do you have to pay big bucks to get a great sounding bolt on guitar?

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: do you have to pay big bucks to get a great sounding bolt on guitar?

so you guys think that to get a awesome sounding guitar you need to pay tons of money? Im talking about quality of wood and build quality. you think that wood from maker to maker differs that much? besides awesome craftmanship and great setups do you think that you need all that to have a great sounding guitar? Like will an anderson always sound waay better than lets say a 700$ guitar? I dont mean going to extremes here. like a sears guitar compared to a PRS. Plus forget about cosmetics. but for someone out there that is looking for awesome tone, do they have to pay big bucks to have it??

YES IT DOES! PAY UP!!!

It depends. First, when they're paying almost $500 for the wood before they even touch the thing to build it.... Second, build quality is one of those OCD things. You either have it or you don't, and if you do, everything you build is 99.999999% perfect. Take soldering for example. There are Fenders and Gibsons that still play perfectly (electronics-wise) and have never even been opened: because someone made sure the guitar was 100% correct before it left the store. (But I'm mainly talking about hand-made here.) Take for instance my friend who did the initial install on my ESP. He made very sure that it was 100% correct before I took it back to my room. As a result, it sounded great and lasted until recently when I took it to a guitar store to have 'em put the push-pull splits in it.

Bottom line, what you're paying for (usually) as price escalates is wood and OCD-luthiers (and sometimes innovation and custom design). If you have to tell a tech or luthier or store to do something the right way, the conversation should abruptly end and you should just walk out.

Granted, what do you mean by "good sounding"? My ESP is good sounding (after the hot rodded combo) and it's bolt on, and it cost $300 + case + $140 in pickups and $60 for a used tone pros locking tune-o-matic and $20 schaller straplocks.

 

[Voxman]

Re: do you have to pay big bucks to get a great sounding bolt on guitar?

I pay with regular sized bucks

 

[choppermn]

Re: do you have to pay big bucks to get a great sounding bolt on guitar?

You guys are hilarious! A 700 guitar to me is spendy. I paid 500 for my highway 1 fender, and can easily tell the difference in the fact that I put new strings on, locked the bridge, and it sounds nice.
I agree completely with the fact that you are paying for craftsmenship, but I do think the les paul is overpriced, the SG on the other hand is not. Honestly though the craftsmenship on my Ibanez RG120 junker is insanely nice, i'm keeping it for that alone.
Seriously if I was a professional musician i'd go after the high end gear, but i'm a part timer. Give my a knock off gem, and i'm happy, the low end now a days is not plywood like in the 70s.

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: do you have to pay big bucks to get a great sounding bolt on guitar?

You guys are hilarious! A 700 guitar to me is spendy. I paid 500 for my highway 1 fender, and can easily tell the difference in the fact that I put new strings on, locked the bridge, and it sounds nice. I agree completely with the fact that you are paying for craftsmenship, but I do think the les paul is overpriced, the SG on the other hand is not. Honestly though the craftsmenship on my Ibanez RG120 junker is insanely nice, i'm keeping it for that alone. Seriously if I was a professional musician i'd go after the high end gear, but i'm a part timer. Give my a knock off gem, and i'm happy, the low end now a days is not plywood like in the 70s.

I agree. That's the beauty of a free market economy: think something's overpriced? get something else. To a degree, for the average joe, the factory made guitar is just fine. Even then, we know some artists are also playing factory made guitars: look at their signature models

Me, my philosophy is to buy a guitar based on what you cannot change (wood and quality of construction) and then change what you can (pickups, hardware, etc). You can turn a $300 bargain into something that sounds like it costs $1000 but without spending an extra $700.