JOHN 5 On DAVID LEE ROTH's 'Absolutely Wonderful' Song about Van Halen

[Seshmeister]

My brother who has been playing for 40 years bought an EVH standard last year, said it was the best guitar he had ever played and immediately went back to the store and bought another.

These things are made in Indonesia, didn't need a setup and cost under $700.

[ZahZoo]

The quality gap between the Standard, Special and USA models has really narrowed so much, it's really hard for me to say the extra $1000+ is worth it for the top end models. In many cases it's just finer finishes, bindings, colors or specialty woods... none of which, really effect tone and especially playability enough to justify the price difference.

[ashstralia]

The difference is the resale value.
Ok, I never sell my gear, once I own it that’s it.
But I can’t bring myself to buy anything less than Japanese made.
Having said that, I see a ton of quality stuff coming out of SE Asia these days.

[Seshmeister]

The difference is the resale value.
Ok, I never sell my gear, once I own it that’s it.

Of course this is the great argument we make to ourselves and partners - may as well have the cash in a guitar than sitting in the bank.

I haven't played one but as Zah says I really doubt a EVH USA built guitar can justify being 5 times the price and is it really likely to keep or increase it's value?

It's the same with most manufacturers like Ibanez or whatever but the difference seems to be more extreme with EVH because the price gap is bigger and the cheap ones are so good.