[jtkung]

In this day and age of spending more to get "better," I thought -- is it always the case, or more about marketing? So I decided to find out on a product I know a little about -- electric guitars. I built two DIY kit guitars -- a Tele-style and PRS-style (with upgraded hardware) that cost $145 and $300 USD respectively. This is about as cheap as you are going to get for something reasonable and playable. I stained, finished and assembled them myself.  Conclusion: they can play and sound as good as guitars > 5X the price in my opinion. What you don't get?  Blinding eye candy and bling, better playability (but not by much), and of course the real factor -- status and bragging rights.  With that said, I'm not going to sell my other guitars, but it's good to know you can still get great things at reasonable prices if you look hard enough, and are willing to do some work. 

One thing is certain -- neither cheap nor expensive guitars can play themselves. You still need to learn to play!

• Tele: $145 USD
  
• PRS-style: $300 USD (including upgraded bridge, tailpiece and pickups)