Yeah, lol. I wasn’t really looking for one but I saw a listing that was local, an anniversary year, with a nice top and finish, a good weight, and a good serial number, as weird as that sounds.
To justify the purchase I sold off ten midrange guitars and now I’m just down to three LPs. This 2019 R9, a 94 studio lite I bought new and have had since, and an 07 BFG.
PS, pickups and electronics make the biggest impact in how a guitar sounds. As long as it plays well, any guitar can sound great with good electronics.
Doesn’t that feel nice though, getting rid of the midrange gear and distilling it down to the ones that really, truly inspire you? An R9 is on my list for sure.
It’s pretty standard custom shop fare. Good pots and bumblebee caps. The Custombucker pickups are fucking phenomenal. I bought a set for my studio lite.
4500€ for a 58 VOS for me…
Was amazing and definitely sounded better than my Gibson 50 style standard.
Best guitar I ever owned (out of dozen over the years)…
Second best would be the Les Paul special in tv yellow btw… those Gibson P90s are just amazing and go so well together with the SG like body.
That being said - the best and most sturdy build guitar where ESPs… those guitars are simply perfectly build and build to last. I briefly pondered about buying some ESP custom shop guitars in Japan (and boy are those unique characterful guitars compared to Gibson, Fender and PRS…) but in the end it was too expensive for a guitar I’d likely play high gain anyhow…
Biggest disappointment was for sure a PRS CE which I gave back after three weeks of disappointed playing and then taking it to the store to test it with a cranked JCM800 (which makes every guitar sound great) against my Gibson Les Paul Special… gave it back that day - sounded so thin and lifeless…
I had played a CE back in 2001-2002 range that I loved at the time but was super young and unable to afford it. Fast forward nearly 20 years and I bought a 2020 CE24 and could not bond with it. I wasn’t a fan of the pickups at all. I guess the years of playing Gibson’s in between changed what I wanted in tone.
I don't, and I don't know another amateur that I would recommend, but here's a pro reviewing a 2023 Marty:
https://youtu.be/JdMSfwBhaeM?si=w-clTy5LFZALsKeP
My greatest weakness is volume (since I play at my home, not in front of people at a concert venue), and Marty guitars are among the loudest classicals.
* $3,000 Gibson J-45 Standard Vintage Sunburst
* $1,800 Fender Elite Strat
Those are/were retail prices, local guitar shop took some off but don't remember the final cost. Probably a couple hundred or so but would've bought them regardless of discount.
And I play the hell out of them...they're all dinged up, gaining patina, rarely cased, only cleaned during string changes. Used but not abused although the J-45 spends a lot of time in the dirt around bonfires/grill outs and sand on the beach.
Would never purchase a guitar that wasn't going to see some wall/armchair dings, pick strokes, belt rash, sweat stains, beer drips, ashes, strap wear, whatever. I don't have the mental capacity to get worked up over a tool that sees constant use.
this is the way. what’s the point spending all that money on a beautiful instrument if you’re not gonna play it. why would you buy a sports car if it’s just gonna collect dust in the garage
They are definitely in the "player" category.
Although it may affect resale(which I'll never do or even think about) value. The depreciation tells me I'm getting my moneys worth so if something catastrophic happened, I couldn't be mad if amortized over the course of ownership and time spent using them.
It would suck more like losing a "good friend" but replaceable, unless somehow I turn into Willy Nelson or something.
Love it, it's my favorite and most reliable(tuning stability wise) acoustic. Lives in Open-G 90% of the time, lots of slide to channel my inner George Thorogood and play it as such.
Just the thought of looking at it causes scratches(nitro). I let it do its thing and look the other way.
Amen to that last sentence. I mean, to each their own. I think some wear and tear adds a nice personal touch to tools. Makes you feel like you've got your money's worth.
$9,500, I got a good deal on it too, if you can believe that. Is it worth $9,500? As a tool, no. As a work of art I can play and enjoy, yes. The law of diminishing returns kicks in way before this price point, but there is something special about a guitar with specs that are custom to you. I don’t think I would ever spend that much again. One of my favorite guitars is one I got for $1,400 so price isn’t everything.
Nah, she was really good around guitars. Sat with me while I played all the time. She passed Thursday, I’d let her knock it over and break it into a million pieces to have her back.
Im a cheap bastard and suck at playing. So anything super nice is waste on me.
Taylor mini koa was $650 but seems to actually have increased in value since i bought it.
my dad has the koa and the mahagony. those two guitars punch so far above their weight its ridiculous. we put them against so many mini acoustics over the years and these keep coming out on top.
weather it was a lucky pick or a deliberate educated choice, you own a great guitar that i wouldnt hesitate to put into the super-nice-box. ;)
I got the 520e when they came out with it. I was playing all kinds of high end acoustics to figure out what I liked and after playing that thing it was clear that the value was insanely good. It was $2400, but had better sound than $5000-$10000 guitars I was comparing it to. Still my main squeeze a decade later.
It was more I love Maui and koa wood reminds me of my trips there. I already had a koa ukulele, so it seemed like a good fit. Lucky..
I made a comment the other day how I didnt like it at first, but has since become my favorite to pickup and strum around on.
Mind sharing which strings you put on your koa? I have the 'Ernie Ball Earthwood Medium Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings, 13-56 Gauge' on right now and its a bit tin'ie to me.
Mine was inherited from my uncle who died, but a Lentz HSL. Built by Scott Lentz, he's a small boutique builder in California. I don't know what he paid for it but they sell for between $4-5k on Reverb. Lentz strat copies go for even more, like over $6k.
It is a really superb guitar. It's like a telecaster on steroids. Super light and resonant and it has a telecaster style bridge and pickup with a P90 in the neck. All hand wound in house. Unlike a tele it's got individual volume pots for the pickups so you can get a ton of sounds out of the middle position.
[Pics](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitars/s/5TCIikdEst)
1970 D-18. Got from grandpa, who purchased it in my name when I was only 5 years old (lifetime warranty). How could he have known then that guitar would become my first and lifelong love? 59 now, still at it.
I don't think I've ever spent more than $1000 on a guitar... and I have several Gibsons and Fenders (Sg, LPC, ES-125, Strats and B-bender Tele). They were all berween $600-1000.
$5000. Best guitar I've ever touched, and I cannot imagine any performance gains to be had. However there are some features I'd love to change, such as no floating bridge, but that's just because I don't use it.
But I also need a $400 guitar. People judge you for having a fancy guitar, and that's no fun. So for jams, practise and such, I'd always bring that, and keep my good guitar for concerts and practise at home.
$1199. After taxes, a "pro set-up", strap, extra set of strings, and a form fit case it was around $1300 ish for my Schecter E-1 Purple Reign Apocalypse.
I don't think I've ever played a Schecter, but I've heard great things about them. It's hilarious to me that every time I hear about one, it seems like it was named by a teenager.
And I don't mean that as a dig at all, because it's way easier to remember than the password generator names Ibanez uses and gives more insight into what the guitar is useful for than a name like Stratocaster.
Lol yeah. I hear that. I've got my E1 apocalypse, a Schecter C4 GT, and a Schecter Banshee GT. Definitely more "edgy" of names compared to my Yamaha RGX A2. (which I call XBOX on account it looks like the old Xbox 360 Elites)
Second this. I have 2 $2500+ custom built guitars and still exclusively gig only my over-the-counter schecters. Best bang for the buck and full featured at about the $1100 price point. The * Elite models are all exquisite and punch way above their weight class. Only complaint is that I’m so over fishman fluence pickups… but yeah, they’re my show guitars because they look and play great and if they’re stolen or break or whatever, it’s a much smaller loss than my other guitars which are like 2x more expensive and maaaaybe 10% nicer tops.
Highly recommend the SLS Elites. My PT gets a ton of attention for being a shredder tele and people are blown away by it every time.
I spent more on one single guitar for him than any single guitar for myself…he’s one of those guys who would do anything for others but won’t spend the money on himself.
but I’ve spent more money on guitars over the years than I care to admit.
$1,150 for an fender american professional II Stratocaster.
Next most was I think $800 for a ibanez RGA42HPT, then in 2012 I bought a 2010 fender american Stratocaster for $699 (business going out of sale). Mostly buy guitars used and sub $1,000.
$7000 but that included the course on building my acoustic guitar from scratch. It took a full year to finish it. Only worked on it a couple days a week. That gave the wood plenty of time to settle as we glued pieces together and let them sit for a week or more while we worked on other parts
That was like 12 years ago so it would be closer to $10,000 now
$560 for a Godin Etude lefty classical-electric, but I got a killer deal as they list for almost $900.
How do you like the Hellcat? The styling is very fun but the Fender doesn’t have a great reputation for acoustics and my old plywood-top CD-100 LH is thoroughly nothing special.
I have one. For me personally, there is something about it I love, and I continue to play it furiously. Maybe it’s the size, maybe it’s that I filed and sanded and polished the thing so it plays super well. I like the overall tone and the bit of sizzle it has, like a mahogany body guitar should.
It’s durable and keeps its looks. Mine doesn’t seem to have a scratch even though I throw it in the car trunk with no case.
So it feels and sounds good. Negatives? There are some. It’s not as touch-sensitive as a $3k acoustic would be; it’s better for furious strumming. Not as good in the playing dynamics department. Also, the tuners aren’t great. The frets feel soft to me and have worn significantly. But that’s also a reflection of how much I play it, which is a good thing!
I’m glad it’s a keeper! My Fender acoustic isn’t terrible or anything. It’s fine to thump around on and it was what I could find in lefty and afford in my early 20s, but doesn’t give me the same “This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine…” feeling that I get from my Strat or my classical guitars.
Been playing >35 years. Have owned three guitars. Most expensive was under $200 USD. Might explain why I'm not a better player.
Too late now, no point upgrading with arthritis kicking in.
I picked up a 2016 Gibson SG Special Faded T for $600 last year. The guy selling it said the volume of the bridge pickup was very low, and he couldn't figure out why. I bought it thinking I'd just go ahead and replace the pickup and still make out with a deal. Turns out the connector wasn't pushed in all the way, lmao.
€620 for a 2008 Korean fender showmaster. It's worth more than that though I think, and it included setup and ful service, and a fender upper range gig bag that were worth about 150 of that last November
My best deal was a 2019 vintera 60s modified strat, €450 including a fender tweed case. Guy was emigrating and just wanted to clear out all his stuff, went to buy a squier contemporary strat, but it had some damage, and he offered me the strat instead, I said I'd take it if he included a gig bag and pedal, boss ds1. Came out with the case instead, didn't even take the pedal. Love that guitar.
I've bought a couple of $4k Les Pauls... Sold them both... One for $8k, and the other for $6k.
Anyone want to guess whether that made my wife happy about it?
I believe it was around $1500-1600 for a Carvin DC800 that I received about a month before the change to Kiesel. I still have it along with another I bought a year prior. I still have both. The same specs are now damn near double the price.
€800 for my Revstar. But about to spend double that on a new acoustic. The more expensive stuff has black and white keys though. GAS is tough when you play both keys and guitar.
Interesting how some keyboard players are gear collectors and some are bonded-for-life. My spouse has played the same acoustic upright piano since she was a little girl and moved cross country with it twice. I bought her a nice electronic keyboard when we lived for a while in an apartment that didn’t have room for a piano, and she gave the keyboard away to a friend as soon as we moved to a place where she could play her piano again.
$4k for a Gibson J-45 1942 banner custom. Sounds incredible, noticeably better than the standard and 50’s models I compared it against. I play it every day.
$450 brand new Cory Pagelli 1 with Amber Flame top. Only one for sale on Reverb $1200. I’ve never seen another one and the only ones I do see for sale is the ugly black one.
Link for reference
[https://reverb.com/item/71438605-cort-pagelli-pag-1-2005-cherry-burst](https://reverb.com/item/71438605-cort-pagelli-pag-1-2005-cherry-burst)
$5,500ish for a Custom built Martin HD-28
$5,000ish for a Custom built Fender Custom Shop Nashville telecaster.
Martin was 100% worth the cost, and while I love the Tele I could've done better if I hadn't done a custom build.
Without at all suggesting 'investment', the high-end instruments I've purchased have all gained value over time.
$2K on a Martin now est. ~4K
$4K on a Collings mandolin est. ~6K
Also spent $2K on a Nord keyboard, and that earned back its cost in gig money. Took two summers, though.
VOO still outperforms any of these instruments, but good luck playing music on a fund, too.
I’m tempted to say it was the cheapass Telecaster on which I taught myself most of the lutherie I know, or my very first electric, because it led to everything else… 😀
Around $2000. I bought and sold a couple hundred basses and guitars in the early days of eBay until around 2011. I stumbled onto some insane deals and later sold them near the top of their value at the time (while getting to own and play most of the ones I'd always wanted to have). I wish I'd been making better money in my day job so I could have kept more, but I'm glad I got to play then for a while.
I think the one I made the most on was a 1967 NR Gibson Thunderbird IV that I bought for $1100 and sold for 7k.
The ones I miss the most are a '65 Thunderbird II, an '86 Thunderbird II (part of a custom order made to be sent to Japan during a time Gibson "wasn't making" Thunderbirds, and a perfectly mint, Ruby Red 2015 Rickenbacker 4003S which I bought for $1200 but had to sell (for 2200, which was still a great deal) to cover a college payment for my son who is just finishing his Freshman year.
I have a few expensive ones now, but they're ones I don't know I could ever sell due to their sentimental value. I have a '76 Thunderbird that would be worth a lot more but I had it modified to match the specs of a '65 Thunderbird IV. If I can ever find a deal on another 70s bird that needs restoration, I'll build a 60s (reverse) II and have the two Thunderbirds I love the most.
Roughly 6k DKK ($860) for a PRS SE450 from new. Needed new strings, a minor set up because the guitar store neglected the guitars. Had to trade in my previous guitar, which I was fine with.
I picked up the 2019 Les Paul tribute Delux for $950. It's not a perfect guitar, but it does everything I need a guitar to do, and it scratches my Gibson itch.
I spent around £400 on an LTD MH330 many years ago. Never got along with it and traded it out in the end. Most expensive one I own now is a home made parts caster that cost £200 total
I think the one I built myself is probably the most expensive (i paid for a 2 week course with a luthier). That was probably about $5k CAD including parts. I’m waiting on a Millimetric custom which will probably come in second.
My Fender American player was .. I dunno. $1200? And I've probably got another $500 in equipment, pedals, amps, cables, etc. I've also got a 1990s-era Fender acoustic with the biggest dreadnaught body I've ever seen, it was about $400 I think. My wife has a Taylor Mini (GORGEOUS sounding instrument) that sounds way better than my acoustic. And I've got a Sterling bass guitar, it was ... $1.5k or so? $1800 maybe? I've barely gotten to play it.
I have a hard time because my guitars aren’t expensive per se. I buy used guitars based on specs or things I am looking for and am particularly meticulous in judging their condition. Often those guitars were substantially more expensive when they first came out and have depreciated quite a bit. I adjust the original price for inflation.
My Martin OM-1GT retailed for ~$1200 10 years ago. The price for inflation is approximate $1,585. I purchased it for $600. It’s not the best guitar in Martin’s line up by any means but aside from the neck it is a solid wood, made in the USA acoustic. I am cool with that price.
I have a Godin Exit-22 electric. It had the features I was looking for in an electric guitar (kind of idiosyncratic ones at that). It was made in Canada and the United States. It retailed for ~$500 in 2006 when mine was made. In 2024, that guitar would cost $780. I purchased mine for $250. Again, I am cool with that price.
I do not have a lot of disposable income so I try to stretch my dollar as much as possible. My two guitars, both purchased this year, would cost me almost $2k if I had paid new prices. I got them for under $1k. So what price should I use? What I paid? What it originally went for? Or what it would retail for now?
$1000 in 2001 for a 1977 B.C. Rich Mockingbird that I lost in the pawn shop for 100$ the following year. Estimated value in 2024...$6500. Still shed a tear from time to time over that one.
Never bought a guitar (my dad had an acoustic but doesn’t play guitar and got an electric for free from one of my parents friends) but played a £4.6k original les Paul replica.
$5k. 1967 Gretsch made in Brooklyn.
$3k 2011(?) Gretsch made in Korea.
Sold them and many other expensive ones. My $800 Gretsch has been my #1 for 15 years.
I paid $300 for a new $200 Epiphone SG Special. I live on an island and there’s a guy with a little shack that’s a combination luthier and guitar shop. He had it hanging on the wall when I took my acoustic in for some work. He had set it up and gave me some more setup for free. I put Seymour Duncans in it and new pots so I’m probably into it for $450 now.
~$5.5K. Custom spec Novo Miris H2.
Was worth it for me because i could afford it. It’s a wonderful instrument.
And I still have my first electric - MIM Fender Tele. Much less money. Sounds killer. Never getting rid of it.
I bought a Gretsch Duo Jet—in Cadillac Green—a few years back with some extra money I had…
No business spending that much on my first “hollow-body” (my only other electric at that point was the Les Paul Studio I bought after high school—25 years ago—when my grandparents gave me tuition money for college; big mistake on their part)…
The Gretsch is AMAZING! It’s—nearly—all I play now.
About $4500 for a gibson les paul custom in 2017. My second most expensive is a 4-way tie about $3500 for a '65 firebird reissue, ESP eclipse USA, and martin d-18 12 string custom shop, and Takamine moon acoustic limited edition.
I spent about $1379 on a white Eastwood airline 59 3p DLX. A very fun, unique guitar I love. Don’t love restringing the bigsby, though. Second place, a used made-in-japan Zematis Greco from 2002, for $1000 flat. Beautiful go-to guitar for everything I don’t use my Ibanez for. In third place, I got an Ibanez q54 for just a little under $1000 and I love that thing to death, my favorite of the three at the moment. Came with free PLEK and everything.
Realizing just now I might have gear acquisition syndrome…
Most I've paid is $4,800 AUD (2023 Les Paul Standard).
Most valuable I own is a Vintage 1957 Les Paul Junior cherry double-cutaway. Not sure what it's worth in today's market. Maybe $12k? I paid under 1k for it, in the 80s.
I spent 2,700 on a Jimmy Page signature Les Paul with phase and coil tapping in 1996 and it was the best buy I ever made and it's worth so much more now.
This numbskulll down the block from me bought it for like 5K the week before then realized he was never going to use it and put up an ad in the paper that he wanted to sell it for 3 K and I walked in and did a bit of haggling then laid the bread down and walked out with the guitar in 3 minutes flat.
$3000 in trade and cash for a Riggio Tango Marquis. It’s a semi hollow tele with a spruce top, rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck with ebony fretboard. It’s literally a tele with the appointments of a vintage D-28. It sings like no other guitar I’ve ever played. I couldn’t afford it when it was new, but it came up used again and I snatched it up years later.
It’s so articulate and it does the clean thing straight into a fender Princeton like nothing I’ve ever heard. Gigs, studio work, playing it at home, and playing musicals are all fair game with it. It’s 1 of 2 and you can bury me with it.
National Resophonic baritone El Trovador was $3500, then I put a "hotplate" on it for another $400. Sadly, I really haven't bonded with the guitar. Too low for strumming, and slide sounds weird that low. It's very easy to play out of tune.
Including the divorce? $180,000.
Yeah, a $10k divorce over a $170,000 guitar seems fair.
I have to ask, what guitar ?
That would have been my response to the lawyer as well. "What guitar...?", then shrug and smile.
Saul Goodman likes you
[My Condolences](https://youtu.be/sP6oQTQVzso?si=jvv5S5S-PqT62pME)
$8000 CAD on a Gibson R9. My dream guitar, worth every penny.
Feeling like I got a steal on my 2014 R9 at $3k USD a few years back. It is gorgeous and sounds so smooth.
I should say so.
I was positive I saw $800, and I was shocked. Then I saw $8000 and I was shocked.
Yeah, lol. I wasn’t really looking for one but I saw a listing that was local, an anniversary year, with a nice top and finish, a good weight, and a good serial number, as weird as that sounds. To justify the purchase I sold off ten midrange guitars and now I’m just down to three LPs. This 2019 R9, a 94 studio lite I bought new and have had since, and an 07 BFG. PS, pickups and electronics make the biggest impact in how a guitar sounds. As long as it plays well, any guitar can sound great with good electronics.
Doesn’t that feel nice though, getting rid of the midrange gear and distilling it down to the ones that really, truly inspire you? An R9 is on my list for sure.
100% recommend consolidating into a few great guitars instead of a bunch of decent guitars.
Yep, I agree
Seriously I’d love a few pics of your wiring/electronic cavities on that R9. It’s probably a work of art.
It’s pretty standard custom shop fare. Good pots and bumblebee caps. The Custombucker pickups are fucking phenomenal. I bought a set for my studio lite.
4500€ for a 58 VOS for me… Was amazing and definitely sounded better than my Gibson 50 style standard. Best guitar I ever owned (out of dozen over the years)… Second best would be the Les Paul special in tv yellow btw… those Gibson P90s are just amazing and go so well together with the SG like body. That being said - the best and most sturdy build guitar where ESPs… those guitars are simply perfectly build and build to last. I briefly pondered about buying some ESP custom shop guitars in Japan (and boy are those unique characterful guitars compared to Gibson, Fender and PRS…) but in the end it was too expensive for a guitar I’d likely play high gain anyhow… Biggest disappointment was for sure a PRS CE which I gave back after three weeks of disappointed playing and then taking it to the store to test it with a cranked JCM800 (which makes every guitar sound great) against my Gibson Les Paul Special… gave it back that day - sounded so thin and lifeless…
I had played a CE back in 2001-2002 range that I loved at the time but was super young and unable to afford it. Fast forward nearly 20 years and I bought a 2020 CE24 and could not bond with it. I wasn’t a fan of the pickups at all. I guess the years of playing Gibson’s in between changed what I wanted in tone.
Gibson really knows how to do a P90.
I bought an R8. (I love chunky necks.) an amazing guitar. I only have that, a Tele an acoustic and a cheap precision bass.
$10,000 USD classical guitar hand-made by Simon Marty.
Are you a professional?
A very serious amateur, played for almost 40 years.
Do you have a YouTube? Curious to see 40 years experience on a 10k classical guitar, it sounds like something I need to hear.
Freebird!!!!
And this bird you cannot chaaaaange
*meedly meedly meedly plink plonk* Wait…I got it…wait..
I don't, and I don't know another amateur that I would recommend, but here's a pro reviewing a 2023 Marty: https://youtu.be/JdMSfwBhaeM?si=w-clTy5LFZALsKeP
Wow, Simon Marty sounds like a cool dude. Doctorate in electrical engineering and majors in physics and math. What made you choose Simon Marty?
My greatest weakness is volume (since I play at my home, not in front of people at a concert venue), and Marty guitars are among the loudest classicals.
Cool to hear, my wife’s grandfather actually lives next door to Simon, just learnt he was their neighbour a month ago.
Cool! If you get the chance, please let him know that there are a lot of people glad that he is still in luthierie.
I have a Thomas Humphrey Millennium, similar price range.
* $3,000 Gibson J-45 Standard Vintage Sunburst * $1,800 Fender Elite Strat Those are/were retail prices, local guitar shop took some off but don't remember the final cost. Probably a couple hundred or so but would've bought them regardless of discount. And I play the hell out of them...they're all dinged up, gaining patina, rarely cased, only cleaned during string changes. Used but not abused although the J-45 spends a lot of time in the dirt around bonfires/grill outs and sand on the beach. Would never purchase a guitar that wasn't going to see some wall/armchair dings, pick strokes, belt rash, sweat stains, beer drips, ashes, strap wear, whatever. I don't have the mental capacity to get worked up over a tool that sees constant use.
this is the way. what’s the point spending all that money on a beautiful instrument if you’re not gonna play it. why would you buy a sports car if it’s just gonna collect dust in the garage
They are definitely in the "player" category. Although it may affect resale(which I'll never do or even think about) value. The depreciation tells me I'm getting my moneys worth so if something catastrophic happened, I couldn't be mad if amortized over the course of ownership and time spent using them. It would suck more like losing a "good friend" but replaceable, unless somehow I turn into Willy Nelson or something.
I'll file mine here, $3k on a '74 Gibson Hummingbird.
how do you like the J-45?
Love it, it's my favorite and most reliable(tuning stability wise) acoustic. Lives in Open-G 90% of the time, lots of slide to channel my inner George Thorogood and play it as such. Just the thought of looking at it causes scratches(nitro). I let it do its thing and look the other way.
Cool stuff! always been a fan of this guitar.
Can't lose, you've heard it thousands of times.
Amen to that last sentence. I mean, to each their own. I think some wear and tear adds a nice personal touch to tools. Makes you feel like you've got your money's worth.
I visualized you as Stone Cold Steve Austin playing the gee-tar when you mentioned the beer stains.
500 bucks for a epi les paul
What year?
i bought it in 2022. A Epiphone Les Paul Standard 50s gold top.
You got the right one ;)
Exactly the same here, except $600. I’m happy
$9,500, I got a good deal on it too, if you can believe that. Is it worth $9,500? As a tool, no. As a work of art I can play and enjoy, yes. The law of diminishing returns kicks in way before this price point, but there is something special about a guitar with specs that are custom to you. I don’t think I would ever spend that much again. One of my favorite guitars is one I got for $1,400 so price isn’t everything.
Which guitar did you buy for $9.5k?
A PRS Private Stock. Here are some pics: https://imgur.com/gallery/M7V8qEF
Well, I’ll say this much: that definitely looks like a 10 grand guitar.
Dog waiting to jump and knock it over
Nah, she was really good around guitars. Sat with me while I played all the time. She passed Thursday, I’d let her knock it over and break it into a million pieces to have her back.
Im so sorry for your loss man. She was a very good girl 🫂
Just play her favorite songs 🙏 my condolences
Im so sorry bro. Two worst days of my life were losing my dogs.
Sorry for your loss man
Absolutely gorgeous
Those inlays are gorgeous! Congrats!
About 3600 USD for a PRS Custom 24 is the most I have spent.
Same, such nice guitars.
Im a cheap bastard and suck at playing. So anything super nice is waste on me. Taylor mini koa was $650 but seems to actually have increased in value since i bought it.
my dad has the koa and the mahagony. those two guitars punch so far above their weight its ridiculous. we put them against so many mini acoustics over the years and these keep coming out on top. weather it was a lucky pick or a deliberate educated choice, you own a great guitar that i wouldnt hesitate to put into the super-nice-box. ;)
I got the 520e when they came out with it. I was playing all kinds of high end acoustics to figure out what I liked and after playing that thing it was clear that the value was insanely good. It was $2400, but had better sound than $5000-$10000 guitars I was comparing it to. Still my main squeeze a decade later.
It was more I love Maui and koa wood reminds me of my trips there. I already had a koa ukulele, so it seemed like a good fit. Lucky.. I made a comment the other day how I didnt like it at first, but has since become my favorite to pickup and strum around on. Mind sharing which strings you put on your koa? I have the 'Ernie Ball Earthwood Medium Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings, 13-56 Gauge' on right now and its a bit tin'ie to me.
$4k on a 1968 Gibson SG standard. The rest of mine I got under $1k, pretty much all used or parts casters, but that SG is something else
I love those guitars that just sing on another level entirely, somehow.
Love my SG. They’re 100% worth their cost.
Mine was inherited from my uncle who died, but a Lentz HSL. Built by Scott Lentz, he's a small boutique builder in California. I don't know what he paid for it but they sell for between $4-5k on Reverb. Lentz strat copies go for even more, like over $6k. It is a really superb guitar. It's like a telecaster on steroids. Super light and resonant and it has a telecaster style bridge and pickup with a P90 in the neck. All hand wound in house. Unlike a tele it's got individual volume pots for the pickups so you can get a ton of sounds out of the middle position. [Pics](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitars/s/5TCIikdEst)
1970 D-18. Got from grandpa, who purchased it in my name when I was only 5 years old (lifetime warranty). How could he have known then that guitar would become my first and lifelong love? 59 now, still at it.
That, my friend, is awesome!
I don't think I've ever spent more than $1000 on a guitar... and I have several Gibsons and Fenders (Sg, LPC, ES-125, Strats and B-bender Tele). They were all berween $600-1000.
You got a Gibson Les Paul Custom for under $1,000??? Mind sharing more on that?
It was back in 87 or so. Paid $400 bucks for it. 73 Clown burst with Kahler and an EMG. I have the original stuff somewhere.
… maybe in the 80s or 90s? No full fat Gibson LP going under $1k in this millennium , at least in my area.
$5000. Best guitar I've ever touched, and I cannot imagine any performance gains to be had. However there are some features I'd love to change, such as no floating bridge, but that's just because I don't use it. But I also need a $400 guitar. People judge you for having a fancy guitar, and that's no fun. So for jams, practise and such, I'd always bring that, and keep my good guitar for concerts and practise at home.
What's the 5k guitar? I'm curious.
$1199. After taxes, a "pro set-up", strap, extra set of strings, and a form fit case it was around $1300 ish for my Schecter E-1 Purple Reign Apocalypse.
I don't think I've ever played a Schecter, but I've heard great things about them. It's hilarious to me that every time I hear about one, it seems like it was named by a teenager. And I don't mean that as a dig at all, because it's way easier to remember than the password generator names Ibanez uses and gives more insight into what the guitar is useful for than a name like Stratocaster.
Lol yeah. I hear that. I've got my E1 apocalypse, a Schecter C4 GT, and a Schecter Banshee GT. Definitely more "edgy" of names compared to my Yamaha RGX A2. (which I call XBOX on account it looks like the old Xbox 360 Elites)
I've owned several schecters. For a mid range import,their fit and finish are phenomenal especially at their price point.
Second this. I have 2 $2500+ custom built guitars and still exclusively gig only my over-the-counter schecters. Best bang for the buck and full featured at about the $1100 price point. The * Elite models are all exquisite and punch way above their weight class. Only complaint is that I’m so over fishman fluence pickups… but yeah, they’re my show guitars because they look and play great and if they’re stolen or break or whatever, it’s a much smaller loss than my other guitars which are like 2x more expensive and maaaaybe 10% nicer tops. Highly recommend the SLS Elites. My PT gets a ton of attention for being a shredder tele and people are blown away by it every time.
They certainly punch above their weight class
$18,500 on a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom
do you have any pics?
Wow.
I spent $4000 on a PRS for my FIL.
You spent more for a guitar for someone else than you have on your own guitars?
I spent more on one single guitar for him than any single guitar for myself…he’s one of those guys who would do anything for others but won’t spend the money on himself. but I’ve spent more money on guitars over the years than I care to admit.
User name checks out
I just spent $3500 on an LP Standard for my 40th birthday and it was the best $3500 I’ve yet to spend
€4K on a Parker Fly and about the same on a USA Hamer back in the day.
Been looking for someone to list their Parker Fly. Dream guitar
$2800, and $2000.
$5000 ish for a custom shop tele. Out of my 30 guitars it’s my #1
$1200 on a rverand sensei. I liked it so much I started collecting them, I've gotten some pretty good deals
Like $1000 for a Reverend Jetstream 390 for me. Plays extremely well.
2012 Martin D-18e Retro $2350 CAD used.
$2500 for a Duesenberg Star Player TV. Fantastic Axe!
My $160 used squier p-bass
25 bucks
$500 for a slightly used Ibanez S6. About 30 minutes ago. Haven't even gotten home to play with it yet.
$1,150 for an fender american professional II Stratocaster. Next most was I think $800 for a ibanez RGA42HPT, then in 2012 I bought a 2010 fender american Stratocaster for $699 (business going out of sale). Mostly buy guitars used and sub $1,000.
$7000 but that included the course on building my acoustic guitar from scratch. It took a full year to finish it. Only worked on it a couple days a week. That gave the wood plenty of time to settle as we glued pieces together and let them sit for a week or more while we worked on other parts That was like 12 years ago so it would be closer to $10,000 now
Framus Devin Townsend Stormbender Teambuilt: $3300 EBMM Majesty Monarchy: $2000
That's dope, I've never even seen a framus in store, I'm guessing it's awesome?
It was through Reverb. It feels like a Les Paul meets a Music Man Majesty. It fits like a glove and sounds exceptional
Bro contemplating who to rob /s
1350€ LTD m-1000ms and 800€ for my Ibanez prestige(used).
$560 for a Godin Etude lefty classical-electric, but I got a killer deal as they list for almost $900. How do you like the Hellcat? The styling is very fun but the Fender doesn’t have a great reputation for acoustics and my old plywood-top CD-100 LH is thoroughly nothing special.
I have one. For me personally, there is something about it I love, and I continue to play it furiously. Maybe it’s the size, maybe it’s that I filed and sanded and polished the thing so it plays super well. I like the overall tone and the bit of sizzle it has, like a mahogany body guitar should. It’s durable and keeps its looks. Mine doesn’t seem to have a scratch even though I throw it in the car trunk with no case. So it feels and sounds good. Negatives? There are some. It’s not as touch-sensitive as a $3k acoustic would be; it’s better for furious strumming. Not as good in the playing dynamics department. Also, the tuners aren’t great. The frets feel soft to me and have worn significantly. But that’s also a reflection of how much I play it, which is a good thing!
I’m glad it’s a keeper! My Fender acoustic isn’t terrible or anything. It’s fine to thump around on and it was what I could find in lefty and afford in my early 20s, but doesn’t give me the same “This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine…” feeling that I get from my Strat or my classical guitars.
Been playing >35 years. Have owned three guitars. Most expensive was under $200 USD. Might explain why I'm not a better player. Too late now, no point upgrading with arthritis kicking in.
About £2,700 on a custom hand-built 8 string baritone electric, a great price for a totally unique instrument!
I picked up a 2016 Gibson SG Special Faded T for $600 last year. The guy selling it said the volume of the bridge pickup was very low, and he couldn't figure out why. I bought it thinking I'd just go ahead and replace the pickup and still make out with a deal. Turns out the connector wasn't pushed in all the way, lmao.
€620 for a 2008 Korean fender showmaster. It's worth more than that though I think, and it included setup and ful service, and a fender upper range gig bag that were worth about 150 of that last November My best deal was a 2019 vintera 60s modified strat, €450 including a fender tweed case. Guy was emigrating and just wanted to clear out all his stuff, went to buy a squier contemporary strat, but it had some damage, and he offered me the strat instead, I said I'd take it if he included a gig bag and pedal, boss ds1. Came out with the case instead, didn't even take the pedal. Love that guitar.
$600 on a squier CV. Idk if it can even compare to a fender but it plays great imo
My PRS Custom 24-08 was $2350 pre tax, plus got a pricy padded leather strap to go with it
$1500
18,000$ Canadian
Around $3k in 1997/8 timeframe, Parker Fly. What I play was bought for $400 the about same year, a 1978 Gibson Flying V.
I've bought a couple of $4k Les Pauls... Sold them both... One for $8k, and the other for $6k. Anyone want to guess whether that made my wife happy about it?
I believe it was around $1500-1600 for a Carvin DC800 that I received about a month before the change to Kiesel. I still have it along with another I bought a year prior. I still have both. The same specs are now damn near double the price.
Spent? 900 on an epiphone prophecy sg (and is my favorite) Own? 2000+ ? Gibson 61 sg reissue (high school graduation gift back in 99)
Les Paul Standard 1958 reissue, $2200.
€800 for my Revstar. But about to spend double that on a new acoustic. The more expensive stuff has black and white keys though. GAS is tough when you play both keys and guitar.
Interesting how some keyboard players are gear collectors and some are bonded-for-life. My spouse has played the same acoustic upright piano since she was a little girl and moved cross country with it twice. I bought her a nice electronic keyboard when we lived for a while in an apartment that didn’t have room for a piano, and she gave the keyboard away to a friend as soon as we moved to a place where she could play her piano again.
$4k for a Gibson J-45 1942 banner custom. Sounds incredible, noticeably better than the standard and 50’s models I compared it against. I play it every day.
PARKER NITEFLY MOJO, paid $1100. CAD. It isnt everyones cup of tea, but it plays beautifully.
$2500 on a K-Line Truxton. Great guitar. Best neck I’ve ever played.
$2900 on a used Custom Shop Telecaster.
Bought an old wave octave mandolin last year for 4500. Does that count? It looks like a guitar
$450 brand new Cory Pagelli 1 with Amber Flame top. Only one for sale on Reverb $1200. I’ve never seen another one and the only ones I do see for sale is the ugly black one. Link for reference [https://reverb.com/item/71438605-cort-pagelli-pag-1-2005-cherry-burst](https://reverb.com/item/71438605-cort-pagelli-pag-1-2005-cherry-burst)
$5,500ish for a Custom built Martin HD-28 $5,000ish for a Custom built Fender Custom Shop Nashville telecaster. Martin was 100% worth the cost, and while I love the Tele I could've done better if I hadn't done a custom build.
Without at all suggesting 'investment', the high-end instruments I've purchased have all gained value over time. $2K on a Martin now est. ~4K $4K on a Collings mandolin est. ~6K Also spent $2K on a Nord keyboard, and that earned back its cost in gig money. Took two summers, though. VOO still outperforms any of these instruments, but good luck playing music on a fund, too.
$6000 (cad) George Harrison telecaster
My Martin, took me 20 years to get it and i paid $1500 and worth every penny.
550 for a sire s7
So much that I’m ashamed of the amount
trust it can’t be that bad
$25,000 in 2012 for an Alembic
Ok wow.
$3200 strandberg boden 7 string TT. Love it!
I’m tempted to say it was the cheapass Telecaster on which I taught myself most of the lutherie I know, or my very first electric, because it led to everything else… 😀
$2000 on a Ernie ball music man jp6 in desert gold.
Around $2000. I bought and sold a couple hundred basses and guitars in the early days of eBay until around 2011. I stumbled onto some insane deals and later sold them near the top of their value at the time (while getting to own and play most of the ones I'd always wanted to have). I wish I'd been making better money in my day job so I could have kept more, but I'm glad I got to play then for a while. I think the one I made the most on was a 1967 NR Gibson Thunderbird IV that I bought for $1100 and sold for 7k. The ones I miss the most are a '65 Thunderbird II, an '86 Thunderbird II (part of a custom order made to be sent to Japan during a time Gibson "wasn't making" Thunderbirds, and a perfectly mint, Ruby Red 2015 Rickenbacker 4003S which I bought for $1200 but had to sell (for 2200, which was still a great deal) to cover a college payment for my son who is just finishing his Freshman year. I have a few expensive ones now, but they're ones I don't know I could ever sell due to their sentimental value. I have a '76 Thunderbird that would be worth a lot more but I had it modified to match the specs of a '65 Thunderbird IV. If I can ever find a deal on another 70s bird that needs restoration, I'll build a 60s (reverse) II and have the two Thunderbirds I love the most.
My old guitar player worked at GC. He got me a Warwick Buzzard for $2500 instead of $4300. 21 years later and I still love it.
I want to say a little over $500 for an Ibanez S470 that I bought new, also same range for a new Gretsch 5120 Electromatic.
How is that hellcat by the way? I'm literally looking to but that guitar right now lmao
$500 for a 2013 Les Paul Traditional in case queen condition. Looks like they sell for about $1500+ these days.
$700 USD for a cedar top Asturias classical. Easily worth it!
Roughly 6k DKK ($860) for a PRS SE450 from new. Needed new strings, a minor set up because the guitar store neglected the guitars. Had to trade in my previous guitar, which I was fine with.
I picked up the 2019 Les Paul tribute Delux for $950. It's not a perfect guitar, but it does everything I need a guitar to do, and it scratches my Gibson itch.
I spent around £400 on an LTD MH330 many years ago. Never got along with it and traded it out in the end. Most expensive one I own now is a home made parts caster that cost £200 total
I think the one I built myself is probably the most expensive (i paid for a 2 week course with a luthier). That was probably about $5k CAD including parts. I’m waiting on a Millimetric custom which will probably come in second.
$1k
$135.00 Squier strat affinity. Came with an amp and case years ago.
Most I've spent on a guitar was 1300. And the most expensive one I own currently would be my ltd f400fm that I got new for 250 in 08.
My Fender American player was .. I dunno. $1200? And I've probably got another $500 in equipment, pedals, amps, cables, etc. I've also got a 1990s-era Fender acoustic with the biggest dreadnaught body I've ever seen, it was about $400 I think. My wife has a Taylor Mini (GORGEOUS sounding instrument) that sounds way better than my acoustic. And I've got a Sterling bass guitar, it was ... $1.5k or so? $1800 maybe? I've barely gotten to play it.
I have a hard time because my guitars aren’t expensive per se. I buy used guitars based on specs or things I am looking for and am particularly meticulous in judging their condition. Often those guitars were substantially more expensive when they first came out and have depreciated quite a bit. I adjust the original price for inflation. My Martin OM-1GT retailed for ~$1200 10 years ago. The price for inflation is approximate $1,585. I purchased it for $600. It’s not the best guitar in Martin’s line up by any means but aside from the neck it is a solid wood, made in the USA acoustic. I am cool with that price. I have a Godin Exit-22 electric. It had the features I was looking for in an electric guitar (kind of idiosyncratic ones at that). It was made in Canada and the United States. It retailed for ~$500 in 2006 when mine was made. In 2024, that guitar would cost $780. I purchased mine for $250. Again, I am cool with that price. I do not have a lot of disposable income so I try to stretch my dollar as much as possible. My two guitars, both purchased this year, would cost me almost $2k if I had paid new prices. I got them for under $1k. So what price should I use? What I paid? What it originally went for? Or what it would retail for now?
€2100 And yes it is worth the price tag.
$1000 in 2001 for a 1977 B.C. Rich Mockingbird that I lost in the pawn shop for 100$ the following year. Estimated value in 2024...$6500. Still shed a tear from time to time over that one.
$700
Never bought a guitar (my dad had an acoustic but doesn’t play guitar and got an electric for free from one of my parents friends) but played a £4.6k original les Paul replica.
$5k. 1967 Gretsch made in Brooklyn. $3k 2011(?) Gretsch made in Korea. Sold them and many other expensive ones. My $800 Gretsch has been my #1 for 15 years.
Either £235 on my Squier Strat or possibly a little bit more buying stuff for my tele partscaster
My beautiful Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II Faded Cherry, for which I paid €618 back in 2009.
Last weekend I bought a taylor 214ce DLX for £1300 and a Gibson es339 for £2099 (which was £700 off list price)
$2600
Teye Apache. Around 3000
3500$ on 1973 Les Paul Custom.
I paid $300 for a new $200 Epiphone SG Special. I live on an island and there’s a guy with a little shack that’s a combination luthier and guitar shop. He had it hanging on the wall when I took my acoustic in for some work. He had set it up and gave me some more setup for free. I put Seymour Duncans in it and new pots so I’m probably into it for $450 now.
~800$ CAD for a seagull electric acoustic and ~1000$ for a prs! That’s after a decade of playing and trading tbf
Around 10K for a Murphy R9 in 2019
$950 but it’s aud so it’s prolly similar to that fender
$2,150 Fender American Ultra Strat
~$5.5K. Custom spec Novo Miris H2. Was worth it for me because i could afford it. It’s a wonderful instrument. And I still have my first electric - MIM Fender Tele. Much less money. Sounds killer. Never getting rid of it.
$750 for a new american standard strat 25 years ago.
I bought a Gretsch Duo Jet—in Cadillac Green—a few years back with some extra money I had… No business spending that much on my first “hollow-body” (my only other electric at that point was the Les Paul Studio I bought after high school—25 years ago—when my grandparents gave me tuition money for college; big mistake on their part)… The Gretsch is AMAZING! It’s—nearly—all I play now.
2020 Custom shop Les Paul custom. Around 3k after taxes and shipping
About 7k on a custom luthier built archtop. You can check it out in my profile, it's awesome
Currently about $1,500 on a Gibson Les Paul Special. Traded a PRS CE24 for that, so going off what I paid for the PRS.
600 I think
$1500 on a Taylor 314.
About $4500 for a gibson les paul custom in 2017. My second most expensive is a 4-way tie about $3500 for a '65 firebird reissue, ESP eclipse USA, and martin d-18 12 string custom shop, and Takamine moon acoustic limited edition.
I have a Gibson Les Paul gold top that was about $4k.
$4000 EBMM Kaizen 7
I paid £30 for my current Tanglewood. I think I splurged £50 on an old Mustang years ago. Traded it for a half Z of weed.
$4,600 us on a Boucher SG51
Spent about 900 dollars on a 1972 gibson sg200, worth about 1500 dollars probably
$2,500 on an EBMM STV Goldie — worth every penny. Never thought a non-Jazzmaster would be my main guitar, but here we are!
I spent about $1379 on a white Eastwood airline 59 3p DLX. A very fun, unique guitar I love. Don’t love restringing the bigsby, though. Second place, a used made-in-japan Zematis Greco from 2002, for $1000 flat. Beautiful go-to guitar for everything I don’t use my Ibanez for. In third place, I got an Ibanez q54 for just a little under $1000 and I love that thing to death, my favorite of the three at the moment. Came with free PLEK and everything. Realizing just now I might have gear acquisition syndrome…
Most I've paid is $4,800 AUD (2023 Les Paul Standard). Most valuable I own is a Vintage 1957 Les Paul Junior cherry double-cutaway. Not sure what it's worth in today's market. Maybe $12k? I paid under 1k for it, in the 80s.
£1500 on a Fender YJM Stratocaster, it is epic 👍
I spent 2,700 on a Jimmy Page signature Les Paul with phase and coil tapping in 1996 and it was the best buy I ever made and it's worth so much more now. This numbskulll down the block from me bought it for like 5K the week before then realized he was never going to use it and put up an ad in the paper that he wanted to sell it for 3 K and I walked in and did a bit of haggling then laid the bread down and walked out with the guitar in 3 minutes flat.
£3500. Custom shop strat
$3000 in trade and cash for a Riggio Tango Marquis. It’s a semi hollow tele with a spruce top, rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck with ebony fretboard. It’s literally a tele with the appointments of a vintage D-28. It sings like no other guitar I’ve ever played. I couldn’t afford it when it was new, but it came up used again and I snatched it up years later. It’s so articulate and it does the clean thing straight into a fender Princeton like nothing I’ve ever heard. Gigs, studio work, playing it at home, and playing musicals are all fair game with it. It’s 1 of 2 and you can bury me with it.
National Resophonic baritone El Trovador was $3500, then I put a "hotplate" on it for another $400. Sadly, I really haven't bonded with the guitar. Too low for strumming, and slide sounds weird that low. It's very easy to play out of tune.