One of the best budget Fender series that players seem to love, and are gaining value is the Highway 1 series. Players found this USA/Mex made guitar a great platform for modification with good sound and playability. I've owned 2 Hwy1 Strats and it feels and wears like a vintage Fender. They have maintained their value.

I am a huge fan of the Les Paul Studio.  Especially the more rare versions like the Studio Deluxe.

Just so you know... what this AI said, that scuffled satin neck finish gets shiny in spots and that there is no repairing it short of refinishing...  some 800 sand paper makes it new and satin again!

Had my ‘73 Les Paul Custom refretted a few months ago - finally getting rid of the near non-existent original tiny frets that I spent most of my life playing.   Got the guitar for 450 British pounds in 1990.  Was the cheapest Les Paul in the store.  Plenty of wear, scratched out serial number, one non-original pickup.   Was my workhorse for 20 years.   But … I’ve always known it was a far better guitar than the forums said and turned down many offers for it.  The bridge pickup turned out to be a very early Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates and the neck is the original T-Top.  It’s been plek’d and now plays perfect with its new medium jumbo frets but it didn’t lose any of its powerful voice and character.  The original wear and tear and small amount of buckle rash now reads like the perfect relic medium-heavy aging job (except it’s legitimate wear and real).   Saw three similar ones on one booth at the Dallas Guitar Show priced at $7.5-$8k.   Never selling mine - you can try and prize it from my cold dead hands …. Always felt like a bargain.

I picked up a new condition player with new roadrunner soft case, a new condition Mustang LT25 amp, a stand, a strap and she even threw in her sister's new Laurel Canyon acoustic. $400. I jumped on that deal as soon as it was posted. Beautiful white with white pickguard and maple neck.

Yeah but what do they cost at guitar center?

I've often considered the 80s/90s American Standard Stratocaster, the guitar that saved Fender. It was a design that improved playability, quality, and value, while getting back classic Fender features. They played well and players started to believe in Fender again. Unfortunately, there were so many made that they will never gain any real value.

Ibanez Artcore semi-hollow, Fender Player Strat, Gibson LP Studio, Fender American Special Tele, Gibson LP Traditional 08-12, Fender American Strat 86-2000

I had a 1977 natural finish Fender Stratocaster, when Fender was ONLY made in America, that I bought new with the Fender hard shell case for $325. I don't remember how much I sold for but boy I wish I still had that guitar because today they go for between $2,500 - $3,800! :'(

The Grease Bucket tone circuit only costs about $2.00 to build. It is 2 caps and a resistor, so if you know how to follow an online picture and use a soldering gun, you just saved yourself a boatload of money by doing it yourself.

Excellent speaking voice. Perfect annunciation

Used guitar shopping is like Used car shopping. I find alot kf times the guitar is not what people think it is once they buy it. Then they trade. That's where I find my treasures. The Ibanez Artcore was mentioned. I have two. A double cut and a single cut with the Ibanez  Bigsby. I put both thru the paces before buying them. I. All truth, as of now, I own 36 guitars with only 4 of those having been purchased used.

my favorite guitar is my 2009 Schecter Devil custom. You can find one on reverb for under a thousand. Well under a thousand. And it is a metal machine! Severely underestimated guitar…

I just bought another Fender FSR from Chicago Music Exchange today.  It was on pre-sale for only a day before they sold out. A butterscotch American Professional Classic Telecaster with a roasted maple fingerboard. Yeah, Fender might have been stupid with the lawsuits, but they aren't hurting.

I have an American special strat with humbuckers i got for $650. It’s phenomenal. Texas specials and great tonewood

I have an Ibanez as153, plays great and not disappointed in it, not the same as as the as73 or the 53, but it’s Indonesia made not sure if it makes a big difference from the ones made in china

The guitar in the picture has a broken neck, look at the angle? No wonder it's so cheap.

In 2008 I  got a 2002 Gibson es 135 with  hard shell case  At guitar center in perfect condition. For $800.  Today they’re like $2000. Or more

What really burns my dirt chute is that I lived close to the corona factory and couldn!t afford a corona strat. I finally got one when I traded my broken carvin dc 400 straight across for a corona strat. Pretty happy with it after puting in a modified tremelo system. Then I bought a prs se 24 that ai regret buying for almost 1000 euros. I bought a harley benton sc custom ii fr vbk with steel frets for 446. I love that guitar and play the hell out of it. I may sell my prs to get anothe HB guitar.

There was a time you couldn't give away a Marshall jcm900. Now they're crazy high