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Great explanation! It's brutal when you put it like that.

Maybe one way to put it is that it depends on how valuable dollars are to you. The value of $5,000 or $10,000 can be very different from person to person. I know some younger guys who play and to them, $1200 for a guitar would be holy grail territory. But for some other people, that's dinner money.

I looked at the thumbnail and said, "I know what that is."

This goes back to your discussion of needs vs. wants. No one NEEDS a $10K guitar...a decent guitar in the $700-$1000 range will work for almost all guitarists. WANTS are a total subjective thing and are driven by your dreams, your means to purchase it, and whether it makes you happy. VALUE should not be confused with cost alone.

Not really. They are worth it only if you plan on reselling it. I bought a Harley Benton TE52 a couple years ago in butterscotch and i replaced all the electronics with Fender USA parts. Everything! Tuners, bridge pickups, controls etc. i even refinished the back of the neck and it’s the smoothest and best feeling neck I’ve ever felt. Two weeks ago I bought a Fender Tele player series in butterscotch. THEY SOUND THE SAME AND THE NECK FEELS BETTER ON THE HARLEY BENTON. They look the same too. The big difference is the Fender logo on the headstock. And I paid $125 for that Harley Benton. And probably 250/300 on the upgrades. The Fender is slightly lighter in weight.

vintage no; people seem to think anything old = automatically expensive (& not every older guitar is better..) newer models; 2nd-hand yes, depending on their condition (if they lived hanging on a wall & are in pristine condition, then by all means knock a 3rd off the price) mid-price/partscasters; worth it? can be, finding the good one is part of the fun! ..i know fuckall about acoustics, but i seem to prefers yamahas (& always play using fingers as its more dynamic than a pick)

The Victorian era writer Adam Smith discussed the “value of use” and the “value of exchange;” how you feel about expensive guitars probably correlates highly with your position in this regard.

Meanwhile, top stadium shows Taylor Swift Garth Brooks pays their guitarist maybe $600 a show!

$300-$500, is my comfort zone on musical instrument purchases, either new or used. I'm playing for fun, not making any real money, and don't like the added worry you'll get with expensive equipment. My answer is no. Thanks.

I really only care about functionality and looks to the extent of the overall shape. Beyond that I don't care about figured wood, brand, etc. I would say I actually prefer a somewhat beat up guitar as long as it plays well.

The real truth is most folks can't tell a 'good' guitar from a 'bad' one or an 'average' one and use their eyes and the MSRP to judge value.

As always, great video sir! Been noticing lately this thing: raising number of "social media musicians" and "artists" begging for attention online because they are independent and spend their own money on that. Def making me calling it quits and stop listening to new music at all. I'm not supposed to listen/buy an unknown artist's work because I feel sorry for them. I buy what I like and/or I support musicians I know personally. The technology and folks begging for attention, eventually what will kill (already dying) music business formula.

i have one relatively expensive guitar and the rest are cheap. an SG may not be too expensive to some however, it is plenty for me. the guitar is very enjoyable to play and i did buy it for artist nostalgia. for me, there are no regrets on having spent the money. my cheaper guitars still play very well though!

Some expensive guitars are worn it , some aren’t, Collings guitars are worth it

Being great from my bedroom sounds as attractive as getting syphilis. Music is about making music with other people otherwise the satisfaction is not there.

Monkey D. Luffy agrees

What I've noticed with pretty much any product is that it's usually worth it to pay a bit more and get the mid-range version (if you can afford it) rather than the cheap version, as companies really do cut corners. However, the difference between mid-range and top-shelf is usually slight and is often cosmetic, and not necessarily a good value. I'm convinced companies make high-end versions because they know someone will pay more for it -- not because it's actually better, but because there are folks out there who will be more for something simply because it's marketed as such.

if you got the money to burn, sure. why not? i love my cheap chinese ibanez, its stable, the pick ups arent amazing, but they sound fine. it looks cool, ive had probobly 100 guitars over the past 30 years, and about 5 years ago i had lost everything i owned. i went lomger than i wanted to until i saved up enough to get a new rig, and as soon as i got together a couple of hundred dollars i went into a couple of pawn shops until i found the perfect set up for the amount of money i had. sure i would love to have something a little better, but i addore what i have now. especially after loosing my ass in a messy divorce, ive learned to not take what i have for granted.

Player pianos died for the same reason AI can't replace human performance and emotion. We don't connect with machines.... we connect with people. The AI revolution in music will only make seeing musicians performing live even MORE popular. Like autotune or lipsynching, AI will be seen as cheating if not reproduced live by humans. Perfection will lose to emotions & flaws (i.e. Son House performing 'Death Letter Blues') because AI and robots can never replace the human experience. As an expert in Machine Learning/LLM/AI & musician of 40yrs, who's attended over 500 live shows (so far), I say with confidence you are wrong here. Punk was the answer to perfectionism in the 70's and we'll soon see the answer to AI.

So Sony music, burnt down their warehouse that contained all of their masters. So they can't legitimately prove that they own anybody's music. So what they're going to do next is, re-record all of the music that they hold, with female voices using AI. And now they will own the Masters. However, the age of the record label is, over. We didn't develop this technology to make, record companies Great again. Musicians are taking back the record industry. And they're doing it better than the record labels. They are not necessary anymore. The age of The starving artist, is over.

There is room for advancement. The more exposure and experience helps with that. If you play often and got the Riz.

The question is, how will that music be used. The thought of Freddie Mercury selling toilet rolls or some product, may change how fans react to the music. If used for adverts, they will appear over and over again until people get sick of them. Playing your favourite track for your own enjoyment is one thing, but incessant repeats will kill not only the enjoyment but also the brand, as it descends into the corporate money grabbing greedy world. What Sony do with the Queen music remains to be seen but also how soon they want a return on their investment which may twist the corporate arm to take liberties. What is also important is how it may affect the fans in the way of pay to play, and it will be interesting to hear if Brian May has to pay a fee to play his own music if he performs live.

If they stay in tune and plays according to personal preference then I dont care about price

Very true and straight up good info! Love the channel keep rockin ! ( everyone says my PRS accoustic sounds better than a Martin that my friend owns. I have 5 guitars and i use them ALL ! I have owned many many guitars at one point had 20 in the collection. Being zen in general, i now only own what i'll play live and in studio. Gave the rest to friends and students..

100% agree. The last 5 years Ive had around 50 guitars from squiers, epiphones to various PRS Core, Gibson CS, Fender CS, Suhr, and everything in between. I realized that the most expensive were really nice, in particular those extra details, the more time they put into the neck to making it feel the best as possible, and the feel on the hand with the finishes is just very nice indeed. When you have a not expensive guitar it is totally fine, but when you compare it with the more expensive you start noticing those things. But for me I try to get the best guitar that satisfies me at the lowest price. For example I had a DGT core, now I have the SE DGT and even though the core felt better, the SE sounds and plays so good that im happy and dont feel im missing not having the core. Of course if I wasnt limited by money would get a Core, but the SE does what i want a DGT to do perfectly well. But I also have some higher end guitars like my Schecter NJ USA. I had the import NJ before was awesome, but tried the USA one and that neck wow! The specs were not the same, the neck on the US is a bit wider and also a bit chunkier which suited me better, but also the wenge neck omg, thats the best looking and feeling neck ive ever played. And every time I grab the schecter is just a joy to play, and the details , the neck everything is perfect and the woods are so nice. So yeah, I play that guitar a lot so its worth it. I had a fender cS tele, that was very nice, didnt connect much with it so not worth it. Now I have a MIM Vintera 50's Modified that I like it more than the CS, 1/4th of the price and I play it all the time. So also is finding the right guitar for you!

I loved this video. Thank you.

In 2002 i bought a Japanese Fender from 1968, pink paisley, 3 point backplate, never played for 330 euro, now i now what people wanted to pay i sell it when i am in need! Sometimes you have all the luck! Thanx..... 🙏

Are expensive guitars worth it? I think the answer is it depends. Let's say we can afford one so money isn't a problem. Now I ask myself what am I paying for? Just because I can afford it doesn't mean I'm getting a good product because I pay a lot of money. If I was only paying for good quality then that would be fine but often we're paying for fashion, branding, image, USA labour and manufacturering costs, etc. How much better is say a US PRS Silver Sky than an SE? It's debatable. Yes it's better but is it thousands of dollars better? Will I get much more satisfaction from owning the expensive one, will it sound way better, last longer and give me less issues? Not an easy answer for me. The same could be said for US versus Mexican Fenders. When it comes to acoustic guitars I'm on different page to you. I can easily spot the superior wood and tone. It's easy to immediately see and hear what I'm spending my money on. At least up to a certain point. Yes some electric guitars have beautiful veneer tops and you can see that you paid for that lovely wood but this is only a cosmetic thing but most are painted solid colours and it's debatable how much a solid block of wood adds to the tone.

i really like your videos,due to the insight into the human mind as well as being Guitarded like the rest of us! lol.... great work.... hello from minot north dakota usa

I would argue that the Ibanez Roadstar II series of guitars was more influential. Since those guitars will appear more on recordings than the Jem guitars I would think.

You pay for quality once.

A problem with this is maybe that guitars (as cars synths etc.) become an asset and less an object to be used as intended (ok Gibson 😅). When there is a glitsh in economics the market is flooded with these "assets" (Rolex a.o.) so there is a bit of a faux aura about it, at least to me. In the 80's in rock people whom did so were called "posers", no real commitment. As for quality control. QC is a choice, a decision on what and how critical it is before calling something a reject. Then in case of a reject how is this handled? Quality control is often times not what people think it is and on how it works.

Very Good and on point assessment. For me the most important thing is "playability" (do you consider it Function/Form or Both?) I have 15 guitars and I made sure every one should be very comfortable and easy to play. (low action, neck is fast, body is contoured, etc.) Because you will be the one using them. The audience will only hear the sound, but you the player will be the one producing the sound, and you should enjoy it and must be comfortable. I realize that even if the guitar is very expensive, if it's not properly set-up'd you won't enjoy it. To illustrate my point. I have held and tried a $5,000 Gibson Les Paul or a $2,500 Flying V. But I still prefer to play my $300 Fernandes super strat or the $500 ESP with super low action. ALL because of the playability. Last would be "Value" because as you have said: "The beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Everything is subjective nowadays. Best example: Kirk Hammett bought the "Greeny" guitar that was played by Peter Green and Gary Moore for a whooping $2 million.😯 It's so expensive because of the perceived value, it may have some "historical or sentimental" value. But it's still the same piece of wood that a typical GIbson Les Paul is made of. So is it really worth the $2,000,000? Nah, Even if I'm a billionaire, I wouldn't pay that amount for a guitar. Maybe just $50,000 - $75,000 tops. Anything above $100K is simply pure extravagance, Vintage or non-vintage. The value does not lie on the instrument itself, but on the "attributed value" imagined by the seller or buyers imbued on the guitar. At the end of the day, it's still the same piece of wood that normal guitars are made of.😉✌

I couldn’t almost understand half of the words because of your extremely strong accent, maybe better use a robot voice and type the words in? Or maybe work on your accent if you really want to be a public speaker?

Expensive guitars are worth it every penny.Eric Clapton once gave advice to buy guitar as expensive as you can afford because you will benefit from quality and craftsmanship.

A good analysis. Nevertheless, it proves that different price levels satisfy different needs: budget priced guitars today satisfy most - if not all - practical needs, while very expensive guitars in many cases satisfy other types of "needs" which are related to people's characters, weaknesses, psychology or they might satisfy the need to put up a show (which is important if the show is essential in one's profession). PS1: Some expensive guitars specifically possess a quality that has no relation to esthetics but actually the tone you can get out of them. They're just more difficult to build, therefore more expensive. So not all expensive guitars are to be viewed in the same light. PS2: There are certain builders who grossly overprice their instruments constantly using bogus arguments. They manipulate many people's luck of technical knowledge or inexperience in "tonal" matters offering average to mediocre esthetics and functionality which is in no way exceptional despite being differently advertised. PS3: When comparing cheap to expensive guitars we should always remember that the average salary e.g. in Indonesia is 16% of the average salary in the U.S. I am sure that Cortek is perfectly capable of building high-end quitars; whether they do it or not is simply depending on their business strategy. Conclusion: "Better"? It all depends on the situation.

I would classify things slightly differently: 1) Sound; 2) Playability/Comfort; 3) Appearance; 4) Emotion/Sentimentality. Value would be a derivative (assuming you could reduce the above four to some number, you would divide that number into the price. Finally for a very few guitars, there is Investment value. I put those in order of importance, though Sound and Playability are both extremely important. It’s funny. I have only three guitars now: a Taylor 815 I bought in 1986; An Eastman Pagelli arch top; and a Jim Redgate double top classical guitar I bought this year. So all acoustic, though the Pagelli has a floating pickup I rarely use. I sold my only solid electric this year. It was a PRS Vela. I liked it but wasn’t playing it. For me, there’s much more difference in sound in acoustics when you spend more. This is especially true with luthier made classical instruments. My Redgate replaced a Bernabe student model. That guitar, at $4k, was light years ahead of a typical $1000 classical guitar. And the Redgate, which is several times more expensive than the Bernabe is also a huge improvement in sound (playability is similar). On the last point, I fully agree. If you can afford it, and it makes a difference to you, then yeah, it’s worth it.

Great, well rounded, discussion as always, Utkarsh. Thanks for supporting our habit. 😬🤣

I can't argue with any of your points. I will give my interpretation of why I feel budget guitars are also worth it... No matter how careful you are, there is always a chance of causing damage to a guitar. You tend to feel worse if you break the headstock on your $5000 Gibson Les Paul than your $500 Epiphone Les Paul. Either way it sucks, and you can get either of them fixed, but it would likely be cheaper to just replace the guitar altogether. Get a $300 Harley Benton or a $200 Firefly. Also, if you want to tinker/mod your guitars, I feel that spending a couple hundred dollars on a guitar and another couple hundred on replacement parts to upgrade, doing a setup can make that $400 and time spent you put in make it compete with guitars costing $1000. Depending of course on what kind of work you do to it. Also, if you screw the guitar up royally, you're not out a lot of money. There are also a number of budget brands that have materials and hardware on par with the more expensive brands, and even better fretwork (rounded ball-end frets are getting more and more common on budget guitars, never seen them on a Gibson, Fender or ESP). Also, if you have, say, $2000 and can't decide between getting a Fender Strat or Tele, or a Gibson Les Paul or SG... you can get budget versions of each and have money to get even more guitars or just upgrade. The options are limitless.

I'm a fan of Queen, but this disturbs me. Most (even talented) musicians make nothing, whereas dead rockstars make billions? There's something fundamentally wrong about this IMO.

Just like working shirt 😊 low quality fabrics = low mood

Depends on the person. I prefer versatility. This might not be the best analogy, but do you want a Ferrari? Or would you rather have a basic car, truck, and a motorcycle? Each will get you from point A to point B just fine. A Ferrari is top of line for what it is, but going the other route allows you to save gas with the car and motorcycle, plus you can haul things in your truck. Using that same logic, should you get a Gibson Les Paul? Or would you be better off with an Epiphone Les Paul, a Player Strat or Tele, and some kind of PRS SE? Sure there are some people who go for the Gibson, but I think for most people, you'll get a lot more versatility and bang for your buck by going with 3 'working man's" guitars.

I am commenting before watching because I suspect we are on the same page: Expensive things are worth it if they have intrinsic value and were expensive because they work well and were crafted. Things like diamonds and Gucci bandanas are not worth it, they are a symptom of a corrupt and inequal society. The exception is art, which is a completely different philosophical endeavor. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

True. And I’ll add if it feels better you will play better.

I just got a 61 sg epiphone your right the fret work trash 3 way switch don't work correctly net set crooked ......

RE: DD Narrowfield S vs Original Narrowfield... I have a 2010 Swamp Ash Special with the 57/08 NF pickups. I went to a local shop and played an NF3 SE with the DD NF S pickups and I was pleasantly surprised. Not because it sounded like my SAS NF... but because it sounded different. The neck also felt very different because it lacked rolled edges which made it fell very wide. My original 57/08 NF are bright, full-bodied, and bridges the nuances that I (as a humbucker guy) felt a strat has too little of and P90's has too much of. The DD NF S are darker sounding, balanced, full-bodied, and are much more like a humbucker trying to be more P90 like. Basically less growl and bite. I'm curious of your thoughts when you get a chance to A/B with you Original NF. Thanks for the thoughts and you now have a new subscriber. I'll post a video on my Swamp Ash Special NF after I get back from a short tour... probably sometime in August.

How did queen get more than MJ?

I've been doing off broadway for twenty years. I don't have another job, I don't teach, I don't play in a cover band. Cleared 150k last year.

I've always said that it's a long way from gramdms basement to the stage ☹️🇺🇸

"ITS IN YO HEAD, ITS IN YO HEAD, ZOMBIE ZOMBIE ZOMBE-EH-EH-EH-OH"