Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

blueman335 said:
If all they can afford is a $500 guitar, they shouldn't be told it's junk.
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True, I haven't see that states explicitly, but it's certainly implied. I feel this thread as a whole largely implies that a good guitar is one that must at least cost as much as three or more cheap guitars, which would put it in the $1000 range, if you do the math.

I love $500 ish guitars because I can have a variety of pickup combinations, colors, controls, neck feels, scale lengths, and on without the buyers remorse and self doubt I might feel if I had spent $1500 on each of them. Even if you are rich, popping $1500 on a chunk of wood, no matter how nice it is, makes you question your sanity for a moment. Multiply that by fifteen, I'm afraid it would become harder to deny the insanity of it.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

sosomething said:
Since you brought up cars, let's compare a Dean or Epiphone to something like an entry-level Kia. You probably are better off buying one of those new. The previous owner is more likely to have been a kid or a beginner and the miles were hard.
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MOST of the mid priced guitars I've bought used had fret wear and other damage, I just can't deal with used anymore. I worry that an expensive used guitar would just be a proportionately bigger mistake of a purchase. I like to know that every ding was put there by me. I only buy used if the guitars is out of production now, otherwise, NO.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

I had the same issue a couple of years ago. i sold all my Gibsons, because my warmoths are better, hands down. Now I'm stuck with a collection, and I don't know what to do with it. I can't seem to scale it down cause I may miss a guitar here and there. I feel it already when I lend out a guitar (which is going fine, by the way). So many guitars, so little time.

But to the real question: I'd rather have 5 amazing guitars than 20 'meh' guitars.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Little Pigbacon said:
That little bit of extra crunch and resonance is very, very satisfying to me as a player.
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This.

DreX said:
I'd agree that MIAs use more favorable woods on average, but how exactly it's more favorable is vague, better grain, a little denser for solids, ligher and more resonant for hallow bodies, but again, it's not a sure thing, and even then what makes a wood favorable is subjective.
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One day I asked my Danish drummer friend: hey Rasmus, what is the difference between an El Cheapo cymbal and an upmarket one? You know, they are both just metal plates or what?
The answer he gave me was: yeah, they both make noise... but the better one has the sensitivity that makes it sound different depending on the way I hit it. It reacts to my playing in a way the cheapo does not.

It didn't take long before I figured out that this concept works for every musical instrument. What I call a great guitar is an outstandingly expressive one. They usually happen to be quite expensive, too. However, the price tag alone doesn't really guarantee anything in my experience.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

sosomething said:
You lost me at "Collection," because buying cheap costs more in the long run if you're going to keep dealing in them. Depreciation is a b*tch.

I actually consider all of my guitars to be mid-priced. I only wrote "high end" in my last post because the typical attitude from the more vocal members of this forum seem to peg "mid-priced" from between 400-750 dollars.

The nicest guitar I have is probably a tie between my Gibson ES-339 and my '08 Gibson LP Traditional. Neither of them cost me more than $2000.

I have to ask - are all you guys buying new? Because the used market is where the deals are.

Since you brought up cars, let's compare a Dean or Epiphone to something like an entry-level Kia. You probably are better off buying one of those new. The previous owner is more likely to have been a kid or a beginner and the miles were hard. But buying a Gibson or USA Fender used is like getting into a certified pre-owned BMW or Mercedes. Sure, it's used, but the odds of inheriting problems brought on by misuse from the previous owner are much lower.

My LP Traditional cost me one Eric Johnson Strat (which I paid 900 cash for to a guy I met in a Starbucks) plus $300. That's 1200 bones for a used Les Paul and it's one of the best guitars I've ever owned. It's run-back-into-your-burning-house-to-save-it good.

And the best part is that if I ever do want to sell it for any reason, I WILL MAKE A PROFIT. That means the next guitar I buy could be even NICER.

I've done this for years with guitars and amps. I have GREAT stuff that definitely craps all over the cheap junk I started with and I've never had to eat any Top Ramen to pay for it.
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Virtually every guitar I've ever owned in my life has been used, and literally every guitar I've bought in the last 10 years has been online (not only better prices, but no TAX and often no shipping cost). On average, a used $750 guitar is typically >>> than a new one for the same, although the giant gulf that once existed between ~cheapish guitars and good to great level guitars is not what it once was due to the overseas factories upping their game.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

DreX said:
Even if you are rich, popping $1500 on a chunk of wood, no matter how nice it is, makes you question your sanity for a moment. Multiply that by fifteen, I'm afraid it would become harder to deny the insanity of it.
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$1500 is a drop in the bucket when you consider what other quality instruments cost. Being guitar players we are lucky that the price point for a serviceable instrument is in the $300 range. That being said i would not call it insane to have a guitar over $1500 especially if you are a vintage or Gibson fan. Hell a lot of Strats are in the $1500 range these days. I don't think $1500 is the high watermark for guitar price sanity.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

I also don't think $1,500 is a sanity-check price point for someone who's truly rich. Some people have doorknobs that cost that much. Handbags. Watches. That's a fairly routine vet bill for some people. Getting into the more pedestrian realms, it's not at all uncommon for non-rich people to have TVs, laptops, and bicycles that cost that much. People prioritize based on what's important to them. Everybody does it, regardless of how much money they have or what they're into.
 
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Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

So true, I would rather spend $2500 on another Les Paul my grandkids can play long after I am dead and buried than a Macbook that will be obsolete in a couple of years.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Little Pigbacon said:
I also don't think $1,500 is a sanity-check price point for someone who's truly rich. Some people have doorknobs that cost that much. Handbags. Watches. That's a fairly routine vet bill for some people. Getting into the more pedestrian realms, it's not at all uncommon for non-rich people to have TVs, laptops, and bicycles that cost that much. People prioritize based on what's important to them. Everybody does it, regardless of how much money they have or what they're into.
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There are many shades of rich between $1500 guitar collection rich and $1500 doorknob rich.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

DreX said:
There are many shades of rich between $1500 guitar collection rich and $1500 doorknob rich.
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One $1,500 guitar doesn't mean you're rich. Not in industrialized countries in 2014.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

sosomething said:
You lost me at "Collection," because buying cheap costs more in the long run if you're going to keep dealing in them. Depreciation is a b*tch.
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I've never lost money on a guitar. Depreciation only impacts you when you pay too much in the first place.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

dominus said:
I've never lost money on a guitar. Depreciation only impacts you when you pay too much in the first place.
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Don't you buy bulk packs of Dean Vendettas for like $59 each?

This has been a great thread, though -- a bunch of Internet asshats each trying to convince the others that their guitar-buying approaches are foolish. I know I feel like a better person for it.

Catch you sucka emcees on the flipside. Sammler out.
 
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Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Maybe it's my frugal mentality but when I've paid over 1500 for a guitar it felt like being on the edge of a stupid purchase despite being well within my discretionary range.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

No matter how rich you are, it will occur to anyone spending $1500 at GC that there are $500 products that look and feel almost identical, and there's a tense moment of truth when you question if you want to part with an extra $1000 for those ever do subtle differences.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Whatever you say, Sport.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

DreX said:
No matter how rich you are, it will occur to anyone spending $1500 at GC that there are $500 products that look and feel almost identical, and there's a tense moment of truth when you question if you want to part with an extra $1000 for those ever do subtle differences.
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Find me a $500 guitar with the same look and feel as my $2200 Les Paul Traditional Plus and I will buy it on sight.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Is there a difference? Yes. Is it worth four to five times the price? Harder to answer.
 
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