Rank: Shredder  Groups: Registered
Joined: 11/2/2009(UTC) Posts: 147 Points: 447 Location: Dallas, TX
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according to MusicRadar.com. These are 400 pounds or less ($627 US)... http://www.musicradar.com/news/...n-the-world-today-529461
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1 user thanked veegee for this useful post.
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Rank: Shredder Groups: Registered
Joined: 11/2/2009(UTC) Posts: 147 Points: 447 Location: Dallas, TX
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The Italia Rimini and Hagstrom Swede are coming up over $700, so not too frugal on those.
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 Rank: Administration  Medals: Groups: Administrators
Joined: 8/4/2009(UTC) Posts: 1,937 Points: 5,566 Location: Allen, TX
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Thanks for the link! Pretty sure Music Radar publishes Guitarist in the UK. They do a run down like this at least once a year. The publications in the UK seem be much more open minded towards the more affordable side of things. And while they do list a couple axes pushing the $700 threshold, in the grand scheme of guitars that's still fairly affordable. I'd say up to around that range is still considered mid-price. I recall a great article they did a few years ago in which they gave 3 or 4 guys a Yamaha Pacifica (they have a ton of love for this axe) and told each to trick them out and the results were a great read. | | Check out my music: http://willchentrio.com | http://www.reverbnation.com/willchentrio |
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Rank: Shredder Groups: Registered
Joined: 11/2/2009(UTC) Posts: 147 Points: 447 Location: Dallas, TX
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Yes, they publish Guitar Techniques, Guitarist and Total Guitar magazines. All come with a CD, lessons, backing tracks and Guitarist has gear reviews on the CD. All available at the Barnes and Noble for around $17 (minus 15% with the B&N membership card)
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Rank: Guitar God  Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/5/2009(UTC) Posts: 1,312 Points: 3,960 Location: Northern Tier, EEUU
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Wow!! Tough to argue against most of 'em: Yamaha Pacifica, Fender MP Fat Tele, two Squier CVs, Hagstrom Swede, Gretsch Electromatic... yowza. And most of the 20 have the advantage of potential value retention.
Leaving out the last factor, though, there's LOTS of reliable inexpensive axes. A great Xaviere can be had for half of even a cheap Gretsch, & the AXL Marquee series is vastly underrated. At the given prices, I'd consider just about ANYTHING from Eastwood.
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Rank: Shredder  Groups: Registered
Joined: 7/8/2010(UTC) Posts: 125 Points: 378 Location: Menlo Park, CA
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I agree with Tony - this is a good list, but if it were done in the US today, I think you could drop the ceiling a bit and come up with just as good a list.
For some possible context, however, I used to live in France, and have shopped guitars in Germany and the UK and Italy as well. It has been 7+ years since I set foot in a European music store, but in the 80's and 90's, they seemed to have an enormous number of off brand instruments and nearly zero top shelf American brands. When you did see a piece of gear that you were familiar with here in the US, it invariably cost 1.5 to 2.5 times as much. I remember seeing stores with a hundred or more electrics on the walls, and there would only be one Gibson LP and one Fender Strat - so not much to pick through to find your favorite. A friend actually had me buy a $3500 Gretsch for him here in the US and bring it back to France. It would have cost $6000 there *if* he could have found one to buy.
I never really understood the reason for this. Tarifs? Relative cost of living? There must be a reason.
But the upshot was that players there often deal with a lot of no-name crap and aren't nearly as snobby as we are. And some of the no-name stuff is quite good. But not most of it. ;-)
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Rank: Guitar Hero  Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/8/2010(UTC) Posts: 223 Points: 681 Location: Oz
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Originally Posted by: Swamp Yankee  I agree with Tony - this is a good list, but if it were done in the US today, I think you could drop the ceiling a bit and come up with just as good a list.
For some possible context, however, I used to live in France, and have shopped guitars in Germany and the UK and Italy as well. It has been 7+ years since I set foot in a European music store, but in the 80's and 90's, they seemed to have an enormous number of off brand instruments and nearly zero top shelf American brands. When you did see a piece of gear that you were familiar with here in the US, it invariably cost 1.5 to 2.5 times as much. I remember seeing stores with a hundred or more electrics on the walls, and there would only be one Gibson LP and one Fender Strat - so not much to pick through to find your favorite. A friend actually had me buy a $3500 Gretsch for him here in the US and bring it back to France. It would have cost $6000 there *if* he could have found one to buy.
I never really understood the reason for this. Tarifs? Relative cost of living? There must be a reason.
But the upshot was that players there often deal with a lot of no-name crap and aren't nearly as snobby as we are. And some of the no-name stuff is quite good. But not most of it. ;-) 1.5-2.5x the price? Thats NOTHING! Try living in AUSTRALIA, where the starting price is 3-5 times the price of everywhere else! Cost of living, tarrifs (if there ARE any left these days) exchange rates & taxes etc are ALL BS! Its all monopolist distributorships that do it! the retailer has to follow suit to make his profit! I know, I work in music retail! I've said it b4 & I'll say it again, in Oz , you get arse raped by the prices! I've shown american friends the prices Fenders and esp Gibbos go for here, and our $ is WAY stronger, they couldnt believe it! A$3500 for an LP standard! $5K for a deluxe or custom/sig model! A 335 goes for around $4500! ARSE Rape!
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Rank: Guitar Hero  Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/28/2009(UTC) Posts: 386 Points: 1,164 Location: New Carlisle, Ohio
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Axeman69, I have wondered about the Maton guitars that Tommy Emmanuel plays. Are these generally top of the line and more expensive or do they have "budget" priced guitars as well? How are the prices on the better made Japanese and Korean made guitars? To be honest, I have not been impressed at all with most American made guitars, other than Paul Reed Smiths so I don't think you're missing out on too much. I used to live in Japan and the options there are quite incredible in variety and quality and price.
I don't know how the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese made guitars are priced in the Land of Oz so my point of reference is slightly schewed. | | Your wish is at my command
www.thissideup.us |
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Rank: Guitar God Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/5/2009(UTC) Posts: 1,312 Points: 3,960 Location: Northern Tier, EEUU
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There are some brands that just really don't get much respect, like Hohner -- some darned good LP copies from the early 1980s (though you'll often find 'em with AWFUL white plastic bridge slugs -- an easy fix). The Yamaha Pacifica models go for cheap: http://www.musicgoround.com/sea...0&f=&clearance=0$100-$240 shipped for a decent h-s-s S-clone -- definitely worth considering!! If you have a chance, try one out. The Yamaha brand has ZERO cool or collector factor, so the poor things mostly gather dust. (added -- I'm still trying to line up the Pacifica's model numbers, but thus far the 012 & 112 are low-end, probably comparable to the Johnson end of the AXL range. There's some real flash in the line: at least one older neck-thru model with DiMarzios. And the more recent h-s-h models like 521/721/921, likely comparable to the Aria 714 STD/CST.)Axeman: are there any good Oz axe-makers? Seems like it's a market just waiting to happen!!  And I agree with JG: the "made in USA" tag is so often just a marketing ploy, where it once meant Quality. I've read dozens of owner reviews for the Fender Modern Player series that rate the axes out-of-box to be at least as good as the players' own USA Fenders, at a fraction the price. Further, IME, the MIM Fenders feel & sound just as good as the USA models; used, the former are commonly less than half the cost of the latter -- which is doubly weird since most Mexico models are assembled from US-made necks & bodies. Speaking as a consumer, tariffs generally SUCK. On the other hand, if the US had MORE protection from being a dumping-ground for China products -- often heavily underwritten by government subsidy, &/or using excess capacity (long boring economics lecture there...), &/or employing the Walmart tactic of selling below cost -- we'd probably see more mid-range non-boutique guitar makers start up. China can presently still afford to eat our metaphoric lunch because of excess capacity (labor & factories alike), paying maybe $1/hour to their best workers, who they commonly drive for 60 hours/week. (Workers at Fender Mexico make about as much per week for fewer hours, & MUCH better conditions.) However, China is likely sliding into an inflationary upslide, so prices will likely be going up. And transport costs more than from Mexico, which will only get worse as fuel costs increase. I'm curious too. Do you get much trade in MIJ gear? Over here, people are willing to pay $100+ for shipping on a guitar that's priced comparably to the USA version.
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Rank: Guitar Hero Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/8/2010(UTC) Posts: 223 Points: 681 Location: Oz
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Originally Posted by: jgauker Axeman69, I have wondered about the Maton guitars that Tommy Emmanuel plays. Are these generally top of the line and more expensive or do they have "budget" priced guitars as well? How are the prices on the better made Japanese and Korean made guitars? To be honest, I have not been impressed at all with most American made guitars, other than Paul Reed Smiths so I don't think you're missing out on too much. I used to live in Japan and the options there are quite incredible in variety and quality and price.
I don't know how the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese made guitars are priced in the Land of Oz so my point of reference is slightly schewed. Matons are great guitars! Mostly known for their wonderdul acoustics & electro-acoustics, but also make great, but very underrated electrics. They arent cheap, but certainly NOT in the Gibson league or Collings/Martin/PRS! Average Maton acoustic or electric guitar, bass etc go for around $2K, Cheapest I've seen $1500-1800 entry level. They do NOT manufacture budget lines over seas! Most Aussie pros, will use a Maton acoustic where possible. As to Asian made copies etc, they are very reasonably priced (by australian standards) but still dearer than other countries! (Remember ar$e rape distributors!) Often ordering direct from O/S is still cheaper than going thru a whole saler. Thats what we have been doing a bit in our shop. Buying and shipping direct from O/S makers and selling much lower than others and still for a healthy profit! Often the markup is ridiculous!
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