Why is the price of guitars such a big deal on AGF?

Tnfiddler · #1 06-24-2019, 08:31 AM

It seems like there is a low-cost versus high-cost thread going in the forums here constantly. My question is why? Why is how much or how little someone else pays for their instrument such a big deal to people. I own both a high-cost instrument and a low-cost instrument and love both. What someone can or can’t pay or better yet is willing or not willing to pay for an instrument shouldn’t matter. We’re all acoustic guitar enthusiasts and that’s all that matters.

Mr. Jelly · #2 06-24-2019, 08:39 AM

First of all we all get along pretty well on this forum. Second is you can change the world with a cheap guitar. Third people being people we all have biases and preferences. The rest is vanity.

vintage40s · #3 06-24-2019, 08:41 AM

In addition to hearing about how guitars sound and play, it is interesting to know what guitars cost. When I read about a guitar on AGF, I copy and paste it into GC or Sweetwater or Reverb or the mfr's site, to see the specs and cost. I have been surprised by how little or how much some guitars cost.

musicman1951 · #4 06-24-2019, 08:42 AM

I couldn't care less how much you paid for your guitar - as long as you keep it in tune and play your music as well as you're able.

merlin666 · #5 06-24-2019, 08:45 AM

I rather have separate high cost and low cost threads than the ones that mix both with typical posts like "... my chinese brand x guitar is just as good your american brand y but has cost only a tiny fraction ..."

Brent Hahn · #6 06-24-2019, 08:45 AM

I have one guitar that isn't, but in the main I think I make and record pretty good music on instruments that are basically pawn shop junk. I think it's important to let people know it can be done.

If I had a ton of money, though, you'd better believe I'd be buying nicer guitars.

beninma · #7 06-24-2019, 08:52 AM

This particular sub-forum "General Acoustic Guitar Discussion" is almost completely about guitar acquisition/sales/consumerism. Probably plenty of people want to push back a little on that.

Actual guitar playing topics are in the other forums. Maybe if this forum was renamed people would make less threads than this one.

But this is the majority of the traffic here AFAICT.

ctvolfan · #8 06-24-2019, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

It seems like there is a low-cost versus high-cost thread going in the forums here constantly. My question is why? Why is how much or how little someone else pays for their instrument such a big deal to people. I own both a high-cost instrument and a low-cost instrument and love both. What someone can or can’t pay or better yet is willing or not willing to pay for an instrument shouldn’t matter. We’re all acoustic guitar enthusiasts and that’s all that matters.

I found out a couple of weeks ago that one can be happy with a low cost guitar. I have had many Taylors but i can't put that $150 used Yamaha FG800 I bought on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago down. I know some on here may question my ears but I really do like the sound I get from it. It is not at all boxy and really does sound nice. I think I have been craving the low end I get out of it that I have been missing from my Taylors for all these years. I have a feeling my taste is changing.

Tnfiddler · #9 06-24-2019, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctvolfan

I found out a couple of weeks ago that one can be happy with a low cost guitar. I have had many Taylors but i can't put that $150 used Yamaha FG800 I bought on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago down. I know some on here may question my ears but I really do like the sound I get from it. It is not at all boxy and really does sound nice. I think I have been craving the low end I get out of it that I have been missing from my Taylors for all these years. I have a feeling my taste is changing.

I totally understand that and I think it’s FANTASTIC! I know some lower-priced guitars can and do sound great and that’s not really what my original post was about. Maybe I read into it wrong, but it seems like if you buy a $2000+ guitar, you should feel bad for doing it BECAUSE that $400 guitar is just as awesome. That’s the feel I get when I read these posts.

#10 06-24-2019, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

It seems like there is a low-cost versus high-cost thread going in the forums here constantly. My question is why? Why is how much or how little someone else pays for their instrument such a big deal to people. I own both a high-cost instrument and a low-cost instrument and love both. What someone can or can’t pay or better yet is willing or not willing to pay for an instrument shouldn’t matter. We’re all acoustic guitar enthusiasts and that’s all that matters.

While guitar pricing often gets mentioned in various posts and threads, I haven’t seen anyone make a “big deal” out of it, nor would I describe those conversations as “constant” or combative. Maybe we’re reading different threads.

jaymarsch · #11 06-24-2019, 09:22 AM

Because there are two types of people in this world: Those who divide people into two types and those who don't.

I think vanity plays a very small role. I do not experience very many people here on the forum who brag or lord their possessions over folks. I find that we (at least here in the US) live in a culture that is obsessed with ranking everything from best to worst, highest to lowest, biggest to smallest. We are constantly measuring and comparing ourselves and others to some shifting standard. And we are constantly bombarded with ads and messages that encourage this behavior. So, it would make sense that it would show up here in a forum about guitars.

Best,
Jayne

J Patrick · #12 06-24-2019, 09:26 AM

...I can’t say I notice people making a big deal out of guitar pricing...sure folks are eager to point out the outstanding value of certain guitars and kinda brag on it occasionally....conversely I almost never hear folks talk or brag about how they spend large on a guitar....

.....a great thing about a site like AGF is that you can pick and choose the topics you wish to explore...if cost/value is your concern there are certainly threads that focus on that but it seems no bigger deal than most other topics....

...or perhaps I am just less observant than some...

AndrewG · #13 06-24-2019, 09:37 AM

Being a skinflint I enjoy reading people's opinions on cheaper guitars which have exceed their cost-benefit expectations.

lt20dbl · #14 06-24-2019, 09:40 AM

It's actually a great question to ask yourself. I asked myself just yesterday, how I ended up buying multiple "look no further" guitars. I have no answer. I guess I raised the bar when I bought my dream guitar, twenty two years ago and for fifteen of those years, I craved no other but then came another and another, and..... They are all very nice and very different from one another. All guitars look and sound like guitars. The ones I kept, I kept for my own reasons. No one should feel the need to justify that.

beninma · #15 06-24-2019, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctvolfan

I found out a couple of weeks ago that one can be happy with a low cost guitar. I have had many Taylors but i can't put that $150 used Yamaha FG800 I bought on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago down. I know some on here may question my ears but I really do like the sound I get from it. It is not at all boxy and really does sound nice. I think I have been craving the low end I get out of it that I have been missing from my Taylors for all these years. I have a feeling my taste is changing.

Here is the dilemma, lots of people who might give you a hard time about an FG800 would tell you about their expensive guitars and how they are so much better.

But then you find out they are constantly flipping their expensive guitars. Something is wrong. All those guitars are great, and yet none get bonded with and kept for years/decades/life and instead they get turned over constantly in search of something even better, for some reason happiness cannot be found or happiness comes from the buying & selling and not the playing. If you are happy with the FG800 for the long term you are in happy place, you found what you're looking for and relatively easily.

The amount of high end stuff in any of these hobbies that gets constantly turned over is amazing.

My other big hobby is bicycling.. you'll see the guys who need custom made bespoke bikes made for them. Off the shelf/factory made is not good enough. But then they turn around and sell the custom bike in a year and have to get another one. Other people can buy a factory bike and keep it for 10, 15, 20 years and ride it till it falls apart. What's wrong with the boutique made to measure custom bikes that they have to get sold after a year to be replaced? Nothing at all, it's in the riders head.