How much can you justify paying for a guitar?

When you’re mediocre as a player

Been playing a Squier Bullet Strat for about 8 years when I picked the guitar back up, and I’ve been putting money aside in the secret account for a new one, but i’m getting into a quagmire of £2000 Gibsons and American Fender Jazzmasters.

The Hagstrom Pat Smear (about £700) is whetting my appetite at the moment (see below) but I’m looking for other suggestions that won’t break the bank, you know, bang for buck and all that

I’m rubbish, the eternal beginner (currently trying to get better by playing with mates and via Justin Guitar).

The most I’ve paid is £250 for a Squier.

I have paid £40 to have it set up, which made a huge difference.

I’d love a posh guitar, but honestly can’t justify it.

When I can play to a decent standard I’d like something posher (a Cort CR Custom, something nice from Yamaha, secondhand Gibson or a Faith).
But until then I’m very happy with what I’ve got.

If I had pots of cash I might splash out now, but it seems a bit pointless tbh.

That Hagstrom looks lovely btw, if you want one, why not? Cheaper than a bike.

All the Corts, Faiths, PRSs and Yamahas I’ve played have been lovely.

The Fenders, Gibsons, Epiphones and Squiers have all been a bit variable – some really nice, some not so. Some shonky stuff out there.

I’ve always liked the look of the PRS SE, you know the affordable models. Think you need too weigh up where you’ll be playing etc etc to justify the outlay.

I’m married so I’m sticking with my old Yamaha Compass

Very much an amateur but paid £820 for a martin drs1 acoustic, always wanted that woody Martin sound so needs must 🙂
Makes my old Epiphone acoustic sound like it’s made out of plastic.

Isn’t the build quality on modern Gibson’s absolute pish!?

Isn’t the build quality on modern Gibson’s absolute pish!?

new broom is supposed to be sorting this but it’s transitional time at the moment so pot luck.

I’d like a short scale fender from the year of my birth but they are incredible money

“Justify”

Horrible word.

Shouldnt have to justify spending money on anything, bike/guitar/pants.

Regarding the guitar, i’m someone who believes it’s all in the fingers. You do need a decent set of pickups, and very reasonable sounding amp.. once those are covered you can embellish tones and styles by adding pedals and tutorials and such.

So, a decent well set up Squier Strat with some HotRods in or other Vintage style pickups (£150 a set) and a £50 setup and £15 strings and you’ve completed the majority of the guitar. Next is a decent enough amp to convert those tones, and plenty of amps (valve and digital) for under £200 .. but more digital programmable amps like Boss Katanas and such (lauded and raved about) or if you can  a s/h valve combo from someone whose given up..

You can spend £’000’s on guitars, and yet still end up chasing “that sound/tone” and expensive guitars may not have that sound.. but you spend the money on them thinking they will deliver the sound/tone.. but get them home and feel “oh, that’s not what I’m after” and then hardly pick it up again.

So for me, it’s all about playability and tone. A guitar that calls out to you “come play me” every time you look at it. And that can be found in any guitar regardless of expense.

I would go seek out players you like to hear, and want to emulate, on YouTube then look at what they’re playing. Find out what it is about their natural set up is.. and you’ll find that the basics are a decent guitar that’s been well set up, with decent pickups on and into a decent enough valve amp.. forget pedals at the moment and learn to mimick their tone from your fingers.

Example IME.. I’m (like millions) a big John Mayer fanbouy.. he’s just brought out a PRS JMayer silverstar Super Strat.. and I picked one up.. and didn’t like it. I’m a massive neo-Soul fan, most players use Strats or LPauls and have signature models, again picked up and played many.. didn’t like em. I’ve played vintage Strats, new Strats, Mex and American at all price points.. and yet it made no difference to me how much they cost.. some of the better sounding or feeling ones were the cheaper or limited run models. Fender do a Player Series and it’s Mexican built and they are awesome… Some American series guitars feel odd and sound odd… as do some Mexican made ones.

I settled on a Player Series Tele and have changed the pickups to Twisted Teles and into a Boss Nextone and honestly it sounds awesome. I also have a Duesenberg Paloma, and that is sublime. Two different guitars at two different price points and yet both sound and feel awesome and I play them every day.. and neither have pedals in front, all the sound is direct from the Nextone.

So, feel/sound/tone can be had for very little money. Buy expensive if you like, that’s your choice. But IMO buy a guitar that makes you want to play it every day.

And check out Andertons TV on YouTube for some proper comparisons between cheap and expensive guitars, you’ll be amazed at the results they’ve produced.

Guitars and bikes are both in the same category. There’s no need to justify either. If you want a nice guitar then buy one. Much like bikes though, it won’t make you a better player instantly.

What it might do is inspire you to pick it up more and practice. If it gives you pleasure. Then crack on.

I don’t play the guitar or any other instrument unfortunately, despite our house being full of different instruments. I am also the tightest person in the World and the only person I know to disagree with the sentiment ‘it’s your money, you can spend it as you like’. However, £700 does not sound an unreasonable amount of money to spend on something you desire. I presume it will last for years and years. If you are fairly certain you will play it often and for years to come £2000 does not seem outlandish. A nice heirloom too.

I generally buy second hand guitars in the £400-700 range.

Pretty good balance of price to quality.

I play live so pickup squeal is a deal-breaker

feel/sound/tone can be had for very little money. Buy expensive if you like, that’s your choice. But IMO buy a guitar that makes you want to play it every day.

I would second this.

If I had loadsamoney to spend on an electric guitar I think I’d probably get something in the 500 range and look for a decent amp to go with it. IMO a nice amp flatters a less-good guitar more than the other way around.

As with anything the law of diminishing returns applies. At a certain point you’re either paying for bling, or paying for features you won’t need (e.g. a bedroom guitarist won’t need the same stability and robustness a touring musician would).

As for justification: you can’t justify it 🙂 But who cares? You saved the money up, so spend it as you wish!

I don’t feel the need to justify. And on second-hand guitars you’ll only lose the fret wear and dings you add IME.

My cheapest guitar is a Harley Benton T-type which I bought for parts but so much liked the neck it got upgraded rather than canibalised. It owes me 120e, that’s fractions of a euro per hour of play.

The guitar I play most is a second-hand Mexican Strat I picked up as new for 400e. Why I play it most – I like the neck, it’s always in tune, it sounds great with my two favourite amps.

The most expensive is a Warmoth hybrid – a Tele with a Strat-shaped body, custom neck, Duncan pickups. Objectively it’s the best components, the best set up, the most suited to my hands, the nicest balance. I should play it more, but like a best suit, I perhaps don’t want to wear it out.

As for Gibsons, I’ve played an ES335 that felt right, a 2500e Les Paul with a neck that felt objectively worse than an Epiphone (or even the Harley Benton above), and an SG that had a neck as wide as a cricket bat.

And expensive Fenders: they can be idiosyncratic with odd neck shapes, odd sounding pickups, odd fret sizes. What they all have IME is a nice finish and excellent quality control. Find one you like and it’s worth the money.

Best value for money guitar? A Squier Classic Vibe Tele. Junior had one as his main stage guitar for a few years. He wore the frets flat but I found a replacement neck with a serial number within 10. The neck is ace (600 wet and dry used wet if you don’t like gloss), it weighs over 5kg which he loved for leaping around while playing – lots of inertia. The bass grunt from the bridge pickup is unmatched by any of our other guitars – a pickup in a 375e guitar that beats Fender N3, Crel, Fender US, Duncan, DiMarzio Twang King…

Edit: and as info for YourGuitarHero the single coils in the Classic vibe are the only non-stack single coils that junior can use on stage with his sometimes ridiculous levels of drive and effects with no squeal. No idea why.

I’ve bought all but 2 of mine used so that’s easier- buy carefully, clean them up, fix any issues and you’ll generally sell them for more in 5 years than you paid. I am a shit and lazy guitarist- I was competent at one point but I never practiced and now I’m pretty much lapsed, but I’ve owned and had a lot of joy from some bloody nice guitars, and they’ve not really cost me a penny.

My current one is a silver series tele that I bought for £80, I’ve had it a decade and I guarantee I’ll sell it for 5 times what I paid, if I ever sell. But it’s way nicer than the “proper” USA tele and SG that I owned.

I completely agree a cheap guitar can sound great, however, the sound is only part of the story: Cheap guitars often come with rubbish tuners, a poor nut, uninspiring pups, but there are always exceptions, of course.

Personally, I think £500-800 is the perfect price-range to get a guitar that will last you a long time and inspire you to play, without being stupidly expensive. Of course, you can turn a cheap guitar into a decent guitar by spending some money on it (new pups, a setup, a new nut, new tuners, fret dressing etc), but personally, I’d rather not have to.

Don’t get caught up in the “I’m not good enough to play a decent guitar” mindset – do you buy a crap bike because you aren’t Aaron Gwin? Regardless, Bbuy something you enjoy playing and you will get better.

Paid 180e for a gretsch parlour guitar, gets tons of use, left lying around so my weean can pick it up if he starts to show interest. Love it, no need for more (have also got several grands’ worth of LP custom under the bed which almost never gets used).

About 25 years ago I was a mediocre guitarist with a Squire Strat when I got my first ‘proper’ job. I blew my whole first pay check on a beaten up early 70’s Gibson SG I’d been walking past in a shop window for weeks and fallen for. I was still mediocre – but it was so much nicer to play and sounded mean! Even now I’m still mediocre and I’ve still got the Gibson – no regrets!

I’ve been pondering a similar question myself as I’m just about to start trying to play the guitar. I’ve gone with a guitar in the £200-250 range (a Fender CD-60SCE) as I wanted an acoustic to take with me when I’m in the motorhome. Also been toying with getting an electric as well and have been wondering if going straight to a custom shop Stratocaster is a bit much!

My son is egging me on because he knows if I don’t stick with it he’ll end up with the guitars himself as he plays!

Buy the Tokai Les Paul copy my business partner has for sale – it plays and sounds better than many of the real Les Pauls I’ve played and it’s within your budget:

Tokai Love Rock LS75Q Cherry Burst – Les Paul Copy – Japanese Pre Owned

JP

Also been toying with getting an electric as well and have been wondering if going straight to a custom shop Stratocaster is a bit much!

as long as you know what you want, neck shape/fret board radius, jumbo/medium jumbo etc frets, pick ups, vintage or modern, wood type, hardtail or trem , colour etc then go for it

As a drummer who wants to understand, play a bit and maybe write some ideas, i’ve Bought a few guitars & basses over the years. Never spent more than £150, with one exception, as I can’t justify spending more than I would on a single cymbal (and that’s another story!)
The one exception was a Dean Sarasota 12string semi solid, which I think cost me £300

However, i’d gladly spend a couple of grand on a custom sized DW kit. Most off the shelf kits these days come with 10” & 12” rack toms, 14” and/or 16” floor toms. I want bigger drums, not necessarily more of them. Which means late 80s vintage, cheap & nasty, or very expensive custom kits

Most I could justify was £1800 for a custom shop USA made Gibson, bought 2nd hand so wont depreciate, and it plays like an absolute dream, and as playing guitar is a passion for me it’s been worth every penny. That said my first decent guitar was a £250 made in Japan fender strat and it too plays like a dream.

I consider myself a fairly average dad rocker who’s been playing around 10 years. I play almost daily and really, really enjoy it.

I’ve spent 000s on gear. More than I like to think about but don’t regret any of it because I enjoy it. I did the same with bikes but didn’t compete.

A lot of it has been finding what I like and finally, after 10 years I can say say that for me, it’s a gaggle of Ibby Prestige and Mayones guitars and an AxeFX3.

Everything else is slowly being sold on Reverb

Music is awesome, spend what you can afford and enjoy. I still have my first ‘decent’ guitar and will never sell it.

The most I sent on a guitar is £1200 (10+ years ago) for a vintage hotrod ’52 telecaster. Custom order, so bought unplayed. It took almost 10 years for me to come to terms with it (had to plug it into a Vibro Champ amp before I really got it. Cost me another £900 for a Princeton, but, boy, the combination sounds amazing). Had I tried it in the shop i’d have walked away…

You can get a perfectly decent guitar for (well) under a grand. More than that and you are mostly paying for how it looks.

I have a MIJ Tokai LP copy that cost £650 (okay I have upgraded the pick ups to BKP Mules) but I borrowed a pre 2k (when they were still good) Gibson LP off a mate and genuinely wouldn’t have swapped with him even if he wanted as the Tokai (for me) is just much nicer to play (and sounds better too). I also have a Reverend Charger 290 that was just over £700 which is a lot of guitar for the money. There are also some great Squier/Korean/chinese Fenders for sub £500.

2ndhand is the best way for sure. I know someone who picked up a custom shop gold top LP for a grand…

By all means spend £’000’s but a) it really won’t make you play any better (I can vouch for that unfortunately), b) its just eye candy and c) for that price you’d be better buying 2 (or 3) different guitars instead… 😉

+1 in the Japanese Tokai Les Pauls. Great guitars. I bought mine for £650 in ~2005. Only guitar I would never sell!

Buy that one up there, you won’t regret it

Pretty much in the same dilemma when I got my ESP. You can get a superb Far Eastern guitar that will genuinely knock a Gibson into a cocked hat quality wise. If I had my time again I would buy second hand. Probably an American made Fender Strat. I would never buy new or buy blind again. I love the ESP Gibbo copy but it’s mega heavy and meaty and I guess I just prefer the single coil tones of a strat.

For an electric guitar, i think you can buy a cheap but decent model (lets say around £500) and upgrade parts as you see fit, which not only is fun, but also allows you to find and tailor your own sound using your own choice of components.

Buying a £500 guitar now and putting aside another £500 for next years upgrades would see you into a really nice sounding ‘lecy strummer!

( With an acoustic guitar i think you do have to spend more, the really sweet spot, imo, is significantly more, lets say £1500, and although you can still change the sound by changing the setup and strings etc, broadly, the sound is more fixed by the design.)

I spent £2650 on a Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 back in 2006. I couldnt quite justify a Hollowbody II at £3850. This was a mistake.

You justify what you can afford.. it’s clearly a want over a need obviously. I’ve been getting back into playing recently, taking a few lessons and everything!

i don’t play in a band yet seem to have aquired a few guitars! My “best” is an Epiphone Les Paul which I think was about £400 in the late 90’s. The others are either things I’ve built out of parts or stuff that’s not cost much. I got a tele copy for £70 and bought new pickups for it. It’s really nice!

I’d love a les Paul but Gibson’s quality control of late seems lacking and I can’t justify buying one just for the name on the headstock if it’s going to be a bit crap…

I’ve just seen a Harley Benton PRS copy that I REALLY like the look of thats less than £200

I may buy if I have a few more beers tonight….

How I would justify paying a lot for a guitar is that the cheaper models are sold in big numbers, so 2nd hand resale price is usually very low. Where as a an expensive more individual type guitar is likely to retain much of its cost .. maybe increase too.

Well – that’s how I’d justify it …

You’ll lose more than the cost of a good asian or Mexican guitar when you carry your new custom shop out of the shop, Mooman. Check out the price of the Custom shops in jjprestidge’s link. (There are some nice guitars in there – it seems your partner sells second-hand guitars that have hardly been played with next to no fret wear)

If you play a guitar regularly the frets will soon be worn down however much you paid (unless it’s a Warmoth neck with stainless frets) A perfect refret on a Maple neck is about 400e. My Mexican Strat will need a new neck before long, a refret would be what I paid for the guitar and a new neck about 2/3.

You’ll lose more than the cost of a good asian or Mexican guitar when you carry your new custom shop out of the shop, Mooman. Check out the price of the Custom shops in jjprestidge’s link. (There are some nice guitars in there – it seems your partner sells second-hand guitars that have hardly been played with next to no fret wear)

If you play a guitar regularly the frets will soon be worn down however much you paid (unless it’s a Warmoth neck with stainless frets) A perfect refret on a Maple neck is about 400e. My Mexican Strat will need a new neck before long, a refret would be what I paid for the guitar and a new neck about 2/3.

Yeah – the typical person who my partner buys guitars from is someone who buys a custom shop on a whim on credit, then hardly plays it, realises they need the money a few years down the line and sell it to him.

I’ve played most of them and they’re all really nice guitars – he gets them set up by a very good technician as soon as he buys them.

JP

Keep an eye out for Ibanez Artists (As-100 – AS-200, Gibson 335 copies) from the late 80’s. Really collectible and still pretty affordable, plus, amazing guitars.

still pretty affordable,

How much are you suggesting he pays, Rob? The AS 200s go for gIBSON ES335 money around here, 2000e for a good one. I tried one in a local shop, I really liked it, until I plugged it in expecting it to sound like a Gibson ES335, it didn’t. The Yamaha SG 2000 is another guitar that goes for a lot of money for an old Yamaha. I’d love one for that early Big Country sound but so far haven’t found one that hasn’t showed signs of a hard life for money I’m prepared to pay.

I’m fussy and can’t bring myself to buy an obviously flawed classic. just some examples I’ve tried:

70s Strat: twisted neck
70s Strat: the neck curve was all in one place
80s Sigma Martin: deck height too low as guitar has deformed (it’s my guitar I’ve had it for years and it’s now junk)
Gibson ES 335: head stock broken off and glued back on – still plays and sounds great but would you buy it?

Old guitars were more hand made rather than machined and some were not great back then, add years of warm/cold/damp/dry and use and some have really not aged well. The great old classic guitar that plays well and sounds great is the exception rather than the rule.

If you have loads to spend then don’t look at price tags at all, just play and listen and ignore the price. pick the one that is best to you.

I’ve never spent any more than £450 on a guitar myself mind, prefer to have a couple of alright guitars, bass, piano and loads of toys! 🙂

Unlimited tonal goodness, add a half decent guitar and crack on(2014 mexi strat in my case)! 🙂 guitar is only really a small part of the tonal question, if it plays good, happy days.

Is that ^ the logic interface thingy ?

I’m keen to run my guitar through my laptop through an interface like that..

Ableton 10, got Ampiltube 4 max running in it plus loads of other things.

I’m down to half a guitar.

Well… One guitar with a snapped headstock. DIY repair in progress but i’ve started browsing… I definitely need a Parlour guitar and an electric. And i’m rethinking about restarting my stalled electric build….

That Hagstrom thing is hideous the shape does not suit a contoured top like that.