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But, I'm about to hit, some time this summer, a major personal milestone (in terms of weight lost/fitness gained) and celebrating that is likely to be the only time I can indulge in the next 5 - 10 years.
So, I am very happy to spend 6-800 quid on something good, and which is a platform for sensible upgrades (and a really good fret job), or equally happy to spend 1500-2500 on something nominally better. But I'd resent spending 1500-2500 quid on something that needs the same amount of work as the 800 quid guitar to get me to something I'm truly happy with.
But what I'm unlikely to be able to do is enter into a long cycle of flipping guitars -- sometimes making a small profit, sometimes making a loss -- until I get something that'll "stick".
The process of trying things, I guess, is at least informing me what I like and don't like. Only probably being, currently, what I like (of what I've tried) is ... not much.
I appreciate the finer detail regarding any set-up is a matter of taste - But to present a guitar to a potential buyer that is way out of tune, covered in finger marks and not resembling any form of a sensible set up - I just don't get it
Sure in the store the customer will need/wish to try a guitar - But when it goes back on the rack it should be clean and polished
My band, Red For Dissent
So if all the models were made in the same country, the Professional series would still be more expensive but not the difference that exists.
With Schecter, for example, I'd be much more confident that their price differences are more indicative of quality differences since they're made at the same place.
Ebay mark7777_1
i spent a lot of time a few years ago making a Strat partscaster for my best friends birthday and frankly I amazed myself how close you could get to a really good played in fit and finish for doing the fine detailing of rolled edges and super smooth neck feel and all that good stuff you get from a serious money Fender or PRS.
Simplefact is these days you don’t need to spend a lot to get a really useful guitar with good feel.
Fender started in the US, their roots are there, they are part of Americana.
Sure, the Mexican guitars can be very fine, got one myself, but to me Fender is an American institution and probably is to a whole lot of other people.
I guess it's a tangible link to the past that is still in its home country.
People are always a bit sad when a British firm leaves these shores for total offshore production and I guess that is similar with Fender.
At the end of the day it is all about emotion.........and playing a guitar is a very emotional thing.
You see these companies set up a plant and build cars - the guitar makers seem to set up production and then go out of their way to charge extra based on where the guitar is made not how or to what standard it is made - just IMO of course
It doesn't stand up to any kind of reason; like practically every nationalistic idea it's fantasy.
I used to have an Ibanez George Benson GB12, which was a wonderful guitar that I enjoyed for years. I eventually sold, though, it to fund a nice acoustic. A few years after that, I had a yearning for another big old Jazz box again and I picked-up an Ibanez Artcore AF105F, secondhand, for an absolute pittence.
Now; is the Artcore as good as the Benson? Don't be silly. Is it £1500 worse? Don't be insane! It's a cracking guitar that is only a marginally poorer instrument. I've had to replace the bridge - and the neck p/up has recently crapped-out on me ...but the body really projects and the neck/fretboard/fretwork is (seriously) just as good as the GB12.
Rather than trying to spend two and a half grand to spend on a guitar, I think it's better to go out and try as many guitars as you want, that are all under £2501, and buy the one you like the most, regardless of how little it costs. And buy secondhand too - your money will go waaay further.
That would mean that the more you paid for a guitar, the higher spec a guitar you were getting and by a proportional amount when it comes to value (though not necessarily in terms of how much effect it has on tone/playability etc. as the diminishing returns would still kick in).
But it seems that for a company who make their guitars in the same country, the cost of materials and labour goes up as expected but then they also want to make more profit per guitar so add more on (possibly to exploit people who are by definition willing to pay more to begin with).
Then with Fender specifically, about half way up their range, the labour cost doesn't just go up based on extra time taken, it goes up because of the economy of the country they chose to make those models in. And I also believe they add even more to the profit per guitar amount because they know so many people have this idea that being made in America is of value in itself and will pay extra for it.
So, like I said earlier, a £1400 Fender is better than a £500 Fender but not by as much as a £1400 Schecter is better than a £500 Schecter - and, even then, I don't believe that the £1400 Schecter cost them £900 more to manufacture.