There are two broad categories of guitar. One is the category of guitars that a major manufacturer produces, in which they work backwards from the market-segment they wish to capture and pricepoint it would take to capture it. These are the folks who brought us Masonite Danelectros 50 years ago, and who now bring us $80 Strat knockoffs. The other polar extreme are the smaller builders who enjoy making instruments and work backwards from their overhead and living costs, and price their instruments to cover all of that. If I know it costs me $2200/mo just to pay the rent, utilities, health insurance (where applicable) and groceries, and I know I can only make 2 guitars a month, then I price accordingly so that, after overhead materials, tools, and taxes, I still have some profit.
As the materials and methods for the first category have enabled higher-volume production with lower labour costs, prices have come down, after adjustment for inflation. As the simple cost of living has gone up, the price of the second categoiry has gone up, even after adjustment.
This is not a complete accounting of the guitar industry and pricing, but it provides some inkling of how prices can seem to simultaneously get better AND worse.
