Trade Tang Gibsun Les Paul Supreme - order review

[NWBasser]

You ultimately get exactly what you pay for.

I had to think about this a bit and generally agree that for more $$ you'll get better parts and workmanship.

However, if for example the workers at the Agile plant just got a raise/laid/good coffee/etc. you may get a guitar that really exceeds the price on the workmanship part. Conversely, you can buy a Gibson for top $$ and the builders got drunk the night before, wife/husband left them, yelled at by super, etc. and the guitar turns out to be a POS.

There is a fair bit of variability in the manufacturing processes and it's always a good idea to purchase from a dealer/mfr. who will support the products if a problem should arise. (Kurt at Rondo Music being a good example)

I'd further argue that your example of the custom tele for $500 may be a bit more value than what you pay for. I mean, if it's comparable for a $1K USA Fender, then you're getting quite the bargain!

[deeaa*]

I had to think about this a bit and generally agree that for more $$ you'll get better parts and workmanship.

However, if for example the workers at the Agile plant just got a raise/laid/good coffee/etc. you may get a guitar that really exceeds the price on the workmanship part. Conversely, you can buy a Gibson for top $$ and the builders got drunk the night before, wife/husband left them, yelled at by super, etc. and the guitar turns out to be a POS.

There is a fair bit of variability in the manufacturing processes and it's always a good idea to purchase from a dealer/mfr. who will support the products if a problem should arise.

I agree wholeheartedly with this - I've seen such lemons from respectable brands and so good el cheapos...it just happens.

My personal view is that generally you get what you pay for - now disregarding purely aesthetic values here - up to a certain point. I find that point to usually rest somewhere around the $500 marker, depending on how much features you want from a guitar. And that is assuming no costs for luthiering. If we assume you can't do any work yourself basically, the bar raises to maybe around $800 or so.

I know for a fact that I can score and rebuild a guitar for under $400 that will rival _any_ guitar out there in both playability and sound. I have two prime examples; my Charvette-based build that is - no shaite - better than pretty much any guitar I ever played in almost any respect, and the Yamaha shredder, a simple machine of some $200 value that still plays and screams better than most if not all $1500 shredders I ever tried.

Now, if you want a truly great guitar and assume you can't do any work on it yourself, I'd say you're looking at that 800 or so in the minimum. I can totally understand dropping 15 hundred for a dream guitar that looks and feels just as you want. Sure, there are some really good guitars way cheaper too, but they will _always_ have some weak points; need to upgrade the pickups, don't come with a case, or just need a good setup, or maybe have some crappy woods hidden below the veneer.

So you do get what you pay for...but in my personal view, if you're approaching or exceeding 4 digit sums for an electric guitar...well, I think it would be healthy to realize anything past that is either purely aesthetic or brand image or, in many cases - assurance for resale value. Nothing to do with the usage value or quality of the instrument past that. Hell, for 15 hundred I could have any kind of guitar built to tightest standards ever, with best possible woods, just as I want it. That's why some of the Gibson etc. prices just make me dizzy - they have nothing to do with anything but brand and prestige.