Guitar Prices

[mullyman]

God, is it just me or are guitar prices ridiculous? I'm getting pics from NAMM here and there. Just saw an Ibanez Jem 7 string with a $4,400 price tag on it. The EVH "Stripe Series" is out too. $1,200 for those. I can understand having an artist's name or image attached adds to the price, but these EVH guitars, although not terribly expensive, are basswood bodies, plain maple necks, one pup, one volume.....and, it's my understanding, made in China. Now, I'm one of the biggest EVH sheep out there and there's no way I'd even consider one of those things. These guitar makers need to bring things back to reality.
MULLY

 

[hannaugh]

Those EVH guitars play reeeeaaaalllyyy nice.  But yeah, no way I'd put that much could-be-used-for-a-Warmoth-build money on one. 

 

[pabloman]

That's MSRP. They will probably street for $650 and are made in Mexico. :guitaristgif:

 

[mullyman]

That's MSRP. They will probably street for $650 and are made in Mexico. :guitaristgif:

Hmm, that's almost half price. I'm guessing street will be closer to 8 or 9.
MULLY

 

[pabloman]

I saw one page that said $650 but several others that say $899. Most likely $899.

 

[JimBeed]

Recently noticed the extent of basswood for basses outside of fender and considering the prices for some it annoys me too    :-\,
Then again while they use basswood it's more fancy woods for warmoth  :evil4:

(Yes i realise it doesn't work that way at all probably but the general idea is ok)

 

[mullyman]

Recently noticed the extent of basswood for basses outside of fender and considering the prices for some it annoys me too    :-\,
Then again while they use basswood it's more fancy woods for warmoth  :evil4:

(Yes i realise it doesn't work that way at all probably but the general idea is ok)

I don't know what the major consensus around this forum is about basswood, but in the past I've owned several Peavey Wolfgang's and Wolfgang specials. The core is basswood but they have maple tops. The basswood and maple doesn't bother me. The solid color Wolfgang Specials were basswood only and they sounded horrible. I've also got an EVH Music Man that is basswood and maple, love it. I wouldn't give a dime for an all basswood body though.
MULLY

 

[mayfly]

You know what guys, as guitarists we are very lucky.  We can go out there and get a serious pro level instrument for less than 2K.  We could probably spend more, but 2K will get you quality that's as good as it gets.

Tell that to any orchestral player and watch their expression.  A basic pro model trombone that you can scrape by with and not get laughed at too much is $10K.  Cello - make it $50K.  Violin - $100K.  Those are entry level prices. As for top end pro instruments, an individual simply can't afford them.  You need to beg and borrow them from places like this:

http://instrumentbank.canadacouncil.ca/


It's a completely different world for us.  We're lucky.  We should not wine about it. 

Well, at least not too much 

 

[Xplorervoodoo]

I think snobbery accounts for a lot of price, personally...

 

[SustainerPlayer]

I'm a Warmoth snob. And their basswood bodies are top notch.

 

[hannaugh]

You know what guys, as guitarists we are very lucky.  We can go out there and get a serious pro level instrument for less than 2K.  We could probably spend more, but 2K will get you quality that's as good as it gets.

Tell that to any orchestral player and watch their expression.  A basic pro model trombone that you can scrape by with and not get laughed at too much is $10K.  Cello - make it $50K.  Violin - $100K.  Those are entry level prices. As for top end pro instruments, an individual simply can't afford them.  You need to beg and borrow them from places like this:

http://instrumentbank.canadacouncil.ca/


It's a completely different world for us.  We're lucky.  We should not wine about it. 

Well, at least not too much 

No kidding, my friend's bassoon was like $12,000.

 

[MikeW]

Tell that to any orchestral player and watch their expression.  A basic pro model trombone that you can scrape by with and not get laughed at too much is $10K.  Cello - make it $50K.  Violin - $100K.  Those are entry level prices. As for top end pro instruments, an individual simply can't afford them. 

This: +1.

I paid $3k for a STUDENT tenor sax for my oldest son. You bet that the whole time I was writing that check I was thinking, 'damn, that's two guitars worth for me.'

 

[swarfrat]

Yes, but orchestral instruments are a far cry from electric guitars in 1) construction methods. Most electric guitars are essentially a 2 dimension slab of wood. 2) Electric guitars have .. huge doesn't even begin to describe it  - vastly less labor involved in their creation.  3) Volume - electric guitars are built in staggering numbers compared to your run of the mill $100k cello.

Finally - there's a popular fallacy I call the "how much is your life worth?" pricing scheme. It's not always that dramatic, but basically it goes "X is irreplaceable/invaluable. Therefore you must spend some amount of money on X, or Y which is an accessory for X, which is in proportion to how much you value X."  If a cheap belt cost $10, and a nice thick leather belt might run you $50 - if it goes on your duty uniform, and some goldbergish chain of events could occur if your belt should ever fail (however remotely likely) - then any concerned person should spend at LEAST $150 on a belt."  Works for most any kind of safety equipment, but musicians have adopted it anyway - perhaps out of ego.

 

[DangerousR6]

I happen to like basswood, i have 2 identical Jackson Dinky's. Same pickups, same neck, same trem, except ones basswood and ones swamp ash. And to me the basswood bodied one sounds better to me..Go figure... :dontknow:

 

[duosonic]

I love basswood.  :headbang1: 

As far as the high prices.  They are getting up there.  It's one of the reasons I started building my own.  The other big issue for me is that the build quality of the manufacturered guitars doesn't match the price (value).  I wouldn't mind the prices increasing for a better built guitar, but that doesn't seem to be the case most of the time.  Typically the price seems to be driven by the manufacturer's desire to make more margin on a guitar.  Seems like the big named brands are constantly trying reduce the cost of manufacturing and raise the price of the product.  Typical business.

 

[Cagey]

The bigger the company gets, the bigger the bureaucracy gets, so overhead gets out of hand. Too many vice-presidents, assistants, czars, marketing weenies, managers, secretaries, etc. Somebody's gotta pay for them, and it falls to the product line. Gibson is a prime example. Their stuff used to be premium, now it's barely acceptable, but their guitars are amongst the most pricey you can buy. Fender couldn't even complete an IPO last year because their debt-to-asset ratio was so far off due to their incredible cost of doing business.

The same thing has been happening to government for years and is leading to similar ruin, but we won't go there.

 

[greywolf]

Prices are going up , especially on anything with pretty wood .  I usually buy 2 top sets a month and it is getting harder and more expensive to get really exquisite pieces.

Gold hardware due to the price jump in gold has gotten out of hand.    Good Acoustics are hit harder .  What used to be available for <2K  is now at least double

 

[bluespoet]

For reasons too long to explain here, but it is commonly known that there are no tone woods for SOLID BODY ELECTRIC GUITARS.  Choice of pickups, hardware, construction and technique and the effect of wood species is virtually nil. Even wood from the same tree differs. So the choice for guitar companies is based on price and marketing, so if it is made from ash, poplar, basswood, alder makes no decernable differnece in sound, just as guitar shape for solid body electric guitars is also true.
Now guitar companies big and little have to justify their prices and so there is much BS in advertising about "choice tone woods"
Just off the top of my head, there is an explaination at the beginning of Roger Seminoff's electric guitar book and also at mimf look for the interview with Marvin Hiscock for reference and many more ref if you look

 

[Cagey]

I don't think I'd go so far as all that. Far too much actual experience by far too many people argues against presenting such absolutist talk as doctrine. I'm probably more suspicious of marketing weenies than your average user and am more than happy to hold the feet of many dogmatists to the fire, but you just can't say things like pickups don't make a difference when they're clearly one of the most influential parts of an electric guitar. Grab any Les Paul and change its Gibson 490T humbucker to a Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB and tell me they sound the same. If it does to you, it's possible you have issues with your hearing, because the difference is not subtle.

Or, you're just joking.

 

[pabloman]

Choice of pickups, hardware, construction and technique and the effect of wood species is virtually nil.

So then where does an electric guitar get it's tone? That is every component to a guitar. That post made me chuckle.