How much would you spend on a guitar...

[DanTravis62]

This has over 30 gigs on it this year. It's in that range:

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That's what i'm getting at - Suhrs or PRS or Knaggs or something in that 3-4k sweet spot seem to be instruments to be played and used

Whereas when you get much higher than that you're into the "show pieces" or "vintage collectibles" rather than an actual guitar that's meant to be played and performed on

 

[JackBootedThug]

Jerk

That was when I was single. Since I have been married over twenty years now I can’t afford 11-1500$….. funny how life works….

 

[nightlight]

Around 4k Singaporean dollars, or 3k USD is what I usually max out at. Got to think of retirement and I'm getting on in years. There's absolutely no return on music (for me), but I usually sell those same guitars for more than I got them for.

 

[phillybhatesme]

I’ve bought two guitars upward of 3k and I’ve disliked/didn’t get along with both.
I currently have a soft cap of 2400, which I think still allows me to buy cool stuff (Kaizen, Knaggs, Prestige), but keeps me away from making worse financial decisions (3k relic’ed Novo).

 

[Geo]

Bolt-on neck $1500, Glued on $2500

 

[NinjaRaf]

I’ve spent $4500 and felt that was too much. Anything above $3k doesn’t really get you a better guitar or higher quality. There’s a point of diminishing returns and I’ve been able to find what I want at $3k and under. But I wouldn’t be opposed to spending more, just depends on the guitar.

 

[Rackman]

I've got a few guitars that either started expensive or became expensive over time. But they're sentimental to me and I'm happy to keep them and pass them on to my kid who plays.

In terms of nice gigging axes they seem to run about 4K plus a few hundred in mods these days new. If I can find what I want used I will. Rock/Metal/Mixed gigs I use a KE2 with EMG 81TW/89. Country I use a Warmoth bender tele I assembled with T52s and a boost circuit, which was cheaper. Jazz I use a Heritage Eagle.

I also have a BCR USA Mockingbird, which was expensive. I love it and use it in the studio some times but it is sort of too expensive - I don't like to gig it.