Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Buy an HD-DVD Player

["Vern Green" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

It doesn't take much to get to a $1,000 on an instrument these days.

 

I know most builders get better prices than Vern does working out of his garage, however, I have built my own bass guitar and here are the costs of the materials alone to build it.

 

5 tuning keys $20.00 per ($100.00)

2 pickups $150.00 per ($300.00)

bridge $75.00
electronics (pots, jacks and wiring) $50.00

frets (18.00)

Inlays $20.00

Strings ($45.00)

nut $5.00

Paint and Lacquer ($45.00

Wood, Maple, Wenge ($45.00

 

Total: $703

 

It took me around 120 hours to build it and I am not including the table saw, band saw, sanders, spray equipment, planers, and other varied woodworking tools that I already had on hand.

 

So an American handmade guitar, with quality workmanship, hollow body on top of that, hitting $12,000 is not too hard to do.

 

By the way, those who are curious, here are some pics of the finished product

 

http://www.vernsworld.net/images/linked_images/guitar.jpg

http://www.vernsworld.net/images/linked_images/guitar1.jpg

http://www.vernsworld.net/images/linked_images/guitar2.jpg

 

On 11/3/07, Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:

On Sat, 3 Nov 2007, Jonathan King wrote:

> On 11/3/07, Mike Miller < EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
>> On Fri, 2 Nov 2007, Vern Green wrote:
>>
>>> I think the same could be said for anyone willing to pay more than
>>> $1,000 for a guitar. Why would someone do that? When you answer that
>>> question, I think you will find the answer to why someone would spend
>>> over a $1,000 for an entertainment player.
>>
>> I happen to have never paid $1000+ for a guitar but I have a guitar
>> that is supposedly worth more than that.  I just bought it about 25
>> years ago for $700 and it has increased in value.
>
> There are two ways to look at this. The first one is that inflation took
> you into the above $1000 category, so you're okay by Vern. The other way
> to look at it is that $700 was a ton of money to be spending on a guitar
> back then (well over $1000 in 2007 dollars) and Vern can be
> appropriately disgusted at you.

That's true, especially if you consider my income at the time.  I think I
paid more like $1200 for the Mesa Boogie Mark II-C (or maybe "B" - I
forget), so I was putting down almost $2000 for a guitar-amp combo, and
another $450 for a digital delay.  That was all the money I had.


> I'm going to take a third approach, and disagree with Vern. I will agree
> that more than $1K on a *solid body electric* seems pretty silly if
> you're just talking about the sound of the thing. But if we're talking
> about an acoustic or particularly a classical guitar, I think it is more
> justifiable. (I will grant that there are very nice sounding acoustics
> for rather less than $1K, but there are much nicer acoustics for more
> than $1K.)

With the solid-body electric, the pickups have a big effect on sound.
After that, you care about the feel, but you should be able to do well
without paying a lot of money.

Another really pricey thing is a good jazz guitar -- a hollow-body
electric like a Gibson L5.  If you're going to be a pro jazz player you'll
probably need something like that and it will cost you.  Think of how much
you can save by buying this guitar:

http://www.amazon.com/Gibson-Custom-Shop-Electric-Sunburst/dp/B000CSRN2I

That's $4,252 off list!!  Hurry up -- only two left!  Good luck finding a
good price on a used one.


> And then there are viola prices, which appear to be set by defense
> contractors or something...but I digress.

One of my frirends, who doesn't seem to have a lot of money has a violin
appraised at $30,000.  Sometimes you can get a deal if you know what you
are doing and the seller doesn't know what s/he's doing.


>> I know what you mean though.
>
> Me, too. There are definitely people who want to overpay for stuff.

Stereo equipment is one of those areas.  There was a store in Madison, WI,
that was infamous for overcharging.  Prices were really determined by the
sales people on the floor.  They used to have contests to see who could
sell a turntable needle cartridge for the most money.  One guy managed to
get a customer to pay $160 for a $20 cartridge.  We used to shop there for
the great prices, but you had to do your research and stick to your plan
when you got there.

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-- 
Thanks
F Vernon Green 
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