Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Twinfan on February 25, 2011, 01:20:00 PM
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Just browsing a few guitar sites over lunch, as you do, and I'm amazed at the prices of new Custom Shop Gibsons :o
'54 Custom VOS = £3,250
'56 Goldtop VOS = £2,650
'57 Goldtop VOS = £2,650
'57 Custom VOS = £3,250
'58 Plaintop VOS = £2,650
'59 Flametop VOS = £4,100
'60 Flametop VOS = £4,100
They seem to have gone up by about £500 in the last 12 months? The regular '59s are almost the same price as my Pearly Gates was!
Wow.
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Its a lot - I like how the 59s and 60's are practicaly double. Just got my VOS Beano but thats for another thread - and I paid less than for a standard 60 VOS - its all about knowing where to look................ :P
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Have you seen Gibson CS prices recently????!!!!
I don't really look at the prices, I just know they're "too expensive". But those figures you've listed look pretty astronomical!
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They're crazy. I thought a £4499 for a Pearly Gates was madness, but a boggo R9 for almost the same money?????
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You can get them for less than that in $ - you just need a friend to walk it through customs.....
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It makes going to a UK custom builder seem more like a good idea :D
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Lol makes going to a custom builder very sensible, unless you thinking for making money, collecting. Personally I buy to keep, selling usually by product of more gas or bad buy
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I came across an old Guitarist magazine from 2001 and checked out the prices of things.
Les Paul Standard - £949
Les Paul Custom - £1459
Crazy how in 10 years that price is now double. Double the quality? I doubt it.
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I came across an old Guitarist magazine from 2001 and checked out the prices of things.
Les Paul Standard - £949
Les Paul Custom - £1459
Crazy how in 10 years that price is now double. Double the quality? I doubt it.
I didn't think Fenders had gone up as steeply as Gibsons. If I remember right an American Series Strat was about £600 ten years ago, and now (I hadn't realised this!) they're around £1,000. That's a pretty big jump too!
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wow.
that is a lot!
I could never buy a new gibson, not at those prices. I guess the CS ones don't carry the stigma or being 'hit & miss' like modern standards... you know... having to play a few to get a good one. unless I'm wrong. I would spend £3K on other things though.
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well, if you want a real US gibson, and you want cheap, there is always the faded series i guess, or likewise the highway one with fender
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well, if you want a real US gibson, and you want cheap, there is always the faded series i guess, or likewise the highway one with fender
I've read a lot of threads on people polishing up the faded models with pretty good results!
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well, if you want a real US gibson, and you want cheap, there is always the faded series i guess, or likewise the highway one with fender
I've read a lot of threads on people polishing up the faded models with pretty good results!
done it myself =) you need to try a few guitars to get a good one (sometimes the fingerboards can be a little dry IMO).
edit: can't compare with CS standards of course! but the fadeds and highways are above average gigging instruments, with the brand names we all aspire to.
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Ridiculous pricing. I wonder if their sales have dropped over the last 10 years. Possibly.
Custom build is the way to go. At those price points, if I was to buy rather than go custom, I would go for a Collings.
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For the money you'd pay on a Gibson now days I'd rather spend on a Heritage. They look gorgeous.
As for Fender increasing prices, yeah quite a big jump but I think the quality has improved on those US Standards. Those Mexi Strats have really improved too.
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For the money you'd pay on a Gibson now days I'd rather spend on a Heritage. They look gorgeous.
As for Fender increasing prices, yeah quite a big jump but I think the quality has improved on those US Standards. Those Mexi Strats have really improved too.
Heritage is a very good alternative. Gibson-prices get ridiculous.
My feeling is that Fender is on the average on a better price-quality-level. And I would rather buy a Fender CS then a Gibson CS.
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I do love Les Pauls but there is no way I'd pay that kind of price.
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with the brand names we all aspire to.
speak for yourself ;)
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As for Fender increasing prices, yeah quite a big jump but I think the quality has improved on those US Standards. Those Mexi Strats have really improved too.
Could be, I haven't played a new Strat for a while. But I think the 2000 American Series was a big improvement from the previous American Standards, that's when they introduced nice details like rounded fretboard edges. They'd let the standards drop in the late '90s, with five-piece bodies and some dodgy quality control (unless I was just unlucky and got all the bad ones! :lol: ).
I agree the MIMs have come on in leaps and bounds. :)
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As for Fender increasing prices, yeah quite a big jump but I think the quality has improved on those US Standards. Those Mexi Strats have really improved too.
Could be, I haven't played a new Strat for a while. But I think the 2000 American Series was a big improvement from the previous American Standards, that's when they introduced nice details like rounded fretboard edges. They'd let the standards drop in the late '90s, with five-piece bodies and some dodgy quality control (unless I was just unlucky and got all the bad ones! :lol: ).
I agree the MIMs have come on in leaps and bounds. :)
Playing a good American Series 2000 Tele I can just underline your opinion. The BKP's make it a really nice axe.
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It makes going to a UK custom builder seem more like a good idea :D
^ +1
the quality and attention to detail will be much, much better and cost you half the price.
a no-brainer really.
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if Les Paul was alive today he'd be playing a Feline Lion :D
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I got my 57 RI Custom in a trade,so its a bigger bargin then I thought. I still prefer my Norlin. :D
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I agree the MIMs have come on in leaps and bounds. :)
+1. My Baja is top value for money. When I can afford a new guitar I'm seriously going to think about going custom. Surely the big names must realize that their pricing structure will make people move away from paying over the odds. Maybe I'm being naive thinking like that.
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Crazy pricing.
Glad I got the R8 and SG when I did.
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if Les Paul was alive today he'd be playing a Feline Lion :D
Greatly amused by that David .... :D
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Surely the big names must realize that their pricing structure will make people move away from paying over the odds. Maybe I'm being naive thinking like that.
They know people will pay for the name. Simple as that.
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Surely the big names must realize that their pricing structure will make people move away from paying over the odds. Maybe I'm being naive thinking like that.
They know people will pay for the name. Simple as that.
"Label-lickers!"
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It's sort of complicated (and they know it !) You buy guitars like that when you can finally afford it (after lusting after one for half your life and dreaming about it for years), unless you are playing professionally... When you can finally afford it, it's so tempting to buy the guitar you have lusted after rather than buy from one of the small luthiers even if you know that you will be disppointed (it wont be as good as you dream and you still end up playing the beaten up student guitar you've had for years), and the small luthier custom guitar will be far better... but you still end up buying an F or a G ! (Well I did anyway !).
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I came across an old Guitarist magazine from 2001 and checked out the prices of things.
Les Paul Standard - £949
Les Paul Custom - £1459
Crazy how in 10 years that price is now double. Double the quality? I doubt it.
What's stupid is that if I'd bought a Les Paul in 2002 it would now be worth more than I paid for it on ebay! :o
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Might even have a chance of getting a decent price for my mate's 57 Reissue Goldtop....
:-)
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Is he still selling that Mike? Whats the skinny?
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I notice that the Les Paul Studio is pretty much static in comparison over 15 years?
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Studios were all around the £600 mark about 10 years ago. Just before the recession came along Gibson bumped them up to around £1000.
I really can't see why the huge price jump for a studio. Especially when every Studio LP or SG I've played since a couple of years ago has had incredibly bad fretwork.
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wow.
that is a lot!
I could never buy a new gibson, not at those prices. I guess the CS ones don't carry the stigma or being 'hit & miss' like modern standards... you know... having to play a few to get a good one. unless I'm wrong. I would spend £3K on other things though.
Oh don't you worry, Gibson maintains its hit-or-miss tradition at all price points, from entry level to Custom Shop limited edition.
And I don't think Gibson sells too many guitars to professional musicians anymore, at least not Custom Shop guitars. The markups are much better when selling to bankers, lawyers, and the like.
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My Gibson Custom R9 needed a fret dress and a set up from Feline to make it play like you would expect a £2.5k guitar to play, so even at the Custom level Gibson's attention to detail is lacking. Still although I dont really like Les Paul's, its now a damn nice player.(Cheers Jon)
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Oh don't you worry, Gibson maintains its hit-or-miss tradition at all price points, from entry level to Custom Shop limited edition.
And I don't think Gibson sells too many guitars to professional musicians anymore, at least not Custom Shop guitars. The markups are much better when selling to bankers, lawyers, and the like.
Yep - I make that about right. I used to work with a guy who had a Gibson acoustic (Hummingbird I think) and an LP. I got chatting to him one day and asked if he had tried many other guitars out before spending. His response was "I didn't need to, these were the first ones I tried. Gibson are the best and make the best" :roll: