Instrument pricing

Electric Guitars
There are several variables that must be accounted for when determining the price of an electric guitar, they include: neck joint, body design, hardware choices, and wood choices. A guitar neck or body can be made out of one or several pieces of wood. For a body it is much cheaper (and often times more pleasing to the eye) to make it out of several pieces, for a neck it is cheaper to make it from one piece; however it is much more sturdy and resistant to tension if it is a laminate of several pieces of wood. Neck joints make a difference as well, a bolt on neck is much easier to build and easier to work on, however a neck through body design offersoptimal stability and better tone and sustain.

For a baseline guitar the cost is usually around 800 dollars plus the cost of pickups. A baseline guitar will usually include includes

• Simple body construction (meaning no top wood and a laminate body)
• Your choice of a laminated or one piece bolt on neck (a bolt on neck contrary to popular belief is actually stronger than a set neck when done correctly).
• One tone and one volume control and a 5-way selector or toggle switch.
• Either a tune-o-matic bridge with a string through body/ stop tailpiece, or a hard tail bridge
• Rosewood or maple fret board
• Dot inlays
• 2-way adjustable truss rod
• Grover tuners
• Strap locks
• Clear coat finish
• Electronics shielding

Pickups

Because of the wide varying variety of pickups preferred by different players and styles the cost of pickups is not included above. Therefore the cost of whatever pickups you desire will be added to the total cost of the guitar.

Below are some feature that will enhance the looks, playability, and sound of your guitar. These features will also increase the cost of the instrument, this increase will depend upon the brand or type of feature you select and how labor intensive it is to install

• Figured top wood ( maple, redwood, walnut, koa, ext.)
• Neck through body design
• Chrome knobs/ pearl top knobs / pickup rings
• Gold plated hardware
• Ebony fret board
• More entrechat inlays
• Floyd Rose, hipshot, or other highline bridges
• Hipshot or other highline tuners
• 2 tone and 2 volume knobs
• Push pull/ blend pots
• Body and neck binding
• Pickguard
• Pigment finishes (cherry, tobacco sunburst ext.)
• Slip stone nut

Banjos
Banjos can be grouped into two different categories which are, open back banjos, and resonated banjos. Resonator banjos have more wood, work, and hardware involved and will generally be more expensive, while open-backs are less time consuming and therefore less expensive. A baseline banjo will usually sell for about $700 for and open-back and $950 for a resonator banjo. The major variable that determines the cost of a banjo is the tone ring, which can range from a hundred bucks to thousands of dollars. Other variable that varies greatly in price include
• Brackets
• Bracket hooks
• Tension hoops
• Tuners
• Rim rods
• Rim assembly style
• Wood selection