Are there any guitars that can genuinely be said to be superior to costlier guitars?

[erictheweary]

I'm currently watching 'Songs Of Sandy Denny - live at the Barbican' on BBC4. Jerry Donahue is playing a Vintage strat copy and it sounds amazing. £250 guitar in the right hands - it sounds full of character.

I thought Jerry was using FretKing these days?

I recall seeing Midge Ure ( on tv) playing a Vintage Lester copy at the Royal Albert Hall. Maybe not amazing per se but obviously of a standard he felt it was up to the job ( however well set up or modified it was still out of the Vintage factory).

[Wonks]

He had a FK on a stand but the guitar he was shown using had a G&L style logo but the first letter was an L. It had cracked lacquer so could have been quite old. Were G&L originally L&G?

[StageStruck]

On a little further digging, it appears that Jerry's guitar is an LsL Guitars strat-a-like. From the dealer sites I looked at, these are coming in around high end Fender prices. I don't doubt that JD could make a £250 Vintage sound just as good though.

[paultheoneyoulove]

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=rzM9d...9dvV-VJU&gl=GB

Just to show things can be surprising, skip to 11.30. It's a sustain test.

[StevieRaveOn]

SG2000 costs less new than LP Std (iirc) and IMO its more versatile and build quality is consistently good. I mention both together because the LP is clearly an influence on the SG2k, but the latter does everything an LP can and more.

Does this count?

No because the Yamaha SG is ugly. (To me anyway )

[chillidoggy]

Yamaha SG series all the way. The last Gibbo LP's I tried were awful in comparsion.

[p90fool]

Even a Chinese-made Burny Les Paul copy shits all over many new Gibson LPs.... ....That Burny, with a Sustainer, through a Hiwatt and a fuzz pedal

Lol, I would kind of expect the finer points of a good LP to be irrelevant under those circumstances, so you may as well stick to your "Chinese shitting guitar".

[DWinstone]

For my tastes the Classic player 60's Strat is absolutely a better instrument than a USA Standard, and at barely half the price.

Strange isn't it? A mate of mine has a Classic Player 60's Strat and it's a bloody awful thing compared to the American Standard I own. But that's the only Classic Player I've played so I cant make clear jugement on them. I've owned several American Standards over the year and most have been fine guitars, with one exception. My current one is a 2008 and in the past 4 years has seen off 5 PRS, oh the money I could've saved. In fact I've not played a PRS that comes close to that Strat in terms of feel and payability.

[Fusionista]

In fact I've not played a PRS that comes close to that Strat in terms of feel and payability.

+1

[TheGuitarWeasel]

I don't think anyone has mentioned the Danelectro. Built to be cheap as chips ... but there is really nothing else at any price that gives that sound.