The Most You'd Spend on a Guitar?

Kilgore

I don't do cheap. I only buy quality instruments with distinguished provenance from Essex Studios.

jonnyburgo

Generally around £350-400 or less, although my SG standard was more than that. All my guitar revenue is generated by sales/trades so i dont dip into family money, 1 in 1 out kind of thing.

drwiddly

I usually buy used and the biggest spend so far is £1400 on a mint 25th Anniversary PRS cu24 from a fellow forum member about 5 years ago. I have a few nice guitars but probably not gone beyond £800 on any of the others.

Lestratcaster

Depends what I want it for, I'm not a collector so the thing has to be played. But if it sounds good and I plan to use it a fair bit then I'll spend well over £1k!

WiresDreamDisasters

I used to be very cheap when it came to guitars, because my Orville By Gibson Les Paul Custom cost me £380. But I now realize that this was just such a ridiculously good deal, and that it probably wont happen again. So I've chilled out a bit. I don't think I'd ever spend £2000. But £1200 doesn't seem so unreasonable to me these days.

Dave_Vader

I can't justify spending that kind of money on guitars when I already own at least 3 that I love and do everything I need, none of which cost me over 100 quid (2nd hand in pieces, 20 years ago) when I got them.

My newest guitar cost nothing and sounds amazing.

96 Taiwanese squier strat that someone left at my house 15 years ago and doesn't want back. I pulled the electrics and screwed a tele bridge hotrail I had lying around into the wood and it has absolutely no right to sound as good as it does.

If I was still searching for the right one it might be a different story though, I am not judging.

Snags

The theoretical limit varies with the day of the week. I was recently winding myself up to potentially spending £3k or so on a DGT (if I could find the right one) as a "significant" birthday present to self, but then had an attack of the sensibles and realised that actually for what I play, and the level at which I play, it's just pissing money away when I have more guitars than I need.

So at the moment it's £0 as I'm covered for humbuckers and don't have many occasions to bust out single coils. I'd be better off spending the money on someone to come round and shout at me every night to make me practice.

On acoustics it's a bit different, and I have dropped £1.6k in the past on a new Furch+Fishman. I've kind of got the horn for a dreadnought as the "significant" birthday present, but would be setting the ceiling at no more than the Furch cost, and ideally lower, or even better, pre-loved. And it probably won't happen because I don't need it, I just want it.

LuttiS

Most i've ever spend is around £450.. The maximum i'd spend though.. the most expensive guitar i'm currently lusting over is £1200 ish.. but i'm not sure i could justify that spend...

on the other hand, i could probably justify £1200 more easily than a £600, as i wouldn't be getting much more than what i currently have... 
Thanks guys, guess i'm getting than Manson!

SRich

Snags said:

.........I just want it.

Justification in itself....

munckee

jonnyburgo said:

Generally around £350-400 or less, although my SG standard was more than that. All my guitar revenue is generated by sales/trades so i dont dip into family money, 1 in 1 out kind of thing.

This is the same for me, its just a hobby, if I get a bonus from work I get a cut for guitar funds, kids get a cut for consoles/phones, missus munckee buys whatever she wants anyway so irrelevant.  I can't justify significant money from day to day revenue stream to fund my whims.  Otherwise its sell to buy.

Danny1969

About £350 absolute tops for me, purely because for that you can get a great used guitar that's absolutely fine quality wise. At the moment I'm mainly using a partscaster for 80% of my gigs that cost less than £200 to put together but it sounds great. I also have a Telecaster I put together from USA parts brought from Ebay that come in less than £250 as well including genuine USA neck,  pickups and bridge. 

Matt_McG

Prices have gone up so much. I have a new guitar coming when I hit 30kg of weight lost. Which is why I've known for a while I plan to buy some time later in the year.

I had thought of getting something really nice, US made, small maker. And at the time I was first thinking of it, the kind of thing I wanted, was 2-2.5K new, and could be found under 2k used.

Now, a lot of the same guitars are topping 3K, or even getting close to 4K or more, and even used, I just can't justify it.

Especially when I could get a used AVRI, or something similar, and put a (if it needed it) a few hundred quid into some nice pickups and a top notch setup, and still come out way under. Or look for something really nice but maybe a bit unfashionable, Japanese made, say.

koneguitarist

Most I ever spent cash outright was on an early 70's cherry red ES335 with Bigsby, bought for £550 about 1993, nice guitar. 
But I did buy a 54 telecaster with original case for £300, plus I gave him a USA Strat and a MIJ 62 reissue tele. shouldn't have done the deal as the MIJ tele was a much better guitar. 

Vintage-T

Highest so far was 2.4k although my CS Strat had a book price of $7000. I didn’t pay anything like that though.

think 3K would be my limit.

CHrisP86

I’d love to find a way to justify spending £3,700 on one of the Feline 25th anniversary guitars.

Gassage

Depends on the guitar. I'd rather have 3 vintage than 20 lesser guitars

Kittyfrisk

Gassage said:

Depends on the guitar. I'd rather have 3 vintage than 20 lesser guitars

I'd rather have 20 good guitars than 3 lesser 'vintage'. 

ToneControl

$3.3m

ToneControl

In reality:
used prices:

£2k for an electric
I can't think of any electric I'd want worth more than that

£5k for an acoustic

sw67

£1000 for my J35 used - other 3 around £800. My work buys you a gift when you retire and my length of service will get me a nice gretsch around £2k. Only 8ys to go until 60