Can you tell the difference between a $200 and a $200,000 guitar?

Presence - how responsive/resonant sound is in normal playing
Projection - how much louder it gets when played hard
Sustain - how long the note decays
Separation - chord clarity, individual notes vs sound blob
Tone - related to tone woods used

Sound of guitar is subjective, but you wouldn’t pick poor sustain guitar, unless you play Flamenco (for this projection would be the most important).

It depends on who's playing the guitar.

Although I don't play classical guitars, I would imagine that the different wood, set-ups, make them more playable from each other and sound different.  But a good guitarist doesn't really need a great guitar to sound good, if you know what I mean.

Being a friend of Gary Paul, les Paul's grandson, I have played a bunch of electric guitars and while I can play each one of them well, I do prefer the sound and playability of a 1959 Les Paul over the newer ones that I own.  LOL

Happy Listening. 

Yes the playeris by far the biggest difference.

the rarity’s most key especially 50-60s , if owned by a legend like Jimi Hendrix 

over $1Million dollars easy especially if documented at a event like Woodstock for example. . To be honest $2k you can get a excellent guitar ,then install your own specific custom pickups to give you the sound you are looking for , as well as strings ,tuners, and have it professionally setup, and most important your amplifier , Vacuum tube by far still the most popular but even good SS models have all kind of feedback and sounds you can do then special products such as petals . Lots to it ,practice practice practice ,is key !!

jasonbourne71

827 posts

05-08-2024 at 11:13am

Different pickups and strings will produce different sound for each guitar. The wood they are made of has no effect when they are plugged into an amp. Tonewood is a myth employed by marketers to justify higher prices.

I couldn’t disagree more.  You know not of where you speak.