Expensive vs Cheap guitar? What makes it better?

[MattiaSanti]

well, i perfectly agree with you,
but i think this is another discussion.
Guitars like warmoth etc are not for all because people prefer to spend 10.000 bucks on a guitar because they don't use their brain.
my sentences was: i prefer to spent 800 dollars for a medium quality guitar instead investing money on a 100 bucks guitar.

[Hink]

well, i perfectly agree with you,
but i think this is another discussion.
Guitars like warmoth etc are not for all because people prefer to spend 10.000 bucks on a guitar because they don't use their brain.
my sentences was: i prefer to spent 800 dollars for a medium quality guitar instead investing money on a 100 bucks guitar.

fair point and I apologize for misreading that part, I gotta be honest with you...for years my closest friend was a huge les paul guy/jimmy page fan...he had the JP les paul...he also had the nicest les paul I ever played...an epi standard with the slim taper neck...honestly there was no difference in how it played and I could put any electronics in it.

That Ibanez my son bought me on the page before, it was a 200 dollar guitar...plays nice, had the pups except the single coil, the challenge was fun but all too easy...one of these days I am going to put a Seymour Duncan Invader in my sons old Hello Kitty Squire (he didnt take to the guitar)...those things are kind of fun for me

[MattiaSanti]

no problem mate
there's a lot of beauty guitars out there and fortunately we can spend less and have a good quality instruments.
Have a nice day

[licasto2]

You won't notice a difference or even appreciate the details of an expensive hand made guitar until you have YEARS of practice, playing and gigging under your belt. Since the OP even asked, he/she is not proficient enough yet for the expensive stuff. This is absolutely NOT a dig or disparaging comment toward the OP. I can muck around a bit on a cheap 2 octave midi controller but I'd need to spend a few years of intense practice to appreciate and even be able to tell the difference between that and a full 88 key weighted professional controller.

Maybe, maybe not. Personally I disagree. I bought a Cort with a licensed by FR tremolo for my first electric. It was AU$500. Absolute garbage and it took me about a month to reach the point where I was sick of it. I got lucky and a 70's Les Paul got offered to me at a good price so I bought it. The difference was obvious and undeniable. Maybe your perception says more about you than other people?

(edit) also consider that to know the difference between 2 things you have to have experience with both. I thought it was obvious the OP had little experience with expensive guitars so I'm not sure why you would jump straight to the playing ability/experience as the reason.

I seriously don't know what you are on about??? A new cheap Cort vs a vintage les Paul? So, you are agreeing with me that a new cheap guitar is worse than a vintage instrument worth much more? just because you got a good price on the Paul does not make it a cheap guitar. If you are implying $500 is an expensive guitar you need to add another 0 to the $500 to be in the ballpark of what I'm talking about. Im talking about fine musical instruments and your'e going on about glorified firewood.

You should have stopped at "I seriously don't know what you are on about???" because that was the only correct statement you made. I didn't say or suggest the Les Paul was cheap. I said a good price which purely subjective in terms of how much money I have and what condition the LP was in. AU$500 was the cheap guitar example.

You shoulda stopped before you logged on here. I still don't know WTF your on about but when you've finally put in enough hours of practice you'll look back on this exchange and realize I was correct...

[kanoharuayu]

I bought a used 1899$ guitar for 1000$, and a 300$ guitar for 100$

The 1899$ guitar sounded just as good as the 300$ guitar (the 300$ guitar had custom pickups, seymours)

BUT IT PLAYED LIKE SHYT!!!!!! I could not get the action how I wanted it, fret buzz everywhere, I guess the frets needed to filed down and leveled and all setup, probably would of costed me 200$ to get it all setup, the 1899$ guitar played perfect from the get go, never went out of tune, felt faster to play, was a super quality product.

sound = not alot of difference
playability = alot of difference

imo

[MogwaiBoy]

For Fenders (Made in USA vs Made in Mexico) it's hardware in my opinion - subtle ways in just everything about the feel and operation of the instrument is improved. Like an American Deluxe Telecaster will have meaty strap buttons that don't pop out one day like a Made in Mexico one - or tuners that need re-tightening all the time - or the input jack coming loose etc. All those things add up to a more professional, more worthy (and ultimately more playable) instrument. There are also features that Fender might reserve only for USA deluxe models, like belly cuts, locking tuners, coiltapped pickups, etc. This is not to say some of the lower end stuff, even Squier branded, can be worthy too and have some of those features.

But for me, I got tired of not being satisfied with Mexican Fenders, and once I went USA Deluxe I never looked back. Instead of 4 or 5 Mexican's over my lifetime I can just buy just 1 "top of the line" and be done, safe in the knowledge that it doesn't get any better.

[Ploki]

what about made in japan fenders.
i had a MIJ Tele. i wish i didn't sell it.

[Kruklanki]

What

[counterparty]

In my experience you can get cheap guitars that play really well, and expensive guitars that play horribly. In general paying more will probably be better, but individual guitars of the same make/model can vary.

If I’m looking for a guitar I’m going to read/watch reviews but then go to a music shop and play the actual guitar I’m getting.. hear how it sounds and feel how it feels to play it.

[morelia]

You shoulda stopped before you logged on here. I still don't know WTF your on about but when you've finally put in enough hours of practice you'll look back on this exchange and realize I was correct...

Actually that is a really good point. Whatever it is you are talking about I'm thinking it will be best if I just say well done, you were right all along.

[.jon]

The above is using all quality woods. Cheaper woods like. African Mahogany (which I'm told isn't real mahogany) Basswood (Linwood) Poplar and are considerably duller with less overtones.

"Real mahogany" is a bit of an misnomer, as mahogany is actually a group of tree species grown in both Africa and South America instead of a singular species grown in a certain area. The name mahogany is even of African origin. The oldest OG commercialized mahogany wood Swietenia mahogani came from Cuba, and was harvested to the brink of extinction, and is basically "unobtany" wood today. These days the South American mahogany is Swietenia macrophylla or "honduran mahogany", sourced from plantations started after WWII, and not wild old growth. Plantation wood generally grows faster than wild trees, making it less dense= softer. I once had two planks of finnish pine from c. 1890, and it is like from a wholly different tree than the turbo grown tree-field pine you can buy today.

So if you really want to get all anal about "real mahogany", it is Cuban mahogany, and you aint getting it from anywhere as it was almost all chopped down in the early decades of last century.

African mahogany is from Khaya trees (of four varieties), cheaper due to better availability. Luthiers say it is tonally equivalent/indistinguishable from/ to South American mahogany, and some of it is even more dense.

At the end of the day there is way more to quality of tone wood than the origin country- the soil and altitude where the tree grew, the part of the tree the plank was cut from, how it was dried etc.

[Ploki]

At the end of the day it doesn't affect the tone physically in any meaningful way

[vurt]

yup my plywood and plastic guitar sounds great imo

i don't believe there is a single "plank" in it? just sawdust and glue.

[CapnLockheed]

Everyone knows.....it's the name on the headstock that makes all the difference!

[Bombadil]

Comparing my Martins to Cort, or Recording King, or whatever cheapie flavour of the day, is like comparing a tried and tested thoroughbread to an old nag ready for the glue factory. Feel, sound, build, all superior. I went through the 'best bang for your buck' flavour of the month guitars last decade, and they've all been sold. I'm talking at least 30 guitars. I don't like flashy bling, I prefer whatever money and effort put into the instrument to go on the woods and build, not ornamentation. I like a guitar that I don't feel I have to fight to play, whether it be the frets, action, tuning. I want the instrument to feel like an extension of my body and soul, and that doesn't happen for me with cheapie gits. I also hate guitars that look/feel like they've been dipped in a polyurethane vat.