware too. And you're probably a long way towards that $3000 level quality too. It's basically what Ola Englund does with Solar guitars. Made in Indonesia guitars with quality parts and control made for Indonesian prices.

A lot of good points there. My favorites in the last couple years have been out of Poland (Skervesen and Mayones) and I think it's because the intense pride both those companies have in their work.
 
Been looking for a lefty telecaster so I could have that sound the odd time when I want it, and which I could try first - practically zero avaiable locally (and I live in a Canadian City of 1M+). Was out yesterday to a local shop and was shocked to find 2 lefty telecasters there: a Fender AM Pro II $1900Cdn, and a Squire Classic Vibe (Indonesia) $579 Cdn. I annoyed the staff with noise for 2 hours going back and forth between these 2. The pro was perfectly balanced tonally, had more pickup options (push push for series) and some nice wood features like a carved heel, rolled fretboard edges ... and sounded like a tele of course, - the Squire had some setup issues which the store fixed while I waited noodling on the Pro II but the Squire sounded pretty darn teleish to me and I loved the look/color of it compared to the pro they had so I bought it. I do my own setups so I'm not afraid of dealing with some setup issues - we'll see if it was money well spent but so far today I've been gettin on my Dwight Yokam just fine with this thing, + have $ to fix my muffler, but Gibson SG standard still my #1

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Been looking for a lefty telecaster so I could have that sound the odd time when I want it, and which I could try first - practically zero avaiable locally (and I live in a Canadian City of 1M+). Was out yesterday to a local shop and was shocked to find 2 lefty telecasters there: a Fender AM Pro II $1900Cdn, and a Squire Classic Vibe (Indonesia) $579 Cdn. I annoyed the staff with noise for 2 hours going back and forth between these 2. The pro was perfectly balanced tonally, had more pickup options (push push for series) and some nice wood features like a carved heel, rolled fretboard edges ... and sounded like a tele of course, - the Squire had some setup issues which the store fixed while I waited noodling on the Pro II but the Squire sounded pretty darn teleish to me and I loved the look/color of it compared to the pro they had so I bought it. I do my own setups so I'm not afraid of dealing with some setup issues - we'll see if it was money well spent but so far today I've been gettin on my Dwight Yokam just fine with this thing, + have $ to fix my muffler, but Gibson SG standard still my #1

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It's got to be tough being a lefty. It's hard enough for me to find something I'm happy with!
 
I feel if you have a decent body wood ,good neck ,frets properly leveled and decent pickups and intonation set up right doesn’t matter. It’s a mind set , I spent 5000.00 dollars on this guitar ,it’s got to be great .Nope .just my opinion 😀
 
I feel if you have a decent body wood ,good neck ,frets properly leveled and decent pickups and intonation set up right doesn’t matter. It’s a mind set , I spent 5000.00 dollars on this guitar ,it’s got to be great .Nope .just my opinion 😀
That's exactly what I thought until I played one. I don't want there to be a difference, I'm naturally a cheapskate, but I can't unfeel the difference. You don't really have to play the guitar, just holding it is enough to know there's just something different about it. Fit, finish, attention to detail, quality of construction and selection of materials make a difference.
 
That's exactly what I thought until I played one. I don't want there to be a difference, I'm naturally a cheapskate, but I can't unfeel the difference. You don't really have to play the guitar, just holding it is enough to know there's just something different about it. Fit, finish, attention to detail, quality of construction and selection of materials make a difference.
I think that's sort of the point of the Phillip McKnight video above. In "general" quality increases with price, but there is a point of diminishing returns and that can vary by builder. You just have to determine where your best value is. Also, I do believe that there are some gems to be had, especially with Japanese and Korean made guitars.
 
My first PRS was their $499 SE 24 Standard, the cheapest guitar they make, in a factory in Indonesia. All it really needed out of the box was $15 worth of work done to make the nut work better. Right out of the box, it's reasonably light, plays well, has a wonderful neck carve, and great sounding electronics.
Similar story, my first PRS was the SE Custom 22 for about the same price. It also had tuning issues so replaced the nut for about $25. It was interesting how it made me play much more "deliberately" than my Strat with a very thin neck and smaller frets; it made me approach the music very differently, which was kinda cool.

It's actually the sweetest playing of my 3 PRS (2 SE and the 513). I've never had to do anything to the guitar since I got it in '09 although I did replace the pups w/ Pearly Gates a few years ago just because.
 
In the last 40 years I've owned guitars from the lowest range to the 3,000$+ range (e.g.: JEM7VH, Suhr Modern, JS2450) My all time favorite, with best mojo and acoustics (and without damned dead spots), is still a 27 years old Ibanez RG550LTD that was below the $1000 range. I have tried to replace it several times with more expensive guitars without succeeding.
 
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A cheap guitar through a great amp will almost always sound better than a great guitar through a cheap amp.
Generally true.


Playability is a completely different discussion. Unless the player really doesn't care about how a guitar feels, there is a difference in the playability of a $300 guitar and a $3,000 guitar.
Not necessarily. There are cheap guitars that play spectacularly, right out of the box (I know — I have several). And there are $3,000 guitars that play like crap, right out of the box.


Fun fact: $500 worth of work can make most guitars play like the high-dollar guitars.
 
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Generally true.



Not necessarily. There are cheap guitars that play spectacularly, right out of the box (I know — I have several). And there are $3,000 guitars that play like crap, right out of the box.


Side note: $500 worth of work can make most guitars play like the high-dollar guitars.
Shouldn't have made my statement an absolute...the statement comes from my experience looking for a guitar to live up to its hype as the best playing cheap guitar. Some players insist they're every bit as good as a custom shop but out of over a dozen, there wasn't one that I played that felt anywhere close.
 
Shouldn't have made my statement an absolute...the statement comes from my experience looking for a guitar to live up to its hype as the best playing cheap guitar. Some players insist they're every bit as good as a custom shop but out of over a dozen, there wasn't one that I played that felt anywhere close.
I'm with you for the most part. Many cheap guitars are noticeably cheap. So are quite a few middle-tier guitars. And an embarrassing amount of high-dollar factory guitars. Not so much with custom-shop guitars — especially those from custom shops that aren't affiliated with name brands.
 
In the last 40 years I've owned guitars from the lowest range to the 3,000$+ range (e.g.: JEM7VH, Suhr Modern, JS2450) My all time favorite, with best mojo and acoustics (and without damned dead spots), is still a 27 years old Ibanez RG550LTD that was below the $1000 range. I have tried to replace it several times with more expensive guitars without succeeding.
I've got a couple of $3K guitars and my fav is a Korean made 335 knock off I bought in 1999 (in Korea so that would up the stateside price) for what would probably be $750 in adjusted dollars.
 
Consistency of tone and quality from guitar to guitar is typically pretty proportionate to price. There are definitely some diamonds in the rough at the cheap end of the price range, but it's usually a bit more of a crap shoot the cheaper you go. Higher priced guitars will usually be made from more carefully selected stock and have better quality control, etc., so you're odds of getting a lemon are usually lower. Like Budda said, there's always a point of diminishing returns though.
I was going to say something similar.

One thing we pay for is the quality and consistency of the wood along with the care taken when sanding the wood prior to painting, the type of finish and how it’s applied, and how consistent the final guitars are when you get to see and play them.

CNC helps ensure consistent body and neck shapes, but the wood going in affects the sound and feel too. The expensive guitar lines are going to reject wood that is passed down the line to the less expensive lines. That and reduced time spent sanding, finishing and less critical QA is how they save money.

PRS, for instance, takes pride that their core guitars are equally consistent and we don’t have to go through a wall of them to find that special one. Compare that to the low end of cheap guitars and imagine how many you would go through to find one that equaled the core guitars or two that played equally well.

Sure the player makes a difference but the the experienced players want and need consistent performance from their guitar

I have five PRS core guitars and bought them used, sight unseen. Several had been “adjusted” from factory specs by someone who thought they knew what they were doing but, with a little readjusting to put them back to where they belonged, they came alive, play like a dream and I love them all. Going that route can save thousands of dollars if you can follow simple setup directions and have the basic tools.
 
my fav is a Korean made 335 knock off I bought in 1999 (in Korea so that would up the stateside price) for what would probably be $750 in adjusted dollars.
This sounds like the case with the Japanese and other Asian makers. Back then they could get really good wood and talented woodworkers for cheap and they were very careful about their work.

Thinking back to when Ibanez showed up, the big American companies had declining quality and rising prices and opened the door for the imports. I still had those Gibson Les Paul, 335 and Fender Stratocaster fixations so I didn't really like the looks of Ibanez' models, but I know they were well made. And, years later I had several Ibanez solid bodies that were well made. I didn't keep them, but that's because they targeted a different style of rock than I like.
 
This sounds like the case with the Japanese and other Asian makers. Back then they could get really good wood and talented woodworkers for cheap and they were very careful about their work.

Thinking back to when Ibanez showed up, the big American companies had declining quality and rising prices and opened the door for the imports. I still had those Gibson Les Paul, 335 and Fender Stratocaster fixations so I didn't really like the looks of Ibanez' models, but I know they were well made. And, years later I had several Ibanez solid bodies that were well made. I didn't keep them, but that's because they targeted a different style of rock than I like.
Depending on when you're talking about, Ibanez (and some other Japanese companies) actually made very, very good clones of Les Pauls, Strats, Teles and other classics. So much so that they got sued and had to cease and desist. This is known as the "lawsuit era"... Mid-late '70s.

You're probably more talking about what I call the "golden age" of Ibanez from the mid '80s to mid '90s, though.
 
Depending on when you're talking about, Ibanez (and some other Japanese companies) actually made very, very good clones of Les Pauls, Strats, Teles and other classics. So much so that they got sued and had to cease and desist. This is known as the "lawsuit era"... Mid-late '70s.

You're probably more talking about what I call the "golden age" of Ibanez from the mid '80s to mid '90s, though.
I almost bought a 'lawsuit' Ibanez Explorer back in 1984. Great guitar, but I just had to have the brand new "Elite" Strat. What a boat anchor that thing was....
 
Here's a video that fits right in this thread. Jack Pearsons guitar collection...Loves Fender Squires, for on example.


Pearson is one of my heroes, for many reasons, not the least of which is his dedication to using hand-picked, less-expensive, guitars.

He proves, repeatedly, that the sound is in the touch, because I've never heard anyone get such sustain with such a light touch, or be as smooth as he is as he does scales while sliding up the neck.

And, he's gentile beyond belief. An amazing talent and I'm glad to have found out about him.
 
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