Is a Stradivarius Just a Violin?

When buying guitars, cars, guns and tools, I purchase what I like, within a limited budget, and have been satisfied without thinking about brand. Would it be different if my budget was unlimited, I don't know, never been rich enough to answer that question. To paraphrase Rule #1, if it sounds good and feels good, it is good.

I have  always tended  to  shy  away  from big brand  names although  I  have some   reasonably  expensive  guitars  in my  collection I  find  that   the cheaper   brands  can often be  as  good . A  case  in example  is  when I  wanted  a semi  acoustic ES 335  type  I  chose  3   similar  guitars  the  Gibson es335  the  epiphone  dot 335  and  the  vintage vs535 I  spent  an  afternoon  with the  3   in the  shop  and  came  away  with  the  Vintage  which was  considerably   cheaper  than the  others   ,Why   .... because  it  played  better  ,sounded  better  and  was  cheaper  ,had  the  Gibson  been better   I  would  have bought  that despite  the  huge  price  difference ,

Yep "a good worker never blames his tools" true the high end name brands are quality to be sure but what ultimately counts is the skill and knowledge of the musician and his creativity

When I bought my first guitar 30 years ago, the budget was at the top of my list. I didn't have much in the way of discretionary funds at the time. I went with a $180 acoustic Epi that I was able to make payments on for a few months. A year after I brought it home I had the plastic nut and bridge saddle replaced with bone. The new deep, rich sound just overwhelmed me. A $40 change made it completely different guitar. It's still my go-to acoustic.

There were times when I would be at a party or just an informal gathering of some sort and I was asked what I played. When I said Epiphone, I would almost always get "that look"; and an "Oh, Epiphone", like it didn't deserve to be classified as a guitar. More than once someone would have to eat crow once they heard or played it. It may not have the same rich ring of a Taylor or Martin but I still can't make myself justify their price tag.  I've acquired 5 more Epi's over the years and I'm quite happy with my "cheap" guitars.

I have played epiphones before and they all sounded good too me.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecaden … -the-strad
this link  does  a blind   comparison   on strad  to  new  interesting results. Scroll  down past  the  photo   listen   to  the  two  sound  bites  and  read  the  results .