As the price of an instrument grows, so do the costs of maintenance and its care. Guitar prices have gone up over the past few years, but there are more and more trade-offs—and positives—with every price increase.

Guitars used to be pretty expensive. There were some models available at the time that cost over $1,000, and some that were even much more. It wasn’t uncommon for musicians to wait several years for their dream guitars to become available. It’s been a while since then, though.

Reasons Why Are Guitars Cheaper Than They Used to Be?

A paper published in May 2018 by the National Bureau of Economic Research, “The Effect of Changing Prices of Guitars on the Market for Guitars (and Other Steel-Stringed Instruments)” examined the effect of guitar prices on the market for guitars. The study suggests that while there are few areas where guitar prices vary, prices can lead to a decrease in demand for guitars, with the largest reductions occurring in the cheapest instruments.” Here are the reasons why guitars are cheaper than they used to be.

• Quality Control

The reason why guitars become more expensive is that there are tight controls over the quality of the instruments. They properly check the setup of the guitar and make sure that the quality that is used is high. The best guitars are all those that have good quality.

• Pickup Quality

The next reason why the guitar is expensive is the higher quality of the pickups and electronics. Pickups are the most important part of the procedure of making a good quality guitar. It plays a big part in detecting the sound of the guitar and transferring it to the speaker.

• Tonewood quality

Producing a guitar that uses better-toned wood is another reason why guitars are so expensive. Because it refers to two parts: the quality and the type of the wood.

• Brand

The next reason why guitars are expensive is because of the brand of the guitar. It is the brand that guitarists will have known for decades and so trust for its good quality.

• The manufacturing area

Another reason why guitars nowadays are expensive is because of the country that it comes from. Because for guitarists, the better quality guitars come from countries that demand the highest quality.

• The look of the guitar

The last reason is the look of the guitar. If you’re dreaming of having a unique-looking guitar, expect that you need to save more for it. You can’t get it just at a low price, The more unique the look is, the more expensive it is. Because it is done with a high-quality finish.

Guitar Price Now and Before

In the 1950s, a Gibson Les Paul guitar sold for $595. By the 1970s, that same Les Paul sold for $1,495. Then Merle Haggard bought it, and the price quickly rose to $4,500. It was a new guitar, but the same guitar.

The Most Known Brand of Guitar in the World of Music

Did you know that there is a brand of guitar that is more recognized around the world than any other? Not only is it more recognized, but it is also more widely used. This is a brand that has been around for over 100 years, and still has no major competitors—if you want to buy a guitar, you will have to buy it from Gibson. For guitar, Gibson is the most recognized brand in the world of music.

Conclusion

As a guitar player, when you go to a music store and pick out a new guitar, or maybe you’re just a guitarist looking out for yourself, you’re most likely going to find guitars are getting more expensive. We get it, guitars are expensive. And the prices are only going to go up from here. But is it really because guitars are getting more expensive, or is there another reason behind it? Because the more expensive your guitar is, the higher quality it will stay as your buddy for a lifetime.