What's Cheap?

[MrBump]

OK, sorry for bleating on about this, but this is another thread that related to the cost of guitars - bit more the perception of value than anything else.

How do you guys "rate" the price of a guitar?  Or do you do that at all?

For example, I'd tend to rate anything sub £299 as "cheap".  Anything £300-£700 as mid range, and anything +£700 as expensive.

Am I way out of line with reality?

Mark.

[Philly Q]

I think I'd go <£300 as cheap, £300-£700 as "affordable", £700-£1,000 as mid-range, and anything >£1,000 as expensive.

But there are many more levels after that - very expensive, incredibly expensive, astronomically expensive and EVH Brand Guitars, to name a few. 

[jibidy]

I think in a similar way about price.

Guitars sub £300 can be great but may need pimping (pups, hardware, fretwork.)
£300 to £600ish I'de say are mid priced because there are some really great guitars that you can get for £650-£800 then above that is expensive. I'de have pretty high expectations if i spent over £500 on a guitar (I have spent no more than £400 pounds on a guitar before, not including pimping)

I think acoustics are quite different. From what i know, which is little, you can get a nice acoustic for less than you'de pay for a good electric.

[MrBump]

OK... maybe I'm not as out of date as I thought...

[Twinfan]

Cheap is entirely comparative.  I would say a £1000 PRS Mira was cheap (for a PRS, for a US made guitar, compared to the equivalent quality Gibson etc).

But a £79 Chinese Tele copy is also cheap........

[ToneMonkey]

Under £150 - cheap because I can afford it.  Over £150 - expensive because I can't afford it.  And then there are guitars which I'll never be able to afford.  I think that £130 is the most I've spent on an axe.

[Philly Q]

What's interesting is that prices have actually changed very little over the years - I got my first LP copy in 1980 for about £80, and now you can probably get a better guitar for the same money.

[dave_mc]

Cheap is entirely comparative.  I would say a £1000 PRS Mira was cheap (for a PRS, for a US made guitar, compared to the equivalent quality Gibson etc).

But a £79 Chinese Tele copy is also cheap........

exactly. i prefer to talk about value. something at £250 isn't cheap if it's utter cr@p, while something at £350 might be if it's actually good. too many people seem to equate value with how cheap something is, and that's not right at all. if it's cheaper, but doesn't do the job, it's actually terrible value, as you'll have to fork out for something which will do the job later anyway. this probably explains why tesco etc. do so well... :(

generally speaking, if it's under £200, i'm willing to have fewer expectations (e.g. my valve junior) etc. but much more than that, and i want it to be perfect- if not, you've wasted quite a bit of money which you could have put towards something which was.

my price bands are, more or less:

<£200: cheap (willing to accept slightly lower quality, as long as it's decent and worthy of upgrades)
£200-~£600: Mid-price. I'd expect to get a good guitar for this, but would be willing to upgrade the electronics and pickups (not much else, though- upgrade much more than that and you could just get a better guitar)
>£600: expensive. Mainly because I know that, once I'd swapped the pickups, I'd be near enough within range of another custom legra. Basically anything much more than £600 would have to be spectacular for me even to consider it.

I guess I'd have a similar range with amps...

[FELINEGUITARS]

I wont comment on cheap as I too am out of touch
Your perspective on cheapness does change depending on what you have previously spent or what your aspirations are.

So instead I will quote my favourite Henry Rolls (Rolls Royce Cars) Quote

"The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten."

[Kilby]

Whats cheap, Jordan & Jade Goody are pretty cheap

Sorry !

So instead I will quote my favourite Henry Rolls (Rolls Royce Cars) Quote

"The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten."

The Quakers (don't ask me how I know) have a sayinmg along the lines of :

If you intend to buy the cheapest then budget for the most expensive, as you will have to buy the item again

Basically I prefer to think about the term affordable rather than cheap or expensive.

[noodleplugerine]

I think £800 is expensive, while £1500 is affordable. Since the guitars I own worth closer to £1500 are guitars I doubt I'll ever replace, however, if I owned a guitar around £800, I'd want to get rid of it.

[FELINEGUITARS]

So instead I will quote my favourite Henry Rolls (Rolls Royce Cars) Quote

"The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten."

The Quakers (don't ask me how I know) have a saying along the lines of :

"If you intend to buy the cheapest then budget for the most expensive, as you will have to buy the item again"

Thanks for that - that is pure gold as far as wisdom goes. Love It!

[nfe]

Your perspective on cheapness does change depending on what you have previously spent or what your aspirations are.

I agree with this very much.

I don't really think of guitars as being expensive 'till you're above a couple grand. Possibly because I have bought two guitars previously for that kind of money.

[Plexi Ken]

"If you intend to buy the cheapest then budget for the most expensive, as you will have to buy the item again"

The one I know is similar... Buy cheap and you'll buy twice.

My own price guide would be,
up to £300 cheap,
up to £700 value,
up to £1200 mid-range,
up to £2500 expensive.

However, you can get bargains at any price.

[f.sardis]

I have to agree with what the other guys say regarding value. A £1000 Custom ESP is damn cheap for what it is but while a £300 yamaha for example is good value. I usually find that anything between 700-1000 is great value in terms of quality and price. Cheap guitars, usually less than £250 is a total waste of money and a bad investment unless you are cornered and you desperately need to get one. Very expansive custom guitars are also not the greatest value you can get but such is the way the market works.

I have owned a cheapo BC Rich for 150 a yamaha for 300 an LTD for 700 and a custom ESP for £5k, all the guitars played just fine and were great value for what they were, obviously I wont say the custom was cheap or that it was great value but I will say that the BC Rich and the yamaha were absolute bargains for what they were while the LTD is my least favourite of all and it wasnt exactly a bargain.