Talk me out of buying this

[johan]

It's a Gibson and its a limited edition and its about the same price as many off the shelf upper end studio LP models. Good bad or indifferent, the Gibson's hold their value well. Because this is a limited edition, it could conceivably hold its value even better than a standard model but there's no guarantee. There is also no guarantee it will ever go up in value, unless of course you end up shooting a sitting president or something, but short of that you could probably get 85% or more of what you originally paid anytime you had a need to turn that investment back into cash. That's not a bad deal as guitars go.

It ain't no mutual fund or 20% ROI rental property but it ain't exactly taking your money and lighting it on fire either. I say buy it and don't lose a moment of sleep over the decision.

[Aegon]

I'm a bassist but my father is a guitarist and he has the Les Paul with the sunburst design. He loves that thing. It was a huge purchase for him and he never regreted it. That's all I gotta say.

[Seraphina]

Can you try it before you buy it? Will you be playing it daily or almost daily? Can your budget handle it (sounds like it can)? If yes to those questions, I say buy it.

I bought a pricy new violin bow last Christmas but I use it every day and it was totally worth it. I was also able to give it a test run for a week before I shelled out my money.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Try before you buy is always good advice.

[I_am_not_mafia]

It's actually very wise of you to point this out, I don't have an amp, I've got a model amp pedal which I plug into a bass speaker, it's actually not bad but a lot of people are sceptical about model amps in digital pedals.

Before I could drive I bought a pocket pod because travelling with a huge guitar amp on public transport wasn't doable.

When I was an avid guitar player I started with a shitty amp and a shitty guitar. I saved up for a professional quality guitar, a Japanese Fender HM strat. Sure it sounded better but the main advantage was that it allowed my playing to improve. I got so used to the feel of the guitar, the width of the flat classical finger board, the weight etc. I then saved up for a Marshall JCM 900 all valve combo and that made everything click. I didn't just sound better, the amp influenced my playing as well. It inspired me to get different sounds out of my guitar. I expect there's not so much difference now, but back in the 90's and noughties, an all valve amp was such a pleasure to listen to.

I know I've often retold this before, but when I wandered into a music shop in 2001 looking for a Fender Champ practise amplifier, much to my surprise I actually came away with a completely different amp and a guitar that I hadn't planned on buying. I tried the Fender Champ and it just wasn't what I expected. So the shop owner suggested I try this really old, tatty all valve practise amp that I had noticed in the front window. I plugged my HM Strat into it and just wasn't sure. The shop keeper then suggested I try a second hand 62 reissue (with Stevie Ray Vaughan Texas special pickups). He pointed at a large poster on the wall of some local professional blues player and said it used to belong to him. When I plugged it in, I suddenly had the sound that I had dreamed of for so many years. If the shop owner didn't have that guitar for sale, I probably wouldn't have bought anything.

Next time I walked in he was trying to get me to sell the 62 reissue and replace it with a Paul Reed Smith. The PRS by itself felt bland. He said that the previous owner of the Strat was hoping to get it back again. I decided to stop visiting the shop after that.

[The Valkyrie]

Don't buy it. Waste your money and I'll cut your hands off.

[The Valkyrie]

Try before you buy is always good advice.

I know someone who says that about mail order brides...

[Thumpalumpacus]

You're damn tootin'!

[account_inactive]

Don't buy it.  Waste your money and I'll cut your hands off.

Beccs has spoken!

[johan]

Full disclosure: I currently own six guitars and two basses. I own exactly zero amplifiers. I'm a keyboard player by trade and guitar is secondary for me. And pretty much all I do with any instrument these days involves writing and/or recording. So my electric guitars and basses get plugged directly into the I/O box of my computer and all of my amps/cabs/effects are in the form of software plugins.

I know the purists are cringing after reading that but purists can suck it. My  guitar parts sound excellent. The notes I play and how I play them are another matter, but the sounds I get are as top shelf as they come. And I'm not alone. I've got good friends that still setup and mic amps but will not hesitate to use software amps when recording. If you gave me a real deal 60's vintage Fender Twin or Vox AC30 or Marshall anything, I'd sell it without thinking twice. No use keeping something that's just going to collect dust.