Ever wonder why guitars cost so much?

[PowerTube]

OK fair enough, but....does all of that make the more expensive guitar WORTH that much more than the cheaper one? IMO the answer is a resounding NO!

That depends on the buyer. Guys like us who do our own setup and adjustment work can make a Squier, Epiphone, or other guitar of that caliber equal to its more expensive counterpart, or at least come really close. But a guy who just plays and does no tech work might find it worth the extra money to have the better guitar "out of the box." But as pianoguyy said above, we're basically putting in the work that the factory didn't.

I'll guarantee you that my Mexican Strat would bring more money from someone who plugs it in and plays it, as opposed to selling it on eBay sight unseen. By the time I polish the frets, oil the fretboard, adjust the truss rod, set the action, set the intonation, set the pickup height, balance the trem, etc.... that's a couple hundred dollars' worth of labor at a guitar shop.

[artonsafari]

After playing my Mexican strat for a 3 months it would be hard to justify the cost of an American one....that's just me...

My MIM Strat plays great. I know the finish quality on the woods are not as nice as the higher end American models, and the same is true if you go to a Squier. I couldn't justify an American Strat, mainly because I was looking for a beater.

[bombtek]

Honestly

Interesting. I thought Fender discontinued the Japanese-made Strats. I also heard that they did it because the quality was so high that it cut into sales of the American-made stuff. But I might have heard wrong.

I'm somewhat in the market for a used American one. And specifically, like yours, I want the 1970's-style wide headstock. I just think it looks better. But this time it'll be at pawn shop prices if I can find one.

Honestly from what I've been told the Fender Japan guitars are on par with the US guitars. Since I've bought mine I've been frequenting the strat-talk board and a bunch of the members have all told me that and they own and play U.S.ones. Furthermore they were in agreement that the Fender Japan reissues are just shy of custom shop quality guitars.
Just so you know Sweetwater has a few Fender Japan reissues....you may want to check them out if you're in the market.

http://www.stratoblogster.com/2013/08/fender-japan-limited-editions-hitting.html?m=1

Here is the one I bought from them ....yeah my photo skills are about as good as my guitar playing

[asix]

Profit for the retailer profit for the wholesaler profit for the manufacturer. It could cost less than 50% of the retail cost to build. In the UK you can buy a Jackson for £99. Thats got to cost maybe £45 or £50 to build in China.

[pianoguyy]

OK fair enough, but....does all of that make the more expensive guitar WORTH that much more than the cheaper one? IMO the answer is a resounding NO!

You're right. Value and price aren't the same thing.

The price is determined (simple version) by what it costs to make. The value is how good it is, which isn't always reflective of price.

[PowerTube]

Honestly

Honestly from what I've been told the Fender Japan guitars are on par with the US guitars. Since I've bought mine I've been frequenting the strat-talk board and a bunch of the members have all told me that and they own and play U.S.ones. Furthermore they were in agreement that the Fender Japan reissues are just shy of custom shop quality guitars.
Just so you know Sweetwater has a few Fender Japan reissues....you may want to check them out if you're in the market.

http://www.stratoblogster.com/2013/08/fender-japan-limited-editions-hitting.html?m=1

Here is the one I bought from them ....yeah my photo skills are about as good as my guitar playing

Thanks. Sweetwater is sold out, but even if they had them I won't be paying $1700.00 for one. Ouch!

[Nightbat]

There are a few things to keep in mind when thinking about the cost to get a finished guitar

-Materials
-Tools//Maintainance/Facilities
-Labour/Overhead
-Design/Marketing
-Distribution
-Tax/Insurance/legislation

If we look at Japan, where costs are pretty high for many things (including the need to import almost everything)
We can argue that guitars coming from there are probably the ones with the best value, or the least markup

[bombtek]

Thanks. Sweetwater is sold out, but even if they had them I won't be paying $1700.00 for one. Ouch!

$1700?
When they had them before they sold out the MOST I saw them going for was $850. Mine was $750.

[leftykingv2]

I dunno. For me, the type of guitar dictates where I want it built country-wise. I don't want Epiphones, I want Gibsons. I don't want a Mexi Strat, I want an American Strat. An Ibanez must be made in Japan, not India. A Charvel or Jackson must be made in the US. There's just a part of brain that makes me feel that way. In in the 12 years I worked in music retail I sold thousands of guitars so I know that good guitars don't have to be expensive or made in the US but the guitars I buy have to be made in certain countries. I wish I could buy less expensive guitars so I could have more of them but I've tried and in the end, I'm just not happy.

+1 I feel pretty much the same way. If I wanted a cheap guitar for a project I'd buy it. When I buy a guitar I wait until I can get exactly what I want that way I don't have to do the extra crap. I don't want to sand it or have to change the bridge. To me that's a pain in the ass that could have been avoided by getting a higher end model.

[PowerTube]

$1700?
When they had them before they sold out the MOST I saw them going for was $850. Mine was $750.

That blog you linked has them going for $1700.00. I'll go back and read it again in case I misunderstood something.

EDIT: Duh! That's what I get for scanning instead of actually reading.

[xenophobe]

Interesting. I thought Fender discontinued the Japanese-made Strats.

Oh no. Not at all.

Fender USA stopped importation of Japanese Fenders. Japanese dealers are NOT allowed to sell new guitars to the USA, if they're caught, they get shit canned immediately. You can find them used, they're all over the place.

Fender Japan is basically on par or a bit better than Fender USA in overall quality, components and feel... Base models start around $800 US and go all the way up to about $1600 US. The comparable MIJ model is a couple hundred less than the US counterpart and generally a bit nicer.

Fender Japan is somewhat autonomous from Fender USA. They do a lot of things that they want... there are lots of special and limited runs... stuff you'd never see in the US. They also have a dedicated line of Gotoh and OFR Floyd models. Fender Japan is top notch. The reason you don't see them here is because they would seriously hurt USA sales.

They have a FULL Made in Japan Japanese product line:

http://www.fenderjapan.co.jp/products.html

Right now, Ishibashi (one of Japan's largest music store chains) has 2935 NEW MIJ Fender Guitars (not including basses and other gear) in stock:

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=pl&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fstore.ishibashi.co.jp%2Fec%2FsrDispCategoryTreeLink%2FdoSearchCategory%2F11312700000%2F04-05%2F3%2F1%3Fc%3Dhnavitop&act=url

While I'm at it, here's a really rare 2010 Fender Japan Strat... official nomenclature is "(ST-57 1H) ST-80's Type L.A. Special Order"... consensus from a couple of people on the Fender forum is that somewhere between 10 and 20 were actually built. I paid about $1100 to get it to the USA. Worth every penny. Yes, it has medium Jumbo frets, not quite Jackson size, but far bigger than standard Strat frets... and it is rear loaded from the factory... two things you rarely see. It's basically a custom shop guitar.

[leftykingv2]

When you're talking about prices you have to take everything into account. A Mexican/China/Indonesian is made with inferior components including hardware and especially the wood itself compared to a Japanese or American made guitar. The wood grade is a big deal in cost and so is the labor rate. Also when you're talking about lets say a USA select or a Japanese made Ibanez or ESP there is a lot more handmade work that goes into the models as well as attention to detail. I've read that Ibanez has a master luthier spend a minimum of 8 hours on every Japanese made neck before it's even had a first clear coat.

[xenophobe]

My non-US market CS ESP neck is absolutely amazing. Great feel, incredible fretwork... it's not just the rolled edges of the fretboard, it's a brand new neck that doesn't just feel like it was made to be vintage, it does nail that feel... much more minor detail work than a CS Jackson. And the Ibanez Sugi shop... where they make all the high end Japanese guitars like the Vais and the M8M... a single luthier builds one single guitar from pieces of wood from start to finish, using hand tools, no cnc anything, until he determines that there is nothing more that he can do. The only thing the luthier does not do is apply the finish.

I have two M8Ms. I'm probably gonna sell the one I've never played... I don't really like Meshuggah. The guitar is built so finely crafted... it's really like a piece of art. One of my buddies owned one... his brother works at the Gibson CS shop... worked on a guitar that he hand delivered to Taylor Swift... he examined the M8M and was pretty much floored by the fretwork. He said he would have problems coming close to that level of detail.

As a CS snob, all of the flaws I can find with the guitar are from the hand filing and hand shaping... they're not really flaws at all, just extreme level nitpick... at a foot away from your nose, it all looks nice and consistent, but if you run your fingers down the metal file beveled edges or the neck, you can feel the inconsistencies... that are so consistent... It's the differentiation from an actual expertly hand crafted piece of wood compared to your typical CNC machining. You can actually tell that two different people created both of my guitars... putting them side by side, you can't really see the difference. Examine the file work on the beveled edges, and you can see that both guitars were crafted with slightly different wood working styles. The fine file marks on one are dissimilar enough to tell that it couldn't have been the same person. But unless you had two side-by-side, you would never notice the difference. It's really amazing to compare the two, they both have great necks, but they both have a different feel to them. That's because human fingertips can feel the difference between several thousandths of an inch but your eyes have trouble with it.

I really hate the fact that the M8M is an "artist sig", but it's so finely crafted, I can look past that. Sterling silver fret markers and a sterling silver logo... They're really amazing.

Jackson is still my favorite brand though. Their CS meets all my expectations. I love the necks and the design. They feel the most "right" to me.

[leftykingv2]

Agreed I love my USA Jackson's. I also agree with what you said about the Ibanez models. My high end Vai and Satch models really are like a work of art. The neck is the most impressive part of them for sure and so is the fret work, finish and feel. EDIT; That's one reason I am happy I am left handed. It seems to me that they spend a little more time with the lefties because they make so few.

[leftykingv2]

My non-US market CS ESP neck is absolutely amazing. Great feel, incredible fretwork... it's not just the rolled edges of the fretboard, it's a brand new neck that doesn't just feel like it was made to be vintage, it does nail that feel... much more minor detail work than a CS Jackson. And the Ibanez Sugi shop... where they make all the high end Japanese guitars like the Vais and the M8M... a single luthier builds one single guitar from pieces of wood from start to finish, using hand tools, no cnc anything, until he determines that there is nothing more that he can do. The only thing the luthier does not do is apply the finish.

I have two M8Ms. I'm probably gonna sell the one I've never played... I don't really like Meshuggah. The guitar is built so finely crafted... it's really like a piece of art. One of my buddies owned one... his brother works at the Gibson CS shop... worked on a guitar that he hand delivered to Taylor Swift... he examined the M8M and was pretty much floored by the fretwork. He said he would have problems coming close to that level of detail.

As a CS snob, all of the flaws I can find with the guitar are from the hand filing and hand shaping... they're not really flaws at all, just extreme level nitpick... at a foot away from your nose, it all looks nice and consistent, but if you run your fingers down the metal file beveled edges or the neck, you can feel the inconsistencies... that are so consistent... It's the differentiation from an actual expertly hand crafted piece of wood compared to your typical CNC machining. You can actually tell that two different people created both of my guitars... putting them side by side, you can't really see the difference. Examine the file work on the beveled edges, and you can see that both guitars were crafted with slightly different wood working styles. The fine file marks on one are dissimilar enough to tell that it couldn't have been the same person. But unless you had two side-by-side, you would never notice the difference. It's really amazing to compare the two, they both have great necks, but they both have a different feel to them. That's because human fingertips can feel the difference between several thousandths of an inch but your eyes have trouble with it.

I really hate the fact that the M8M is an "artist sig", but it's so finely crafted, I can look past that. Sterling silver fret markers and a sterling silver logo... They're really amazing.

Jackson is still my favorite brand though. Their CS meets all my expectations. I love the necks and the design. They feel the most "right" to me.

I have something I'd like to deliver to Taylor Swift as well.