You Get What You Pay For?

                                   "But it's a Rolls-Royce!"

Sometimes “You get what you pay for!” Sometimes... not so much.

Sometimes what you pay for is the name. I've got name basses that list for nearly $2K, and others that I paid only a couple of hundred $$$ for and which I played on stage. My Schecter Stiletto Custom was my go to bass with my last band. It still is. I got it for about $300... new. They go for over twice that now because people have figured out what good basses they are.

My cheap $240 zebrawood, Chinese Fender Jazz Bass knock-off would be perfectly acceptable in any venue large or small. It sounds and plays fine. But there is one problem with it: it weighs a ton. Its a beautiful bass. A real eye-catcher. But you feel it after ten minutes.

My son learned to play guitar on a Squier Stratocaster. He got halfway good on it, so a year later for Christmas I bought him a Fender Hot-Rod Stratocaster. He said the difference was like night and day. The Hot-Rod Strat played that much better.

But he'd persevered for a year, so I knew that buying him the expensive new Strat wasn't going to be a waste of money. I always advise people wondering whether to buy their kid an expensive instrument or not to start them out on a cheaper one so as not to be out all that $$$ when the kid puts it in the closet just short months later, where it will gather dust, when they go back to their video games. They probably don't listen to my advice but hey, I'm not the one who'll be out $1,500 on a guitar rig (guitar, amp, cords, case, etc.) that'll probably get sold for half that in a few years.

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/90-percent-of-new-guitarists-abandon-the-instrument-within-a-year-according-to-fender
Guitars aren't easy instruments to learn. Really none are, but especially guitars.

As an aside, the pros like certain guitars for a number of reason: They like the sound. They like the playability. They like the feel. They like the look. They like the endorsement money. Famous musicians have a defined sound, and their audiences expect to hear that sound when they buy their songs or go to their concerts. This demands special attention from pro guitarists because so much work goes into creating their sound. More than any other instrument.

Great musical talents are very rare. Mediocre musicians are a dime a dozen. But even they are a small few when compared to all those who started down the road, but gave up. Or those who never tried. There's a life lesson in there.

Fitz