I believe what the New York Times is saying. I have made the mistake in the past to buy things because they were cheap or on sale and they did not last me. Then I noticed that some friends bought quality stuff and had these items for over 10 years.

An example is my friend who is a guitarist/composer bit the bullet and bough a Valley Arts custom Pro Guitar from the USA for around $4000 AUS. It was made up of:

Valley Arts Custom Pro Strat 24fret

Ebony Fret board

EMG Pickups – Active (SSH)

Birdseye Maple Neck

Sadowsky Strings

I myself a budding guitarist bought a cheap guitar many moons ago for around $800AUS and have had problems with it and it costs to fix these problems.

This article comes from:
The case for spending a little more sometimes (NY Times)