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I think we are very lucky in that if you have a load of wonga you can buy some very nice stuff but also if you aren't loaded (or just set your own limits)... you can still buy some very nice stuff (and everywhere in between). The quality will be different but perhaps not as much as one would expect.
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
Demand for luxury goods goes up if the price is high enough. A little bling doesn't cost the manufacturer much, but we are not rational buyers. Same whether it's guitars or handbags. I'm not talking about real hand-made labour of a small luthier (and it's debatable whether that matters over CNC).
I'm talking about the big manufacturers successfully pretending that the magic labour and materials in the shiny limited piece of wood and metal make the instrument better, and of course sound better (didn't you know that "rare" "tone"woods happen to sound better? What a coincidence!). I love PRSs (I only buy SEs due to value) but he is one of the most insufferable (and smartest).
It's hard to fight it, but I regularly gig mid to budget tier axes (see my sig). My more expensive stuff (MC1, Kotzen, T-60) isn't that exotic in the grand scheme of things but I have it because I love it and at least it's a bit different. I'd love a Parker Fly and some (more) weird 70s s**t. But it doesn't get near a stage because for sound and playability live, there's no need and it's a liability. I'm currently gigging a Predator with Wilde pickups and a Classic Vibe Tele.
I even get compliments on my sound (I like it too, amps and pedals are so important as well, I feel that because the guitar is more out front people attach undue weight to it vs the rest of the rig), and I enjoy the experience. I've never been in the middle of Long Train Runnin in front of a dancing crowd, rest of the band solid by my side, having a great time and thought "I wish I was playing this on a really expensive guitar with exquisite something or other". We are pummeled with this (mis) information that the small details matter more than they really do.
All my guitars are well set up with good fretwork, good pickups, satin-ish neck, job done. For me personally the tipping point is probably about a grand second-hand and even in the 500-1000 range there are guitars that are good enough for anyone... Once things go above that, one is paying for "mojo". I mean, the Tele and Strat were specifically designed to be cheap to mass-produce!
Personally I see much more utility in having a few lower-priced axes that offer different sensibilities via pickups and can be kept in different tuning, over a ridiculously expensive version of a cheaper design that costs several times as much because of aspects that are mostly form over function. And yes, I like nice things. I just don't like to be taken the p**s out of.
I should say that I'm less ranty in person (maybe) and if people enjoy whatever, more power to them. The above is just an opinion.
How much does the Australian superannuation levy increase costs for Australian businesses? (Actually, I can answer that one off the top of my head. It's 12%. Plus another 10% in GST. Not to mention payroll tax.
How much does British Value Added Tax increase costs for British businesses? (Ans: 20%.)
How much do employer taxes increase costs for Japanese businesses? (Ans: 12%. Plus 10% consumption tax.)
And so on.
In any case, US hourly wages aren't "significantly more", they are significantly less than in most of the competing countries.
The "it costs more to make guitars (or anything else) in the USA because wages" bullshit is just that: pure 24 carat bullshit. It's time they were called out on it.
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just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
Is it worth it? To me, yes.
The good news is we have a shed load of choice these days and there are some awesome value options as well as the opportunity to indulge whatever your heart wishes.
I was wondering the other day (more about electrics tbf) how many bodies/tops/piles of wood are thrown away because they don't "tap" good enough.
For electric guitar bodies I can't see it being many.