Herb, the MIMs are now $500 street. They were $375 or so many moons ago. My MIM Fat Strat, I bought used on eBay about 10 years ago for $175 and if I recall correctly, the new ones were in the $375 range at that time. BTW, that's without a proper case.

Nearly all of the great players these days also have their personal guitar concierge/repair guru - These guys can take a cheap guitar and turn them into players. And not all cheap guitars are crap. I love the bass and classical guitars I have purchased from Rondo Music, and yes, they were well below $200. Much higher build quality than my Fender MIM Fat Strat. TERRIBLE setup on the bass (saddles were straight across upon arrival!), but components and fretwork, and shielding were way better than the MIM.

Back on topic - I would say that Eddie Van Halen's first 'striper' guitar is pretty iconic, as is Bo Diddley's box. Yngwie's scalloped fretboard strat, Brad Paisley's paisley Tele. Ted Nugent's various hollow body Gibsons, Les Paul's Les Paul.

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