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November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Hello everyone. I have a friend who called me today and asked what I thought about a new Gibson Les Paul he is thinking about getting. After seeing what Gibson charges for these guitars I thought WHAT???? Where do they come up with these Les Paul prices? Why- o - why would a solid body guitar cost so much? Someone is making a killing off of these things....Paul Hebert |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | buy a Hamer |
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December 2001
Posts: 7248
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I had an opportunity to A/B a relativly new Les Paul with a new Hamer. The Hamer by far was a better guitar. I can actually see more reason to spend that money on a PRS than a Gibson at this point, but then again.... YOu can get a whole lot of Hamer (a couple of them at least) for the price of one of the others. |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | I'm not playing Devil's advocate here, I believe guitars are too cheap and very few people are "making a killing" from selling them. The industry cannot survive unless the public wakes up and realises that there's no such thing as a free lunch and quality costs money.
I have a friend who is a professional orchestral violinist. His second Violin, a new instrument, cost him £140K. American archtop builders such as Benedetto, Buscarino, Anderson & others are charging $50K for guitars and have waiting lists. Classical guitars by builders such as Smallman start at around $6K. I have a close friend who is a well respected British luthier. His most basic Sitka & mahogany guitars start at around $2.5K. Building the same guitar in Adirondak & Brazilian adds around $2.5K. He sells his entire production, is back-ordered several months & just about scrapes a living. Do you know that good sets of Brazillian Rosewood, wide enough for a Dreadnought or Jumbo are approaching $1k or more. The cost of traditional tonewoods has rocketed in the last 10 years & will continue to do so, take into account also the cost of skilled labour, wages, pensions, healthcare, plant, machinery, marketing, distribution, retail, etc etc etc. and $3k for a Les Paul or whatever does not seem unreasonable unless you compare it to somethimg made on the Pacific Rim.
I don't think Gibson's top dollar guitars are necessarily worth thier suggested retail price, but there are many others who charge at least that, some who charge less and some a lot more, which are worth every penny. A few grand for a quality instrument which can last a lifetime & pay for itself many times over, if you have the talent to make it do so, does not seem unreasonable to me. If you think Gigson guitars are expensive, the list price on their Bill Monroe signature F5 is over $13K. |
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November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Paul you have some good points here. But we are not talking about a fine acoustic guitar made from Brazilian rosewood. We are talking about a guitar that has been produced since the 50s. There is no way you can tell me these Gibsons are not overpriced....Paul Hebert |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Most Les Pauls are made from Mahogany, Maple, Rosewood and Ebony. It may not be the same species or quality as the 50's guitars but it is still decent, and relatively pricey wood. The current LP standards & up have 2-piece backs & nicely figured tops. For the most part the pickups electronics & hardware are US or European. They are made in the USA where the factory has to meet stringent standards for health, safety & pollution, pay their staff a living wage, provide pensions & healthcare, then sell the product to a public who want it for next to nothing. I don't particularly enjoy Gibson's current products, but I don't think their street prices are unreasonable. |
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November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | My friend was looking at a 56 gold top reissue Les Paul. The damn thing list for 4500 dollars! Now come on. That is silly. There are plenty better guitars I could get for that. CRAZY!...Paul Hebert |
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Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Paul Hebert
I'm with you, but I see a trend here that has been around for a long time. I went to a jam session that I won't name and one of the members had a new Martin D-45 and not much guitar experience, I could see some signs that the said member had ties to maybe a university music dep't or such where the cost of a D-45 as Paul T. has mentioned, may seem reasonable. A Les Paul or a D-45 certainly will be reliable and won't get any negative criticism when you show up with one, but IMHO an experienced player can do as well by shopping around a little. There is no denying that Martins and Les Pauls will retain their value to some extent, as will other rarer instruments as pointed out by Paul T., but most of us are not in music as a profession, sorta like I drive my Suburban and it gets me there but if I was a professional truck driver and owner I would buy a $100K Freightliner cause that would make the money while hauling my ass around.
Bailey |
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December 2002
Posts: 6
Location: Amarillo, Texas, USA | Originally posted by alpep:
buy a Hamer
preach on, brother alpep, preach on. :D
And the Hamer will absolutely blow the Les Paul away! And don't take my word for it - try a Hamer. :p |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Bailey, I work in a University music department, but it's my income as a musician which enables me to afford decent instruments, not the pittance educators get paid. Many non-professional players own, or aspire to own top-dollar instruments. |
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March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | kinda makes those overlooked ovation solid bodies look like a real bang for the buck. and imho with the skyrocketing prices for tonewoods, and deforestation making the future even more grim, the ukII as a reissue makes a whole lot of sense. bill, your baby was born 20 years too early. |
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January 2003
Posts: 1498
Location: San Bernardino, California | Just out of curiousity I was look at the prices of some of the older low tier guitars (Vox, Silvertone, Harmony, St. George, Etc.) on eBay. The amount that some of these are going for surprised me. I mean some of these are like pressed cardboard . |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | BruDev welcome to the world of collectibles. It has NOTHING to do with the world of musical instruments |
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November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | A friend of mine has a Hamer Vanguard Korina guitar. One word..AWESOME! What a nice guitar with it's two piece Korina body and single F hole. Just a sweet, very well made guitar. And alot less expensive than a Gibson!...Paul Hebert |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Paul T.
That's what I'm saying, a professional musician can afford the "Freightliners" like a professional truck driver, the rest of us pay for our instruments out of the "pittance" you lament as your "regular" job. We envy your equipment, but most of us make our living during the day and play for fun. (Except me, of course, I just sit around and play for nothing and criticize the people who get paid).
Bailey |
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INSANE GUITAR PRICES!
