I'll second Lordathestrings on this one, to an extent. While the higher priced guitars often have better materials and components than the cheaper ones, the name on the headstock does, IMO, add some $$ to the final cost. The same can also be true of the country its manufactured in. Most folks would rather have an American-made guitar than a Korean- or Chinese-made guitar, and generally, they are more well made. Then there are cases like the Fenders of the 1980s, where the Japanese models were quite comparable to the American models with a much lower price tag. It pays to shop around and try a lot of guitars.

Ultimately, the best guitar is the one that's right for you, whether it's ridiculously expensive or ridiculously cheap. On one end of the spectrum, I've got a cheap HM Squier from the early 1990s that I'd never part ways with. ON the other end, I've got an expensive (for me) Music Man Axis that's absolutely the best guitar I've ever played. That said, I've played a couple of $2500+ guitars that I would never even consider owning because they were all wrong for me. Ultimately, it's not the name on the headstock or the price of the guitar that matters as much as making sure the guitar is the right one for you.