4 ms·

I just watched a video a few days ago comparing a $200 guitar to a $200,000 (Hauser) guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPY9Mxg3OJQ https://www.youtube.co

I just watched a video a few days ago comparing a $200 guitar to a $200,000 (Hauser) guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPY9Mxg3OJQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPY9Mxg3OJQ Long story short, go for the $700-$2k guitar unless you're an "art collector" that will never play it. Then again, I doubt many people can tell the difference between a $200 guitar and a $700 one.

TylerE 4y ago
I'd say there's some wiggle room there - I own lots of guitars, the most expensive of which would retail for about $5k today (I paid maybe half that when I got it ~15 years ago). Once you get past a certain price, you're paying more for different (e.g. custom build) rather than better. I'm a weirdo in that I generally like modern (even ultramodern, I own a Strandberg) - guitars for playability - thinner necks, comfort contours, that sort of thing, but vintage for tone...so I have a couple I've commissioned that try to combine the best of both worlds. Here are two of mine: https://i.imgur.com/pVQiOfC.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/pVQiOfC.jpeg They both look like weird, but both have vintage roots... The one on the left is heavily inspired by vintage Gibsons in the ways that mattger... neck and body are korina, the top (very not vintage) is flamed Hawaiian Koa. The one on the right is basically my take on a Fender Strat... but headless (better weight distribution, and allows for the..) and with an excellent modern tremolo bridge.
wilsonnb3 4y ago
It is astounding how good of a guitar you can get for a few hundred dollars these days. My Yamaha FG800 cost $200 and is probably 70-80% as good as my Martin that cost $1300. There is even less of a difference between cheap and expensive electric guitars. Especially if you learn to do a good setup yourself and replace the pickups.
- TylerE 4y ago
  I would disagree, unless you're willing to rewire the whole thing. Just about every cheap electric I've ever seen has shitty pots, bad or no shielding, maybe even bad grounding. Hum sucks.
4oo4 4y ago
It's not just about sound but also the way it feels in your hands when you play it. I had a ~$400 Squire Stratocaster as my main guitar that sounds great and is nearly indistinguishable from a Fender, but I had a hard time playing it for more than an hour at a time since it was hard on my hands (because of the quality of wood of the neck and fretboard, and I had trouble keeping the neck action where I want it). Then I saved up and got an American Fender Jazzmaster that's a recreation of one of the 60s models (cost around $2k used), and I can easily play that for 3-4 hours at a time without straining my hands. Everything just feels nicer in your hands because of the wood quality and you play better since it's more ergonomical. I agree that you probably can't hear the difference between a Squire and a Fender unless you are really familiar with how guitars and the pickup electronics work and have really good musical hearing, however I'd say in general the cutoff for a good sounding guitar (that's almost indistinguishable from something in the $750 to $2k range) is around $400. Anything less than that and the quality of materials and wiring will probably be bad enough to be noticeable, or things will wear out sooner rather than later (and poor ergonomics can keep you from playing at your full potential). There are exceptions to that though, I have a cheapo Washburn fretless bass that plays and sounds great, and I think I got it used for around $100. Then above the low 4 figures you're getting diminishing returns and/or just getting a collectible instead of something you intend to actually make music with.
- TylerE 4y ago
  Depreciation can be a real bitch, though. My favorite story along those lines was when I got paid $300 to own an exotic bass for a decade. The bass in question: An Alembic 6 string fretless. Original retail price in 1991: $6800 ($14.4k inflation adjusted). My local small town music store took it in on trade...tagged it at around $2500 or so... it proceeded to sit on the wall for the next 3 or 4 years. Owner of the store was a quirky older dude who doesn't do internet sales at all. So, finally, I catch the owner in a good mood one day and say look - I'm the only guy with weird enough tastes in this town to ever buy that...but I can't afford it at that price. I'll give $1000 in cash, today. ...and he took it. That was, if memory serves, about 2003. Had a bit of cash crunch when I was laid off for about 6 months circa 2012 or so, and put up a few of my instruments at a high end consignment shop (but in a big city, with an actual instrument market). Even aftger their cut I ended up with about $1,350.
duped 4y ago
I think anyone with passing experience playing can tell the difference between a $200 and $700 guitar even with a professional set up. A $200 strat will never be in tune, the tuning pegs will all have weird amounts of varying resistance, the bridge might rattle, you probably need a fret leveling right out of the box unless you're ok with either a crazy high action or nasty fret buzz, and so on. Oh and it sounds pretty terrible relative to something with decent pups in a decent amp. Personally the sweet spot of cheap guitars is more like $500 with inflation these days. The expensive stuff from China and cheap stuff from Korea is great. Those are giggable, serviceable guitars. In the $1k range for cheap American, expensive Korean, or Mexican or Japanese guitars you're paying for quality control. One model will play and sound like the others.
- pwython 4y ago
  My first acoustic guitar (2007) was a Yamaha, FG800 I think. $200. Had absolutely no problems with it, but I gave it to my brother and then purchased a PRS SE Angelus A10E that was about $600. To be honest, there was no difference at all in quality or tone. I really only got it for the electric pickups & aesthetic (who doesn't love those bird inlays?!).
tomcam 4y ago
I have a Squier Strat I bought for $25 that sounds every bit as good as my 1959 Strat, although the latter feels better to play.

TylerE 4y ago

I'd say there's some wiggle room there - I own lots of guitars, the most expensive of which would retail for about $5k today (I paid maybe half that when I got it ~15 years ago). Once you get past a certain price, you're paying more for different (e.g. custom build) rather than better. I'm a weirdo in that I generally like modern (even ultramodern, I own a Strandberg) - guitars for playability - thinner necks, comfort contours, that sort of thing, but vintage for tone...so I have a couple I've commissioned that try to combine the best of both worlds. Here are two of mine: https://i.imgur.com/pVQiOfC.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/pVQiOfC.jpeg They both look like weird, but both have vintage roots... The one on the left is heavily inspired by vintage Gibsons in the ways that mattger... neck and body are korina, the top (very not vintage) is flamed Hawaiian Koa. The one on the right is basically my take on a Fender Strat... but headless (better weight distribution, and allows for the..) and with an excellent modern tremolo bridge.

wilsonnb3 4y ago

It is astounding how good of a guitar you can get for a few hundred dollars these days. My Yamaha FG800 cost $200 and is probably 70-80% as good as my Martin that cost $1300. There is even less of a difference between cheap and expensive electric guitars. Especially if you learn to do a good setup yourself and replace the pickups.

TylerE 4y ago
I would disagree, unless you're willing to rewire the whole thing. Just about every cheap electric I've ever seen has shitty pots, bad or no shielding, maybe even bad grounding. Hum sucks.

4oo4 4y ago

It's not just about sound but also the way it feels in your hands when you play it. I had a ~$400 Squire Stratocaster as my main guitar that sounds great and is nearly indistinguishable from a Fender, but I had a hard time playing it for more than an hour at a time since it was hard on my hands (because of the quality of wood of the neck and fretboard, and I had trouble keeping the neck action where I want it). Then I saved up and got an American Fender Jazzmaster that's a recreation of one of the 60s models (cost around $2k used), and I can easily play that for 3-4 hours at a time without straining my hands. Everything just feels nicer in your hands because of the wood quality and you play better since it's more ergonomical. I agree that you probably can't hear the difference between a Squire and a Fender unless you are really familiar with how guitars and the pickup electronics work and have really good musical hearing, however I'd say in general the cutoff for a good sounding guitar (that's almost indistinguishable from something in the $750 to $2k range) is around $400. Anything less than that and the quality of materials and wiring will probably be bad enough to be noticeable, or things will wear out sooner rather than later (and poor ergonomics can keep you from playing at your full potential). There are exceptions to that though, I have a cheapo Washburn fretless bass that plays and sounds great, and I think I got it used for around $100. Then above the low 4 figures you're getting diminishing returns and/or just getting a collectible instead of something you intend to actually make music with.

TylerE 4y ago
Depreciation can be a real bitch, though. My favorite story along those lines was when I got paid $300 to own an exotic bass for a decade. The bass in question: An Alembic 6 string fretless. Original retail price in 1991: $6800 ($14.4k inflation adjusted). My local small town music store took it in on trade...tagged it at around $2500 or so... it proceeded to sit on the wall for the next 3 or 4 years. Owner of the store was a quirky older dude who doesn't do internet sales at all. So, finally, I catch the owner in a good mood one day and say look - I'm the only guy with weird enough tastes in this town to ever buy that...but I can't afford it at that price. I'll give $1000 in cash, today. ...and he took it. That was, if memory serves, about 2003. Had a bit of cash crunch when I was laid off for about 6 months circa 2012 or so, and put up a few of my instruments at a high end consignment shop (but in a big city, with an actual instrument market). Even aftger their cut I ended up with about $1,350.

duped 4y ago

I think anyone with passing experience playing can tell the difference between a $200 and $700 guitar even with a professional set up. A $200 strat will never be in tune, the tuning pegs will all have weird amounts of varying resistance, the bridge might rattle, you probably need a fret leveling right out of the box unless you're ok with either a crazy high action or nasty fret buzz, and so on. Oh and it sounds pretty terrible relative to something with decent pups in a decent amp. Personally the sweet spot of cheap guitars is more like $500 with inflation these days. The expensive stuff from China and cheap stuff from Korea is great. Those are giggable, serviceable guitars. In the $1k range for cheap American, expensive Korean, or Mexican or Japanese guitars you're paying for quality control. One model will play and sound like the others.

pwython 4y ago
My first acoustic guitar (2007) was a Yamaha, FG800 I think. $200. Had absolutely no problems with it, but I gave it to my brother and then purchased a PRS SE Angelus A10E that was about $600. To be honest, there was no difference at all in quality or tone. I really only got it for the electric pickups & aesthetic (who doesn't love those bird inlays?!).

tomcam 4y ago

I have a Squier Strat I bought for $25 that sounds every bit as good as my 1959 Strat, although the latter feels better to play.