The above 3 guitars I own are made in China. I have no regrets buying them considering the total expenditure of these 3 instruments could get me a robust American instrument (which I do own). Friends have been asking me recently if the Chinese guitars are worth it or should we regard them as pariahs considering they are the subsequent country of manufacture for companies wanting to trim production costs.
Should we travel back in time, say 15 years or so ago, if you ask me to fork out my hard earned cash for a Chinese guitar, I'd think real hard before parting with a single cent. There were instances of Chinese instruments manifesting some of the most revolting QC & these are the affiliated products of a very prominent guitar brand name. It was a sheer case of riding on the parent company's branding goodwill but in truth, the products were semi-duds.
It was the documentation of these horror episodes which led to the distrust today, compounded by the fact that all things Chinese (electronics especially: washing machines, refrigerators, hi-fi sets, etc.) were tragedy-in-waiting products. Am I propagating some Chinese sympathy here considering the aftermath of the recent case of toxic Chinese dairy products? I am merely advocating for players in general to value the product as it is- horrible production exists everywhere. Far-eastern production gets blamed all the time but there is a need to understand the level of technology which exists in these places before being conveniently dismissive. The level of production supervision today is different from the days of the past; individuals from the parent company (eg: Yamaha products in Indonesia) make a conscious effort to monitor the output standard in the outsourced country of manufacture. Reputable raw materials are used & the end products are different in performance standards compared to the wares of yesterday...
Ibanez may not suffer from the made-in-China stigmatism compared to Epiphone; potential buyers are skeptical when buying the Les Paul models of the latter manufacturer (because the previous generation of Epi LPs are Korean & deemed to be of better standing in terms of QC). The rookies in guitar buying would fall for this apprehension without knowing what the rot is all about. It is also an uphill battle convincing them to exercise due fairness when assessing a particular product because despite being aptly educated & having the capacity to make sound judgements, they still fall for prejudiced opinions & treating them as forthright references.
2 comments:
Just thought I add that this entry is relevant not just for guitars, but the gears that come with them as well. A good example? Vox's V847
thanks for the addition- it's very relevant indeed...
...and i own the V847 :-)
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