Is it worth buying an expensive guitar?

Hello, friends! How do you think it is worth buying a Gibson 1968 Standard or a Gibson 61 Maestro Vibrola? I'm already doing music, I'm not a beginner and I'm going to give concerts should I change my old cheap guitar for this one? The old guitar does not sound very good and not very comfortable but in the mix it sounds more or less normal I'm used to it but I think it's worth changing, is it worth buying this expensive Gibson guitar? My old Playtech Stratocaster Guitar

do you have the scratch?

I don't know much about how a Gibson feels, but I can say that expensive doesn't always mean good. You may find the real thing to be lackluster. Comfort-wise, it is important to note that Gibsons tend to be heavier that Strats.

Everyone deserves an instrument that is comfortable to play, and has an inherently pleasing sound. Both of those things are highly subjective, but if your don't feel this way about your current guitar, then yes, you need to get something better.

Per comments above, I 100% agree that "better" doesn't have to mean "very expensive". If you're coming from a guitar you don't like much at all, even an Epiphone (any well-reviewed one) will probably feel like a huge improvement. The important things are this:

1. Get the guitar that feels best to YOU and YOUR playing style. This could be a guitar that costs US$400, or US$4,000, but there is no universal standard, it's a highly-subjective, personal decision you should only make after you've played many instruments in-person with your own hands.

2. Spread your money across your signal chain. Don't be the guy playing a $4,000 guitar through an $80 amp. If funds are limited, I'd look at pairing a well made guitar that costs no more than US$1500 with a mid-priced combo amp or amp/cab that compliments the sound you are going for... you'll get a much better end result for your investment than putting all the money into just the guitar, obviously.

@jim & others, what do you guys feel is the current threshold of diminishing returns for new guitars?

Meaning, the value for your $$$ drops off dramatically after that threshold.

$900? $1500? $2000?

I've always viewed the Fender American Standards (or whatever they've renamed them to) as sort of the benchmark of "decent value for your dollar"... one could buy one and reasonably expect any American Standard to play well, sound as expected, have decent fit and finish, and expect the hardware to hold up for at least a decade... and that once you move above that price point, that's when you're being a posh Daddy Warbucks who is out to make themselves feel special with a luxury item***... but I haven't purchased a guitar in like 20 years... educate me.

Personally, I know any decent Mexican-factory Fender or Epiphone would probably be just fine for my personal needs, and sound great recorded... but I'm not touring... crap tuners aren't going to embarrass me in front of my fans, and my fingers haven't yet been spoiled by the height of luthier overkill.

***AKA the high-income, modest-talent middle age and older collector/hobbyists whom the guitar industry seems to have been catering to and entirely dependent upon for decades.

I have a number of gibsons, I like them.... but they're relatively hand made and vary a lot.... I played SGs for over a year before finding my #1.... big neck but not too big, head stock doesn't dive on a trap when I stand up.... I wanted a great unplugged sound with sustain, not a plunky banjo sound.... I played a lot and almost gave up when I found this SG standard used in Maryland. My other SG isn't as good but its silver, so....

again they vary a lot, the QC is more stringent the more you spend.... and one man's junk gibson is another man's treasure...only in the cheapest lines do you find outright dogs. Spend too little and you'd be better with a high end epiphone

@jim & others, what do you guys feel is the current threshold of diminishing returns for new guitars?

Meaning, the value for your $$$ drops off dramatically after that threshold.

$900? $1500? $2000?

$750 used, $1500 new these days

***AKA the high-income, modest-talent middle age and older collector/hobbyists whom the guitar industry seems to have been catering to and entirely dependent upon for decades.

the podiatrist and dentist market.... the custom shop at gibson is really great but a used one tends to cost twice the diminishig returns figure I listed. For a 335 or something its worth it, for anything else forget it. Its a better instrument and if you play it you'll notice but how much better? A les paul? maybe.... the VOS is pretty sweet the last 10 years... an SG? the 61 reissue has nothing on the standard and the VOS ones are still not a vintage one. I've had 60s SGs, new (at the time) standards, older 90s standards and custom shop SGs all lined up and I got a standard and later a silver humbucker equipped special. There you go.

$750 used, $1500 new these days

nice.

I completely agree with everything being said in this thread. If you have the money and love the guitar, then by all means, go for it. Everything is worth it if it works for you and inspires you. If possible, get your hands on the guitars and try them to make sure you can get the sounds and enjoy the feel of them. I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard, and I do love it to death, but I also have my Reverend Warhawk that cost probably 2.5x less, and I love it just as much. Like the Gibson is a better guitar overall, but I don't think my playing is 2.5x better when I play the LP. Also, definitely check out amps. I need to get a real tube amp now that I have all the guitars I need (for now haha). The amps can make a huge difference.

Another point I'd like to make is I haven't been in a band in years, but when I used to play, I would only bring my Fender Strat. I've put chips and dents in that guitar practicing and what not. So if it got banged up a bit more, no big deal. The Gibson was actually my dad's and he gave it to me because he wasn't playing anymore. Because it was so nice, beautiful and expensive, I barely took the guitar out of the case. It has been in my possession now for probably over a decade. I only really started playing it last year when the quarantine started. I regret not having played the guitar a lot more over the years, but at the same time, when things open back up and if I were to join a band again, I would probably still leave the Gibson at home. I don't want to worry about damaging it or having it stolen. I could only imagine if I bought something more expensive than the standard, I'd be so paranoid about taking care of it.

We're all different people though, so make the decision that you are comfortable with and will make you happy.

Read everything that has been said so far, there's a lot of wisdom in these posts so try to absorb it all.

A lot has already been said that I would have said so I'm gonna to try to keep this basic:

There is a difference between Vintage intruments and Expencive instments, I've had both I would recommend new items, specificly high-end items buy cheap brands or low-end items by expencive brands (e.g. a $500 Squier would probably be as good as a $600 Fender). Personally, I would recommend a high-end Epiphone or somthing in the $600-$1100 range.

Find somthing you're comfortable with or like the shape of, if you don't like the sound you can always mess with/replace the pickups (however I wouldn't do this with a vintage instrument).

Put some money into the amps too because you'll always use your amps & effects (bands that used rally cheap guitars or smashed their guitars usually put more money into the amps to keep a good sound too).

Vinatge Les Pauls can be heavier than a Strat by a lot, a regular Strat usually weighs 6-8 pounds a Les paul can weigh 8-11 pounds or even 12 pounds like the Les Paul I got.

Don't tour with your expencive guitars! thats just what the cheap ones are for, I would recommend puting some money into your cheap guitar or getting a new one for live preformances, while roadwear can be attractive sometimes 9/10 times it's not. Insted record with your expencive guitar and preform with your cheap guitar.

Also: can we see some links for a listing if there is one?

Put some money into the amps too because you'll always use your amps & effects (bands that used rally cheap guitars or smashed their guitars usually put more money into the amps to keep a good sound too).

this.... and in this case they don't always make them like they used to, no siree... a vintage fender blackface could possibly still eb running with no service since64.... no joke, the quality of components is way down these days, even boutique amps suffer from it. I don't mean audio quality, I eman longevity. TOlerances are pup, parts are consistent, but lifespan is down. Sure that old twin has lots of out of spec drifted resistors and caps that were lucky to be 10% when new! But they're still going after 60 years! That marshall 800 from 82? well the reissue is pretty good but try getting a 50 watt version. Ugh

anyway, dumping money into an amp is a good idea, and don't spend on features. Every feature is a potential failure point at a gig. nd lots of features raise the price where you want quality to push the price up.

this.... and in this case they don't always make them like they used to, no siree... a vintage fender blackface could possibly still eb running with no service since64.... no joke, the quality of components is way down these days, even boutique amps suffer from it. I don't mean audio quality, I eman longevity. TOlerances are pup, parts are consistent, but lifespan is down.

What about solid state amps?

great for driving monitor speakers

EDIT:

okay okay okay.... the 70s polytone, JC120 (etc) and old yamaha twin-alike solid state G series amps aren't too bad for guitar.... I actualy own a polytoneminibrute head.... and I have this little quilter 45 class D amp that's not too shabby. I wouldn't play hard rock through anything solid state other than the quilter. But I've had a yamha, used jazz choruses at times (sparingly, just for the chorus, you know?) and for 80s new order type stuff these guys have charm.... for jazz the polytone is the king of solid state amps. It does that post-wes sound well and little else. Handles pedals well, but sounds like a solid state amp with a tubescreamer infront of it LOL. I'm told DV Mark amps are the successor to the minibrute but I've not tried one since I have a polytone.