Smokin' Tone said:
To me the low to midrange MIJ's are attractive because of the lower price. I hate everything that Gibson is all about these days but I would buy a historic before I would spend $2600 -$3000 on a MIJ. It stinks though. We have a high end store here in town. I pulled 15 Les Paul's of the hook and out of them I found one I liked. It was an 57 Gold Top Historic and this thing would hunt. I could have walked with it for $2700. I also found a nice used one a while back for $1950. Even though the high end MIJ may be better crafted I would still go with the Historic. I don't claim to always be smart but my guess is a lot of people would do the same thing.
Smokin', You make a very good point on the issue of price.
Who want's to pay 2 or 3 times as much (or more) for something that will basically do the same job (a guitar is a tool after all), and that will also offer the buyer basically the same enjoyment, as far as playing a good, quality guitar?
A lot of us here aren't made out of money, myself included
I know what you're saying about Gibson, and the same goes for Fender, they both suck eggs in my book. They make over priced junk, and that's fine for folks that want to purchase such. The great advantage that Gibson & Fender have (besides name recognition of course) is that they are spitting out their over priced junk in exponential numbers so, the market is flooded with their crap. Anyone, can go just about anywhere, and find over priced big G & big F guitars all day long.
Conversely, locating an older, comparable, and good quality MIJ product is sometimes not so easy to do. This is what people need to understand, and appreciate, when it comes to the opportunity of obtaining something that is no longer manufactured, that has an enduring quality, particularlly when the example is in original, and excellent condition.
I'm like you; I don't want the low end stuff, and I'm not gonna fork over the extra $$$ just to get into the higher end product, for the sake of doing so. That's why I'm in the middle groud where you're at; it's the perfect balance of good quality, and bang for the buck $anity.
Here's another perfect example. I sold this 1981 Greco 'Super Power' gold top about 9 months ago, to an eBay member in Hawaii. He passed the opportunity to use the 'By It Now' and bidding went over the BIN price by $100 plus. It ended at over $1100, plus shipping costs. When the buyer recieved the Greco, he was thrilled
He eventually sent me an email stating that a friend of his had a Gibson Historic gold top, and that his friend had played his Greco, that he purchased from me. He went on to state that his friend was now looking for a Greco gold top.
Now, what does that tell you? 8)
This example did have changed tuners but was otherwise original, had a center seam 2 pc. back, FAT 1 piece maho neck with some nice figuring, incredible playability & sound, and a fantastic relic look from years of playing; it put a Murphy to shame for about $4K less :lol:
