[bsder]

> As a beginner, I’m too much of a cheapskate to drop $9,000 on a musical instrument.

There is a wide range of choices before you reach $9K. If I'm being honest, $9K for an electric is absurd.

For beginners at guitar, this is a great time. Thanks to CNC machines, guitars at low price points are ridiculously consistent. Yes, they're cheap, but they are precisely cheap. You pretty much get exactly the same level of guitar at the price point no matter whether it was manufactured 6 months ago, today, or 6 months from now.

The downside is that you don't find the bargain "stage queen" where all the stars lined up that day to make a much better guitar than it should have been. The upside is that you get way, way, way fewer absolute dogs that are unsalvageable.