“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

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.

“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. So buy based on your budget, and buy the best one you can get because you won’t grow out of it and get tired of it. You’ll always play it and it’ll always be good.”

As he puts it, “Even the most expensive guitars are only as good as their setup. That’s my feeling.”

And if he's forced to make a choice between buying a really good guitar and a cheap amp, or vice versa, which one would he go for – and recommend?

“That depends on the situation,” he answers diplomatically. “I’ve got a ton of really good guitars and some great amps, too. If the situation is that I’m somewhere and I have to make a choice… well, it’s a hypothetical question!”

Easton adds, “I can certainly say the passion I have for guitars is not the same for amps. I love great amps, but I don’t know what ‘rectifier’ or ‘tube’ is in that one or this one. I’m not an amp geek in that way.”

In a career-spanning interview with Guitar World last year, Easton looked back on how one of his all-time greatest guitar solos came to be – and revealed which of The Cars' records means the most to him.

For more from Elliot Easton, plus new interviews with Joe Bonamassa and Gibson Murphy Lab, pick up your own copy of issue 526 of Guitarist at Magazines Direct.