Guitar Techniques magazine - powered by MusicRadar
The No.1 website for musicians
Neville's Advocate
Are guitars too expensive?
Neville Marten, Mon 28 Jun 2010, 2:49 pm UTC
One of the commonest gripes I hear is about the 'extortionate' cost of electric guitars these days, not surprisingly Fender, Gibson and PRS being the commonest culprits. Well, from my point of view, given that the American made Fender Strat (let's use that as the most played and copied model on the planet) is a 'professional' musical instrument, it's not over-priced at all. And if you look back to the 1950s you might be shocked at the relative price then compared to weekly salary, and the same thing now.
Okay, these are approximate figures but they reflect reality pretty well. In 1957, in the UK a Strat cost around £90 while the average weekly wage sat at a meagre £7.50. That means the guitar cost 12 times your average salary.
Today a '57 Reissue Strat is £1,450 while the average weekly wage is £500 - roughly three weeks' wages to buy it now, versus 12 weeks' hard slog to purchase it back then.
Things were different of course. There were 'real' guitars, like the Strat, and Les Paul, and others like Burns and Hofner in the UK; and 'semi-toy' guitars that may have looked okay but were unusable in the professional arena.
Trouble is, we are so used to cheap but excellent imports – including those from Fender, Gibson and PRS and which to untrained eyes, hands and ears don't look, play or sound much different to the pro stuff – that it makes it harder to distinguish between the Strat you buy for your teenage kid, and the one Eric Clapton plays on stage.
True, the many budget versions are brilliantly made for the money and play a billion times better than the dogs of yore, but the truth is you don't see professionals playing them because they want the absolute top woods, the most tonally transparent finishes, the finest electrics and the years of reliability implicit in buying the best.
Next time you see someone who looks like a professional violinist waiting for the tube or the bus (the clue is the violin case and huge satchel of music they're carrying), ask what their orchestral instrument cost them. Chances are they'll tell you five grand plus, and maybe that they've had to take out a mortgage on it into the bargain.
Food for thought for the whingers is that the professional standard guitars of today are actually cheap when compared to what they used to be, and even cheaper when looked at alongside what orchestral musicians are forced to pay. So I think we need to appreciate the quality - and indeed value – that we guitarists are lucky enough to have on tap.
Around the web:
User comments (3)
-
The fact is, 99.5% of the people in the audience can't hear the difference between a Mex, Jap or USA Strat - they sound like a Strat! Especially if, like most of us, you feed them through a Tubescreamer! Most guitars can be made to sound good - the after market pickupss are superb, and can turn a lifeless axe into a singer. But, and this is important, if you polish a turd, you're going to get a, well, a polished turd! My fave axe is my 57 Gold Top reissue. Nothing has ever sounded or played as well as that guitar, but I also use a Yamaha Pacifica as well, just 'cos it's a good playing, nice souinding axe. I also have a Les Paul Studio that I have Pete Green modded the pick ups on, and use that a lot, too. Just shows to go you, don't it?
-
Hi Neville, this is a fantastic article that I have just gotten around to reading.
In my opinion, it's not that the prices of professional level instruments are too expensive in the guitar world; it's that they are expensive in the UK compared to other places.
It is a long-running phenomenon in the guitar universe that the best quality instrument you can buy has 'Made In The U.S.A.' stamped on the back of the headstock.
Unfotunately, a similar tradition exists in guitar shops run by unscrupulous individuals, who take the street price of the guitar in America, add a certain percentage, scribble out the '$USD' and amend it with '£GBP' to get their shop price. This is, coincidentally, why you can talk down the price of a guitar in a shop by what seems a very considerable amount - because you're still not even making a dent in these huge profit margins.
I'm aware that import tax, shipping, etc. all have an effect on price, but you'd be very silly indeed to walk into a guitar shop and buy a professional level instrument for the price on the tag.
It's easy, however, to lay all the blame at the retailers' feet. I don't condone their milking of the general public for maximum profit, but I can acknowledge that another cause for this problem is the guitar manufacturers and guitar media constantly enabling the myth that USA-made guitars are 'the best'.
I'm a Fender enthusiast who owns American-made guitars. Not least of which, a 2003 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster HSS. This was gifted to me as a birthday present, and I enjoyed owning and playing it for two or three years, until I purchased an imported Fender Japan 1972 Re-Issue Stratocaster.
I now play Fender Japan guitars exclusively in my career as a working musician.
The price difference is massive, but the difference in physical quality between the two instruments is negligible at best. Of course, you can say the American Strat is made of better wood, or is put together using better components, but to my eyes (my hands, and my ears), this is just not the case.
Of course, should you want to, you save more than enough cash by buying Fender Japan instead of Fender USA to upgrade your pickups, electrics, or whatever - not that you have to, as once set up properly, the guitar played fantastically, and sounded great.
My American Deluxe now sits in its' case awaiting the day it becomes a 'vintage US-made professional instrument' (read: worth loads); in the meantime, I go to work every day with a Fender Japan in my gigbag, and I'm proud of it. -
http://fogz.eu/skqqd
Fashion Female attire
Gold autumn, personality Men's clothing + Shoes,
Travel bag that grabs an eye coat + Chao packet
Free transport
You need to be logged in to post a comment. Login or Register to post a comment.
Guernseyman
Thu 30 Dec 2010, 7:49 pm UTC