Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

All things guitar, Les Pauls, Strats, Teles, Tokai, Ibanez etc. etc. etc.

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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by Molly »

$2k was for a long time CS territory for Fender, and that's where i was happiest. My last one, a 54 Anniversary, cost twice that. :-(

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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by robthemac »

Molly wrote: Sat Nov 19, 2022 7:25 pm $2k was for a long time CS territory for Fender, and that's where i was happiest. My last one, a 54 Anniversary, cost twice that. :-(
A forumite scored a CS Strat yesterday for $2600!
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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by Reg18 »

I’ll second most peoples opinion of 1k-1.5k ish.
There’s no shortage of totally respectable guitars under this as well, my current and favourite Tele is a Vintage V59 which I bought new at Rockshop for $650 from memory. I’ve owned USA Teles, MIM Teles, Squire CV etc but this has been my favourite so far. but I also played a Vintage brand one at a different Rockshop which had fret issues, so consistent QC might be more of a factor at below 1k.
On that note though I recently got handed a Fender MIM Player Strat by a Rockshop employee to test a pedal and the action was so high I could almost not play it. So maybe QC is still an issue at the 1.3k price point too?

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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by Slowy »

Reg18 wrote: Sun Nov 20, 2022 8:19 am I’ll second most peoples opinion of 1k-1.5k ish.
There’s no shortage of totally respectable guitars under this as well, my current and favourite Tele is a Vintage V59 which I bought new at Rockshop for $650 from memory. I’ve owned USA Teles, MIM Teles, Squire CV etc but this has been my favourite so far. but I also played a Vintage brand one at a different Rockshop which had fret issues, so consistent QC might be more of a factor at below 1k.
On that note though I recently got handed a Fender MIM Player Strat by a Rockshop employee to test a pedal and the action was so high I could almost not play it. So maybe QC is still an issue at the 1.3k price point too?
Most new instruments in this price range would benefit from a full setup. I wouldn't hold that against them.
Immediate work required on an $8k guitar though..GOML.
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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by MogwaiBoy »

About $1.5-2K for me.

I just can't do the "honey I want a guitar worth half the cost of your car" thing.

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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by Slowy »

MogwaiBoy wrote: Sun Nov 20, 2022 8:44 am About $1.5-2K for me.

I just can't do the "honey I want a guitar worth half the cost of your car" thing.
Get her a more expensive car then. Problem solved. :D
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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by robthemac »

Slowy wrote: Sun Nov 20, 2022 8:37 am
Reg18 wrote: Sun Nov 20, 2022 8:19 am I’ll second most peoples opinion of 1k-1.5k ish.
There’s no shortage of totally respectable guitars under this as well, my current and favourite Tele is a Vintage V59 which I bought new at Rockshop for $650 from memory. I’ve owned USA Teles, MIM Teles, Squire CV etc but this has been my favourite so far. but I also played a Vintage brand one at a different Rockshop which had fret issues, so consistent QC might be more of a factor at below 1k.
On that note though I recently got handed a Fender MIM Player Strat by a Rockshop employee to test a pedal and the action was so high I could almost not play it. So maybe QC is still an issue at the 1.3k price point too?
Most new instruments in this price range would benefit from a full setup. I wouldn't hold that against them.
Immediate work required on an $8k guitar though..GOML.
I have sympathy for the companies in this respect. I'd hate to build a guitar in Southern California in July, but have its playability judged in Auckland in August.
Jops wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:46 am Spring is the comic sans of reverbs anyway.

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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by Mikeincarnate326 »

For me personally, if it has a Floyd it needs to be at least 1000 series which WAS around $1800 mark for a soloist in 2020 (now like 2 5k, thanks inflation) .

I've had guitars with Floyd specials and while the guitar itself was great, the fine tuners were really stiff to adjust and the high e string fell out of the saddle on a few occasions. I was always tempted to buy a Jackson JS32 line guitar but I'd get put off by the licensed Floyd bridge.

I certainly agree that w everyone else thoughts for a fixed bridge guitar.

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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by The Scarecrow »

angry_young_poet wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 6:48 pm
Strats - MIM up to $700, MIA up to $1200
Similar for Tele's as well... I remember buying a MIM thinline Tele in 2007 for $600 and griping a bit as I missed out a USA one that went for around $800.

The biggest change I've noticed in in PRS stuff... the market used to be regularly infused with Santanas and PRS SE Ones, often going for $350-550. All this stuff tends to be sitting at almost twice this now.
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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by hamo »

The Scarecrow wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 2:13 pm
angry_young_poet wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 6:48 pm
Strats - MIM up to $700, MIA up to $1200
Similar for Tele's as well... I remember buying a MIM thinline Tele in 2007 for $600 and griping a bit as I missed out a USA one that went for around $800.

The biggest change I've noticed in in PRS stuff... the market used to be regularly infused with Santanas and PRS SE Ones, often going for $350-550. All this stuff tends to be sitting at almost twice this now.
Yeah, interestingly the singlecut shapes seem to still come up for somewhat bargain prices, although they also come up at bonkers prices too.
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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by The Scarecrow »

hamo wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 4:02 pm
The Scarecrow wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 2:13 pm
angry_young_poet wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 6:48 pm
Strats - MIM up to $700, MIA up to $1200
Similar for Tele's as well... I remember buying a MIM thinline Tele in 2007 for $600 and griping a bit as I missed out a USA one that went for around $800.

The biggest change I've noticed in in PRS stuff... the market used to be regularly infused with Santanas and PRS SE Ones, often going for $350-550. All this stuff tends to be sitting at almost twice this now.
Yeah, interestingly the singlecut shapes seem to still come up for somewhat bargain prices, although they also come up at bonkers prices too.
There's been a few Tremonti's at 500ish, which is a bloody good price for what's effectively post-modern Les Paul. But some run up closer to 1k and for that price, you can almost go new.
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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by hamo »

The Scarecrow wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 3:21 pm
hamo wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 4:02 pm
The Scarecrow wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 2:13 pm

Similar for Tele's as well... I remember buying a MIM thinline Tele in 2007 for $600 and griping a bit as I missed out a USA one that went for around $800.

The biggest change I've noticed in in PRS stuff... the market used to be regularly infused with Santanas and PRS SE Ones, often going for $350-550. All this stuff tends to be sitting at almost twice this now.
Yeah, interestingly the singlecut shapes seem to still come up for somewhat bargain prices, although they also come up at bonkers prices too.
There's been a few Tremonti's at 500ish, which is a bloody good price for what's effectively post-modern Les Paul. But some run up closer to 1k and for that price, you can almost go new.
That's true man, the RS had Tremontis for a grand at one point, I think they're up around 1300 now.
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Re: Guitar prices: what's the sweet spot?

Post by The Scarecrow »

hamo wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 3:32 pm
The Scarecrow wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 3:21 pm
hamo wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 4:02 pm

Yeah, interestingly the singlecut shapes seem to still come up for somewhat bargain prices, although they also come up at bonkers prices too.
There's been a few Tremonti's at 500ish, which is a bloody good price for what's effectively post-modern Les Paul. But some run up closer to 1k and for that price, you can almost go new.
That's true man, the RS had Tremontis for a grand at one point, I think they're up around 1300 now.
I think they come up with a degree of regularity, it would be absurd to buy new unless heavily discounted. They seem to be in regular circulation for sale but prices vary.
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