“The Epiphone and Squier guitars that you can get now, with a good setup, will play great and sound very close to more expensive versions”: Why The Cars' Elliot Easton believes a guitar's setup is more important than its price tag

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Elliot Easton, founding member of The Cars, performs onstage with The Immediate Family at The Mint on February 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Is buying a high-end guitar always necessary to achieve a great tone? Well, according to Cars six-stringer Elliot Easton, you're better off buying based on your budget and investing in a good setup, rather than overspending on something you can't actually afford.

“We live in a time when there are more great guitars available to us at lower prices than there ever were when I was a kid,” he says in the latest issue of Guitarist.