What exactly do you expect for $1500?

[Dekay82]

Jeeesus

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Actually once I feel I know what I'm doing with the leveling beam and the crowning I'm hoping to get a 150€ Squier and see how far can I take it with a fret level, new nut, new pickup, new hardware like bridge and tuners if it needs that...

Yeah, and to further illustrate my point about not needing to pay $1,500, last year I got a Squier Classic Vibe Jaguar for what, like $350? I fiddle f*cked it for about an hour in GC and found the quality was great.

I replaced the trem with an actual fender, routed the bridge cavity for a humbucker, threw in a Super Distortion, removed the sliders and added a three way toggle. Even after buying the pickup, the dremmel, and the dremmel routing tool, it still came in way under $1,000. I'd put it up against any SE or epi any day.

Had I not wanted the humbucker, the guitar itself was fun and perfectly serviceable. The trem needed to go, sure, but that was like $65. After a certain point, the money you spend yields diminishing returns until you hit that next "level". That being said, $1,500 used should get you a pretty impeccable specimen.

 

[StevenC]

It's going to be different for everyone. Some folks can barely tune or restring their guitars, so unless they have "a guy" and said guy is affordable they're gonna have a rough go of things if the guitar isn't what they think is perfect.

But if you know how to work on guitars, have the tools, and are comfortable with it, you can get some real turds and it's not a big deal.

I've bought really nice guitars from really high end shops that still needed work put in to be perfectly where I wanted them. Whatever guitar you buy will need some amount of setup work at least, no matter who you buy it from.

That said, at $1500 new I don't want to do much more than adjust the truss rod and bridge height, and maybe a few iffy frets. And I shouldn't need to replace any hardware.

 

[Emperoff]

But to specifically answer your question, $1,500 nowadays for something brand new I would expect about as much as I would 5 years ago for $899.

/thread

 

[nightsprinter]

/thread

Pretty shitty realization but sadly accurate. Price of groceries has like doubled, so why wouldn't everything else follow suit

 

[Emperoff]

Pretty shitty realization but sadly accurate. Price of groceries has like doubled, so why wouldn't everything else follow suit

Good thing we don't need to eat guitars to survive

 

[Asdrael]

I wouldn't spend 1500 on a new instrument to be frank. I would spend 1000€ on the actual instrument and get it to my liking with some possible hardware change and a professional look over. Currently I find what is between 1k and 2k to be in a weird spot where you are not sure what you are getting is actually worth it.

Edit: professional look over or DIY look over if you have the skills. And then get a bit more money into pickups, nut, potential bridge whatever so it's really *my* guitar.

 

[crushingpetal]

My last sweetwater "rep" was cool, and he'd pull and personally check out the guitar if I had any specific questions (like fretwork issues, etc.) and I trusted his judgment. Once or twice he'd tell me "nah, you don't want this one, wait for our next batch". Though I never did this, sw seemed open to taking returns if I wasn't satisfied.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, if new, I'd still expect a fairly high level of qc for $1500.

 

[budda]

Good thing we don't need to eat guitars to survive

“You know what? I do want a 12lb les paul”

 

[rokket2005]

$1500 get me a pretty sick JP FSR Fender from Japan.

 

[Nightside]

For 1500 I would get an old Esp (like a 90s MII Deluxe from the days when they were all made in the custom shop) or Japanese Jackson or another old Ibanez. I don't like most of the new shit out now anyway.

 

[StevenC]

Good thing we don't need to eat guitars to survive

Speak for yourself

 

[kamello]

can't buy used Prestige? well then fuck it, brand new Prestige it is. 652's are incredible guitars and can be had for 1,499.

If I can buy used, then I'll low ball the living hell of a JPX/JPXI/JP12/JP13

 

[BabUShka]

Every thing is very expensive nowdays, but to be honest I still think lots of the new mid range guitars are worth the money. You can for instance get a brand new EC1000 for this price, and I would expect it to be pretty solid with very minimal need for personal setup.

For measurment, I paid like $1000 for my Epiphone Les Paul Custom almost 20 years ago.

I have guitars made in South Korea, Poland, USA, Japan today. And even though I love the expensive equipment because its more fun, quality is great on all of them, non regardless of price.

 

[will_shred]

I don't think you should have to do any fretwork on a $1500 guitar. It should be good to go with just a setup.

 

[Fenriswolf]

I think there's also some nuance and context around certain amount of value assigned to specific instruments.

Like a $1500 Strat copy, Archtop, and headless 9-string are quite different and could be better or worse deals depending on how well serviced a niche they sit in.

It wasn't too long ago where if you wanted a specific type or configuration of guitar your options were so limited that really you just worked with what you could get your hands on.

Especially if you add in used guitars and being in the right place at the right time. I have a legit 80s custom shop ESP and a new Edwards that were remarkably close in price.

 

[Andromalia]

At 1500 new nowadays I expect fo feel ripped off. Inflation on guitars has been stupid since covid. Plus, I started my buying spree in 2009 when the US dollar was very weak so very good deals could be made. At some point buying a newEBMM in Europe was more expensive than buying one in NY AND the plane ticket for a NY week end from Paris.
So, yeah, 1500€ new today, guess I just pass on guitar buys nowadays. I mostly have all I want to be fair, as I did sell a few things to profit from the covid ebay craze but I also kept a lot.

 

[Kosthrash]

Any PRS S2 standard 24 at this price point would work for me - expecting zero fret work or nut needed... Setup is on player's picking style & preferences (hard/soft picking, high/ low action etc)

 

[Dayn]

No idea what that is in USD. In AUD it can't get an RG550 because they're almost all $1,599 here.

For $1,500 I'd expect something without any actual playability flaws but might need a bit of work as the frets wouldn't be perfect. But sometimes that misses the mark on some $2,000 Indo guitars, too. As much as I'd like to roll the dice, I'm not game to buy an RG470DX, even though it looks like a good thing to just have on hand for $1,000.

 

[groverj3]

Minor finish flaws, probably needs a setup, might have fret ends that need dressing.

 

[Nightside]

Especially if you add in used guitars and being in the right place at the right time. I have a legit 80s custom shop ESP and a new Edwards that were remarkably close in price.

The thing you have to remember is that the Esp custom shop didn't exist until the 2000s. So all the Esps until then were basically just a mass produced standard series. It's only been in the last fifteen years or so that you could truly say an Esp custom is a custom shop guitar.