Expensive Vs Cheap Guitars

People often ask, 'How come this Stratocaster sells for $169 and this one sells for $1200?'

The short answers are quality control and quality of materials. The quality of the wood used for the body and the neck can affect the price. Cheaper guitars use plywood bodies. More expensive guitars are made of more expensive, solid wood pieces. Cheaper guitars also have cheaper paints, lacquers, and finishes.

The amount of quality control that goes into an instrument can have a big impact on the final price. Quality control is very time consuming and expensive for manufacturers. But the added attention to detail can have a marked effect on the instrument's overall playability.

Cheaper guitars are produced with advanced automated manufactuing techniques, which allow manufacturers to produce a very uniform product with a minimum of oversight. The reduced time spent on quality control allows the manufacturer to sell the product for less.

Hardware and electronics can also vary greatly from guitar to guitar. There are different quality grades for tuners, bridges, pickups, pick guards, tremelo mechanisms, etc.

Cheap guitars are getting better and better each year, and the prices have dropped to below $200 new (125 to 150 used). Automated cutting and manufacturing techniques have allowed manufacturers to make guitars, especially electrics, for less money. Competition between manufacturers and between retailers keeps prices on these guitars at just above cost.

Evaluating the quality of an electric guitar means looking at individual components that make up the guitar. The body and neck, tuners, frets, pickups, electronics and hardware.

Many guitars, even expensive guitars, come from the factory with high frets. This creates scalloping and complicates tuning. If your guitar wont tune properly, this may be part of the problem.

Many players choose to start with an relatively inexpensive guitar, but one with a good neck and body. Later, they upgrade the pickups and hardware to create a custom guitar. This can be a good approach since it lets you choose what you want on your guitar, and it lets you space your investment out over time. You can play the guitar as is for a while before investing more money into it.

By the time you have made these upgrades, you have probably spent about as much as if you had bought the better guitar to begin with. If your customizations involve a lot of labor, you may have spent more. However, if you do your own labor, then upgrades can be a cost-effective way to get the guitar you want.

© 2002, 2007 Greg Varhaug