Man I feel like a long post today
So I don't have an issue with $2k+ guitars but only have a couple left. Have owned probably 10 or 12 in that range and several times that for ones costing less over 35 years of play.
The problem (these days) is I assemble and sometimes build them and am very good with fretwork. Factoring that important part in, there are just so many potentially great guitars readily available at a fraction of the cost. Just picked up another new-headstock era Epiphone (that's 6 now), an SG, for $379. Pretty much fine out of the box with a setup, but needed a partial level to satisfy my more perfectionistic side. I'm also replacing the okay-ish bridge with a 36th anniversary PAF.
Of course if your standard for great is a nitro finish and replication of a spec from some particular year, binding over frets and so on this isn't that. But for me if it sounds good and plays well then it's a good guitar.
Also I have a lot of guitars. If I were one of those people with like 1 or 2 electrics then I'd probably get all the bells and whistles on those. Instead I basically have a few for every tuning I use, and a range of short and long scale with lower and higher output pickups. If I'm jamming to some Anthrax or Metallica in E I'm ready to grab and go, and the next minute I can grab a LP or SG type with a '57 or something similar for a GNR thing in Eb. It might take a bit to sort out a new guitar to see what it does best and in some cases it may wind up replacing an existing one.
But over the years of buying and selling I've got a number of survivors that have proven themselves, and most were relatively cheap even after a couple upgrades:
-Ibanez 450m $299, added Tone Zone/Air Norton/B Velvet. The pickups and new electronics cost what the guitar did!. I'm not really a floyd guy but like having one from my younger days for the EVH, Vai stuff. I've tried to do better and had my hands on one of those blue floral jems I loved when I was a kid, but just wasn't any better.
-Schecter Damien Elite - has these goth inlays I'm not into but was $300 on sale and came with EMG 85 and 81, and I needed and EMG guitar. Very rare I don't mod a guitar in some way but this one didn't need more than a set up and minor fretwork + the ends were borderline.
-Used Epi 2020 SG '61 - $365 with hardshell case on ebay. REd one, the veneer doesn't really work for met on the SG shape but can't complain for what I paid. The truss was over-tightened and the bridge out of whack but nothing I couldn't immediately fix. It wound up my Ghost guitar, aka D standard lower output thing, working on an old Alice Cooper cover tuned down also. I've been telling myself maybe swap the bridge but on recording there's no reason to if I'm being honest with myself. Might do it anyway but as is, other than the aesthetics, it's an SG through and through. If you've played a lot of Gibson SGs you know while the necks vary a little and the pickups and so on its' hard to get away from the SG-ness the way you might with a Strat or something.
-There's a totally modified worn Epi 2020 LP, resprayed top with Lacquer and took the rough finish off the neck and re-sealed that, added JB-Jazz. It's exactly what you think and I play it about as much as anything. And I've had my hands on more JB-equipped Les Pauls than I can count, and I'm talking from bolt-on imports up to Gibby Customs (a wine red 70s was my #1 for a good stretch). To look at it I wouldn't sniff $350 for it on eBay but it's exactly perfect at doing what I hoped it would do.
-Yamaha FG-something (730?) acoustic for $300. Everyone knows these, but I made a new nut and saddle and it plays really well and does the job, recorded with it many times. The tuners have held up great but I know them to be a very cheap manufacture. My oldest guitar and been scouting to find a great replacement but all of the contenders I've been hands on with are very expensive, I'm okay with spending a lot on the right one, but if I'm dropping $2,500-type money on it it will have to play and sound like it. This one I know really well and have learned how to work with it which affects how I mic it up and so on and it's really added up to a solid B+ instrument all told. I'm not spending a mortgage payments on an A-.
All that's not suggesting an issue with higher-priced guitars, I could certainly still buy one but I've become extremely selective. Dropping $4k on one from an online retailer, no way. A lot of people do that and that's fine, but there's just no substitute for handling and hearing the thing in person. Guitars aren't created equally, I don't care who makes it or what custom shop it came out of. Some shops today are doing extremely fine work and building them about as well as an electric guitar can be built, I've seen it firsthand, but even among that class some are just better than others.
With all that said, if you're going to buy a $2k plus guitar with the intention of playing it (versus collecting or using as a showpiece), play it! If you've come home with a brand new instrument you've spent good money on and you're worried about nicks and scratches and things like resale value, just return it now and hold out for one you're ready to go all in with.
So I don't have an issue with $2k+ guitars but only have a couple left. Have owned probably 10 or 12 in that range and several times that for ones costing less over 35 years of play.
The problem (these days) is I assemble and sometimes build them and am very good with fretwork. Factoring that important part in, there are just so many potentially great guitars readily available at a fraction of the cost. Just picked up another new-headstock era Epiphone (that's 6 now), an SG, for $379. Pretty much fine out of the box with a setup, but needed a partial level to satisfy my more perfectionistic side. I'm also replacing the okay-ish bridge with a 36th anniversary PAF.
Of course if your standard for great is a nitro finish and replication of a spec from some particular year, binding over frets and so on this isn't that. But for me if it sounds good and plays well then it's a good guitar.
Also I have a lot of guitars. If I were one of those people with like 1 or 2 electrics then I'd probably get all the bells and whistles on those. Instead I basically have a few for every tuning I use, and a range of short and long scale with lower and higher output pickups. If I'm jamming to some Anthrax or Metallica in E I'm ready to grab and go, and the next minute I can grab a LP or SG type with a '57 or something similar for a GNR thing in Eb. It might take a bit to sort out a new guitar to see what it does best and in some cases it may wind up replacing an existing one.
But over the years of buying and selling I've got a number of survivors that have proven themselves, and most were relatively cheap even after a couple upgrades:
-Ibanez 450m $299, added Tone Zone/Air Norton/B Velvet. The pickups and new electronics cost what the guitar did!. I'm not really a floyd guy but like having one from my younger days for the EVH, Vai stuff. I've tried to do better and had my hands on one of those blue floral jems I loved when I was a kid, but just wasn't any better.
-Schecter Damien Elite - has these goth inlays I'm not into but was $300 on sale and came with EMG 85 and 81, and I needed and EMG guitar. Very rare I don't mod a guitar in some way but this one didn't need more than a set up and minor fretwork + the ends were borderline.
-Used Epi 2020 SG '61 - $365 with hardshell case on ebay. REd one, the veneer doesn't really work for met on the SG shape but can't complain for what I paid. The truss was over-tightened and the bridge out of whack but nothing I couldn't immediately fix. It wound up my Ghost guitar, aka D standard lower output thing, working on an old Alice Cooper cover tuned down also. I've been telling myself maybe swap the bridge but on recording there's no reason to if I'm being honest with myself. Might do it anyway but as is, other than the aesthetics, it's an SG through and through. If you've played a lot of Gibson SGs you know while the necks vary a little and the pickups and so on its' hard to get away from the SG-ness the way you might with a Strat or something.
-There's a totally modified worn Epi 2020 LP, resprayed top with Lacquer and took the rough finish off the neck and re-sealed that, added JB-Jazz. It's exactly what you think and I play it about as much as anything. And I've had my hands on more JB-equipped Les Pauls than I can count, and I'm talking from bolt-on imports up to Gibby Customs (a wine red 70s was my #1 for a good stretch). To look at it I wouldn't sniff $350 for it on eBay but it's exactly perfect at doing what I hoped it would do.
-Yamaha FG-something (730?) acoustic for $300. Everyone knows these, but I made a new nut and saddle and it plays really well and does the job, recorded with it many times. The tuners have held up great but I know them to be a very cheap manufacture. My oldest guitar and been scouting to find a great replacement but all of the contenders I've been hands on with are very expensive, I'm okay with spending a lot on the right one, but if I'm dropping $2,500-type money on it it will have to play and sound like it. This one I know really well and have learned how to work with it which affects how I mic it up and so on and it's really added up to a solid B+ instrument all told. I'm not spending a mortgage payments on an A-.
All that's not suggesting an issue with higher-priced guitars, I could certainly still buy one but I've become extremely selective. Dropping $4k on one from an online retailer, no way. A lot of people do that and that's fine, but there's just no substitute for handling and hearing the thing in person. Guitars aren't created equally, I don't care who makes it or what custom shop it came out of. Some shops today are doing extremely fine work and building them about as well as an electric guitar can be built, I've seen it firsthand, but even among that class some are just better than others.
With all that said, if you're going to buy a $2k plus guitar with the intention of playing it (versus collecting or using as a showpiece), play it! If you've come home with a brand new instrument you've spent good money on and you're worried about nicks and scratches and things like resale value, just return it now and hold out for one you're ready to go all in with.
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