Originally Posted by Minte

There are a lot of differences that put prices on anything that comes out of the Gibson custom shop all over the map. Most of the differences are subtle. Fret board material, top materials.. The costs are in the woods and the finishes. The hardware,pups,tuners etc are the easy part. The pickups that come on a $1200 studio are usually the same as the ones that come on a $8000 R9.

There are also some builders in the custom shops of all the guitar makers that are better than everyone else. Their talents in building command a higher price.

I will also say, that more often than not the difference in sound and playability between a $1200 guitar and an $8000 guitar is not really significant. Spending more money on guitars is akin to buying artwork.

I've got 5 Les Pauls. It would be someone with a very rare,incredible ear that could tell the difference in sound between them.