re: Guitar Players: How much importance do you put in where a guitar is made Re Asia Vs US/mex

" Everybody knows you can't get far on 37 dollars and a Jap guitar"

Steve Earle

quote:

---

If you're steadfast in your position, Auggie, you'll need to buy that used too. Cort Indonesia - who ghost-builds Squier for FMIC, LTD for ESP, SE for PRS, all the Ibanez MII stuff, I can go on - uses plenty of Chinese components, from assorted electronic pieces and hardware and screws to internal pickup components. Cor-Tek (today) originated in Korea (Samick) but its big money plants today are in Indonesia and China.

I don't think you can find ANY guitar, amp, pedal, accessory or pickup manufacturer anywhere that doesn't have a Chinese PCB, part/component, sub-assembly, raw natural resource or processed material/alloy as part of its manufacture.

This is true for EVERY major guitar and gear manufacturer in America, even all the big old skool and/or high end names whose marketing endeavors would have you believe otherwise. Their federal Customs/port of entry docs, descriptions of the goods they receive and the goods' country of origin are public records and are easy to trace online if you seek enlightenment beyond this post.

---

Yes, If I buy any guitar, it's going to be used. I've only bought 1 new one in my life.
I get tempted sometimes to buy something new when a good deal is advertised, but I can usually make myself wait until a used one comes along at a good price.
I bought a used Chinese Washburn resonator guitar this morning . It has a spider bridge pickup plus a single coil neck pickup that sounds pretty good.
It's in almost un-played perfect condition, and I got a really good deal on it. I gave 200ish for it, but I've really been wanting a resonator guitar with a spider bridge pickup, and I don't see them often, so I went on and bought it. I bought the guitar for less than the cost of a Fishman spider bridge pickup, by itself.
I'll play it a couple of weeks and decide what it needs done, and if and when, it needs any upgrades, every part I use will be U.S made.
First thing will probably be the neck pickup. I'll put one of the Fender 62 AVRI telly pickups in there. I've already got a couple of those that are new, and I really love the sound of those.

Weird thing about this guitar, the model # is R131C1A and I can't find a single thing about that model anywhere.
Also, it doesn't have a volume control. It has a blend control for the pickups and a tone control.
Neck and action are damn near perfect, but maybe a little close for slide. I may have to address that.

quote:

---

You may want to stick to playing it acoustically, or sell your new AVRIs and buy used ones to stick to your principles. Care to guess the origin of the alnico rod mags in your AVRIs?

China produces basically all the guitar pickup magnets in the world in modern times, even the magnets found in the highest priced most boutique and allegedly "made-in-USA" pickups. Just because their magnet source may be a domestic company, it doesn't mean the magnets themselves or the raw alloy cast into magnets is domestic. That's the case today in respected European foundries too.

Guitar pickups are a small niche, small dollar market compared to American defense and transportation industry applications. So unless you're spending in the realm of DOD contract money or Detroit automaker money, you won't see an American foundry blending or casting domestic alloys for ANY small niche use.

---

Yeah, unfortunately, what you say is true, but I think maybe you consider it some kind of " gotcha". It's not.
It's just more of a confirmation to how we have outsourced our manufacturing, and shot ourselves in the foot as consumers, just wanting the cheapest prices on new items.
We have put a stranglehold on our own manufacturing through EPA regulations, frivolous lawsuits, and ridiculous workplace social demands.
We have more resources than anybody in the world, and are regulating ourselves into having to buy from foreign sources. This negatively affects demand for American labor, and that negatively affects wage's.
I've been preaching about these things for 40 years, and here we are.
Yes, you are right, it has become almost impossible to buy entirely U.S. made products. That just verifies how right I have been all of these years.
All is probably already lost at this point, but I will do my best to stick to my convictions.

quote:

---

My current workhorse is a G&L Tribute Series ASAT Special, made in Indonesia.

---

Hellacious great guitars. I saw one that I really want a couple of Months ago at Art's music in Montgomery.

Every guitar I own is American, with the exception of my Mexican Strat, which was my first guitar. Im really wanting to get an Eastman sometime. I've heard nothing but good things about them. Tokai makes good stuff too.

I only play basses with bodies/neck-thrus made from African elephant tusks. Once formed, these pieces are then shipped to Monaco where a luthier spends 3 months adding lightweight aircraft grade aluminum precision tuners and Beryllium frets.

They are then airmailed to The Fret Shack for installation of custom wound Carondelet humbucker pickups.





But really…

I have a couple Indonesia/China made Ibanez and Squire basses ($250 and $800 respectively) that, once plecked and then sent to Fret for final adjustments, are really pretty good playing basses, and well worth the final cost for acquiring, plecking, and final set up by Fret.

I use these mostly for band practices. My go-to when playing live is a Spector Euro-4 LX—it just feels like butta when standing and playing (the curved body back is hard to not like).

Regarding acoustics…my Martin BC-16E full scale acoustic bass is in another league from my medium scale T-Bucket acoustic Fender bass. The Fender plays well (it has been plecked and then sent to Fret for final adjustments), and is my daily “grab a bass and play out back by the fire pit” 4-stringer, however, the Martin is just better in every way— and should be considering it is $1800 more than the Fender. THe sustain on the Martin acoustic goes on forever. The only negative—it is gigantic instrument!—which is why I use the medium scale Fender acoustic much more frequently.

I have a Hofner bass that I am considering using for firewood for the pit (how in the hell does Sir Paul play this damn thing? It feels like a toy with string spacing like a 6-string guitar!—have to use a felt pick, and I hate picks!)

Also, can some one explain why a true Gibson SG is thousand's of dollars better that my Epiphone Custom SG?

Thousands of dollars better? It's not.

Thousands of dollars more? Everything from the raw cost of Western hemisphere mahogany, Indian rosewood and African ebony compared to "similar" Asian wood species; to the hourly wages, benefits packages and workman's comp insurance tied to American workers compared to Asian workers, to the cost of advertising, marketing and promotional efforts to position the more elite brand as such.

quote:

---

Thousands of dollars better? It's not.

Thousands of dollars more? Everything from the raw cost of Western hemisphere mahogany, Indian rosewood and African ebony compared to "similar" Asian wood species; to the hourly wages, benefits packages and workman's comp insurance tied to American workers compared to Asian workers, to the cost of advertising, marketing and promotional efforts to position the more elite brand as such.

---

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I have a rosewood dreadnought that was built by a local luthier.

The luthier and I figured that buying top level materials, we had roughly $800 in wood and other materials alone, plus his labor.

I have roughly $2k in it compared to $3500 or so for a standard Martin HD28 and I have several "upgrades" such as a torrified Adi spruce top.

My guitar sounds far better than a standard Martin IMO so at a certain point, like you said, you're paying for a name but unlike "the old days," just because it's a Martin or Gibson doesn't mean it's automatically better than other stuff.

There's more parity than ever before among guitar builders IMO.

I bought my Martin Custom Shop used for about $3k and I think it's worth that.

Cool story about my local builder, we both live in the Midwest but I'm originally from Mississippi. Come to find out, he was born in the same town in Mississippi as I was.

I will post pics of it soon, it's amazing.

That’s really cool. I ended up going and playing every solid acoustic dread I could find under 1200 dollars. Ended up with an alverez masterworks md70bg spruce top/rosewood sides and back. It was the one that I enjoyed playing the best. I tried to like the MIM Martin, but i just didn’t care fore the neck. Considered the Yamaha ll16, and the guild 140, but for the price I couldn’t pass up this alverez.