Well, maybe I spent a little more at the end of year sale over the Fender. Might depend on where you look and all of that. But Sweetwater marks those as demos if that is what they are, and they are not off the rack (wall) like GC.
 
And again Gibson is sticking mini-e-tunes on the guitars also which I think raises the price a few hundred (@ 300 perhaps).
And again, don't need that.
 
And of the Lacey Act, Government Departments (EPA), and of Trees, and a limited resource I guess.
 
 
 

I guess my Les Paul copy made by Stellar guitars just went up in value, at least to me. I paid $250 bucks for it a few years ago, I bought it used, but it was in mint condition and somebody had set it up very nicely, as it plays just as good if not better than the real thing. 

MakeShift

The ones that I don't get are the Relic Strats or Tele's. A Relic Telecaster for $4040? To own a guitar someone beat up on purpose?

I hear you on that... If I want a beat up guitar, I'll buy it for a quarter of the price, and do it myself.

Rain

Leadfoot
last year an SG Standard was $1199, now it's $1699. 

I've received the catalog earlier this week but didn't get to really check it out yet. $1699? Man, the standard SG just went from "out of my league" to "I can't even afford to dream about one".

Yeah, I know, it sucks. I look back to when I picked up my '78 SG used in '84 and paid $295.00. Glad I held on to it all these years, because I couldn't afford one now.

MakeShift
Leadfoot,

I wonder if they print different catalogues for different regions? Mine was waiting for me when I returned from Vegas. I see a Sweetwater LP Custom for $4,999 and and Alpine White LP Custom for $3,999. The Sweetwater one seems to be a special addition. The LP Traditional is in this catalogue for $2,399 and the LP Classic for $1,899. I really don't see just a plain old Standard in this edition, closest being a LP Standard with Min - Etune, at $2,699. Still a fair amount more than I paid for my first LP back in 1982...I believe that was right around $1,000.

 
My catalog has the LP Classic at $2,069, the Traditional is $2,615.
No "standard", only "standard premium" going for over $4,000.
No Alpine White in sight.
 
So it seems that the catalogs aren't all the same.
 
And if anyone here wants to buy a Gibson, you're the man we should get in touch with. :P
 

Sonar X4 Producer by Gibson! Yours for $600 (upgrade)!

After looking at Spacey's thread, maybe I'll buy a body and neck and put one together myself. I know what you do is much more complicated Spacey, but I gotta crawl before I can walk! But your thread was very inspiring.

That is basically what I am thinking about doing as well Leadfoot. I came across a MIM Backie Fender Strat for $299, at GC while in Vegas. It played exceptionally well and I almost bought it and brought it home with me. Got me to thinking, I could probably start watching for deals on used Strats that I could work on. The neck is the most important part to me, so I was going to start there, finding one with the neck I like and then reworking the body, electronics and hardware. Start small as you say, learn what I doing, before building from scratch.

Leadfoot
After looking at Spacey's thread, maybe I'll buy a body and neck and put one together myself. I know what you do is much more complicated Spacey, but I gotta crawl before I can walk! But your thread was very inspiring.

That's how I got started. I carved a double-cutaway Tele style from a body blank and bought all the pieces...turned out bad. The Carvin neck wasn't worth the shipping cost but I had a lot of fun trying. I kept the swamp ash body and threw the neck away. It wasn't a complete waste...it inspired me to carve my own necks. Not talking bad about Carvin necks...just wasn't for me.
 
I know there are other members that have assembled guitars so there's great input/help should you go for it and fortunately there are plenty of places to get everything. There are some things to lookout for so it's great to have a place where you can get input before ordering parts.
 
 
 

MakeShift
That is basically what I am thinking about doing as well Leadfoot. I came across a MIM Backie Fender Strat for $299, at GC while in Vegas. It played exceptionally well and I almost bought it and brought it home with me. Got me to thinking, I could probably start watching for deals on used Strats that I could work on. The neck is the most important part to me, so I was going to start there, finding one with the neck I like and then reworking the body, electronics and hardware. Start small as you say, learn what I doing, before building from scratch.

Yep, I don't have a router or band saw, so it would definitely have to be finished. It would be fun to paint it though, or clear lacquer, whatever the case.