Well I've been banging that drum all along about expensive gear not necessarily being better, or indeed the solution to guitarists problems. So much so that I heed my own advice and deliberately seek bargain priced instruments to prove the point. The latest example is the Vintage VA6 that I bought for £50 on eBay, which looks, plays and sounds every bit as good as my Gibson SG Standard that I sold on Thursday for twelve times that price. The only down side is the colour, which is black as opposed to my translucent cherry Gibson, but that's all.
Another example I witnessed last night when I went to see Daniel Martin and Adrian Fountain backing an American female country singer. The sound of the band was excellent with a perfect balance and Dan's guitar was noticeably sounding terrific.
He had what I believed to be his expensive custom built Telecaster playing through his Fender Blues Junior, but when I enthused about his guitar, he casually told me that he hadn't brought the custom job over from Ireland and it was his Squier Classic Vibe that was under the stairs in the cupboard at his parent's home. We bought those Telecasters together back in 2011-ish when he was a member of Past Masters and I still use mine.
He said it hadn't had new strings in two years which made me chuckle, as I have guitars in that very same situation. The point is, it was proved yet again that expensive gear is not THE cure for all our problems, which is why I still have mine and would never consider letting it go.
Another point I'd like to bring up is about guitars or other gear being an investment and going up in value.
I recently sold my Gibson ES-335 for £100 more than it cost originally, but that is a very rare occurrence, as I normally have to take a hit. It seems that high end Gibsons' can hold, or even make money, but Fenders' not so, unless you're talking something like my '63 which is valued ridiculously at around £15,000, but I don't agree with it being worth that, the reason being I have Fender Classic Vibe Strats, USA DeLuxe Strat, MIJ Premium and even a couple of Squiers that are all better playing than the old one and on a par sound-wise.
Today I did a PX deal with a guy for a Gibson Les Paul signature 120 year anniversary model, involving two of my Strats, the Eric Johnson and the black USA DeLuxe, with a good hunk of money back my way. I didn't really want another guitar, but I was offered a paltry sum for each of them in cash , so the only way to get the value out of them was a PX which I'm happy with because I really liked the Caribbean Blue Les Paul because it isn't a run of the mill model. I have added a Stetsbar to it and with the coil taps on each pickup, I get a Strat tone should I need it, as well as the 15db boost switch and of course the lovely PAF creamy Gibson sound. This Gibby WILL get played.
Sorry for rambling on a bit, but I do think there's stuff mentioned that would be of interest to some.