it won't be any real problem for you to find a cheap guitar here. There are a couple of stores in the center of town that are quite good, one on the Paquis, the other on Rue Servette You can also order inexpensive guitars easily on Internet.

google thomann

Hi Sammy, 

Welcome to Geneva.

I found guitars here to be very expensive compared to elsewhere, and guitar cases here to be more expensive. Expensive obviously depends on your definition. If you are going to be making a Swiss salary, however, then don't think twice, just buy your guitar here.

I bought a James Neligan (Stagg) acoustic guitar for 599 CHF from the store Music Arts (www.music-arts.ch) which I would definitely recommend as a store. They were very helpful. Now you could buy this type of guitar in many countries for about half as much. I liked the sound though and couldn't bring my guitar with me, so I went for it. I didn't buy a case as they were asking ~200 CHF for a decent one and I thought it was unreasonable for just a case (unless it was fire/hurricane/tornado/tsunami proof or something).

You are right, if what you have is an inexpensive guitar, it's not worth paying to bring it here. If it were nicer I would say definitely bring it. Probably you can get a generic electric here for a reasonable cost, but if you like your Fenders or Gibsons you can see from the prices on the website that they will have a large import premium + increased overhead costs.

You should determine if the guitar you want + travel case + freight costs is comparable to the prices you see on the website. If you think it is, might as well get it where you live.

Now at first I was looking for used guitars, but I couldn't find them in the street markets and the used instrument store I tried to was always closed or on vacation (typical in summer) so I just decided to splurge. 

Best of luck!