I used to build guitars from scratch for a couple of years and I modified a lot of guitars for over 20 years. Both experience and research impressed a few things on me:
Multiple pieces of wood, when properly glued, clamped, and dried will act as a single piece of wood, but may be stronger depending on the grain directions.
On an electric guitar, everything from the bridge to the nut is the most important part of the guitar. The bridge is more important than the body material and the nut is more important than the neck material.
That said, the nut, bridge, and frets must be properly installed and flush, so the materials and craftsmanship need to be good enough to secure them (particularly the bridge, so avoid soft woods).
Assuming the neck and body are well cut and shaped, if you take a budget or intermediate guitar with a good fret job and replace the bridge, pickups, electronics, tuners, and nut with better quality parts where necessary, that guitar is almost always going to be just as good as a more expensive model.
One last thing: a well fitting, flush, and tight, bolt-on neck will work just as well as a glued in neck.
Our psychology makes us think that a more expensive guitar has to be inherently better, but a souped up, less expensive guitar is going to work great. The more expensive guitars will almost always have fancy finishes and ornaments, but that doesn't do anything for sound performance. If the guitar is handmade, the price will reflect that, but pieces cut on CNC machines will more consistently match specs at a reduced cost, without skimping on quality of work.
If a person wants to spend the money to own a work of handmade art, I think that's awesome and I wish I had money to do the same. For the people who can't afford it, look for the shapes that feel good, construction that is proper, wood that is good quality, and have fun. If you need to upgrade a few pieces of hardware to make the performance 100%, do so.
