Hoo boy! This is a hot topic. I did a video on the Budget Guitarist YouTube Channel where I used the Wayback Machine to compare Sweetwater guitar prices from 2004 and 2024. I compared a few guitars from Epiphone, Squier, Gibson, Fender, and PRS, and I issued more disclaimers than a drug ad on an AM radio station. Lotta people saw that video in the first two days. Well… a lot of people for my YouTube channel. Most of my videos usually get about 40 views in the first two days, and this one did 4,000 views in the first two days.
Was I too hard on Fender? I dunno. I love Fender. But they have sorta raised prices higher than other companies in the limited sample I took. Although Gibson had one model that’s way, way overpriced.
I really had no agenda. I thought it was kind of fun. And as I said in the video, I’ve bought guitars from all of these brands and will continue to do so into the future. If you’re interested, you can check out the video yourself.
