Originally Posted by: musicgu7Like the subject says, might be a stupid question to you guys but I cant figure out the answer....why do guitars cost so much?

Many reasons.
-Equipment costs. It costs a lot more the get the equipment to make a good guitar than it costs to just buy the guitar. The people who make guitars have to pay off these costs by adding them to their guitar's price tags.
-Name markup. Even if you had all the necessary skills and equipment you could not make a real gibson in your garage. Unless, of course, you work for gibson.
-I can guarantee you'll have a helluva time trying to buy all the parts to make a midrange guitar for cheaper than the whole guitar would cost from a factory like Cort.
-The top of every market has pretty much exponential markup. A custom PRS is not a dozen times better than the average professional quality guitar, but you have to pay as much as if it were because that's just how every luxury industry works.
-You're not just paying for the guitar, you're also paying for a lot of stuff on the side. Worker salaries at the factory, trucks and gas $$ to get the guitars from the factory to retailers, company promotion and advertising, etc.
-Profit. The company has no reason to make and sell guitars if they don't make a significant net profit.

Guitars cost so much because either the company can't afford to sell the guitar for less or because they love marking up for their name and prestige.