Is USA made premium justitified?

Ted

There seems to be a premium in the guitar market to the USA made label (at least as far as price is concerned)

I wonder if this is really justified? Are Americans really better guitar makers than Koreans or Mexicans, surely if basic quality control is obeyed it should'nt make a difference where a mass produced guitar is made? Or not.

Winny_Pooh

This question does the rounds of every guitar forum regularly.

stickyfiddle

Kind of. But it's not because the USA-based factories are somehow inherently capable of making better guitars, but because that's where the best guitars were made, historically, and so it remains the place where the major companies base their high-end manufacturing businesses. 

I am in absolutely no doubt that the Japanese and Koreans could make guitars as good as any USA-made guitar (see the Japanese Gretsches, which are uniformly wonderful instruments), but they would have to charge the same prices for them as the USA ones cost (again, see Gretsch), and the market would not necessarily support that. 

guitarfishbay

Making a guitar is a learnable skill. Race doesn’t pose any barrier to that, though business can dictate where a company makes their ‘high end’ models.

chrisj1602

I think Gretsch as mentioned above are proof that you don't need USA manufacturing. At the lower end of the scale, Squier Classic Vibes are very well made considering the price. It would be interesting if you gave the Chinese workforce who are making Squier CVs the same quality materials as the American factory uses.

Gassage

So, if you recalibrate 'US' made and apply it to cars...?

Chalky

USA guitars *generally* have the best wood and hardware, so they are often worth the extra for that.  My PRS McCarty is better than all the PRS SEs I've tried or owned. And I've never found a better 335 than a good Gibson 335.

bacchanalian

Is part of the premium heritage?
Probably. 
Unless some footage of Peter Green playing a PRS SE shows up, it will likely remain ever so.

Best to just enjoy to range of high quality choices.

I am not hung up on US made but do prefer to buy stuff that is still made where the company began. 

For example, I would have no interest in a US made Marshall  

rossyamaha

The ugly truth of the matter is that it costs more to push the start button on a CNC machine in the US than it does in Mexico/ Korea/ Indonesia/ Chine etc. 

TheBigDipper

rossyamaha said:

The ugly truth of the matter is that it costs more to push the start button on a CNC machine in the US than it does in Mexico/ Korea/ Indonesia/ Chine etc. 

This. It may not be a better guitar, but a US-made guitar will cost more to make. Of course, this is part of the slippery slope that results in us all buying £3 t-shirts made by Vietnamese children. 

usedtobe

You pay a bit more on the understanding you take less of a hit on resale. Like a lot of things, not just guitars..

dazzajl

Is it justified? Yes

I don’t think it will be for long and it’s only because the resale value currently supports it. 100 percent about the aspirational perception of the guitar. 

digitalscream

Just like UK-made instruments, odds are that US-made guitars have been made by one or two people spending a lot more time on it than would happen on a mass-produced guitar from a production line. That means that the attention to detail will likely be greater, given equal skill on the part of the people involved.

Obviously this doesn't necessarily count for standard Gibsons (given the production line setup), but it would for the Gibson Custom Shop (I think) and, for example, Kiesel.

At least, that's my theory. Could be wrong.

munckee

Depends on the type of guitar I think, from my experience american specials for instance don't seem any better than mexican standards.  I have a mexican roadworn which I cannot see how it is any different to a custom shop, both have the individual attention and are made 100 miles apart just one maker earns less than the other.  A US standard however to me feels better than a mexican standard.

menamestom

Depends on the range.

I don't think there is a massive difference between Fender Mexican and Fender non CS US models, up until perhaps American Pro / Original Series. The pickups won't be as good, but they are an easy change.

bluechargeboy

Ibanez high-end guitars are made in Japan and they are the equal of any US instrument. Because they chose to put their high-end manufacturing in Japan.

Although they do build prototypes in Los Angeles for some reason...

EDIT: And ESP guitars.

Neil

bluechargeboy said:

Ibanez high-end guitars are made in Japan and they are the equal of any US instrument. Because they chose to put their high-end manufacturing in Japan.

Although they do build prototypes in Los Angeles for some reason...

EDIT: And ESP guitars.

It is about heritage.

Ibanez top range is made in Japan because that is where the company started and is based, ditto ESP.

Fender was born in California so that is where all of their higher end guitars come from. 

Sassafras

I just wish the Americans would stop using imperial measurements.
Makes buying after market stuff a lot more confusing.

guitarfishbay

I’ve got 3 US Standards and a MIM standard and there’s nothing between them for wood and finish quality IMO, they’re all a nice medium weight and resonant. I changed the electronics and hardware on the MIM, but had planned to do the same if I got a US model anyway, so to me the only real difference was a single fret and the price. 

2 of the US Standards have neck pocket gaps, I had another one that also had a neck pocket gap. None of the 3 MIM’s I’ve owned, including my current one, have had noticeable neck pocket gaps. Make of that what you will. The Korean and Chinese instruments I have are very tidily made as well.

Most things on an instrument can be fixed, it comes down to a question of cost and whether you think it is worth it.

If you intend to sell it a US instrument will hold its value better. If you intend to play it, nobody can hear the difference if they’re made to equal standards - which is possible, though generally companies make to a lower price point with Eastern made instruments. Regardless changing pickups and getting nice fretwork sorted levels out a lot between instruments and is comparatively affordable in many cases vs buying a more expensive US guitar.

Dingwall have an interesting business model IMO. Their cheaper line uses US/Canadian wood to a good standard (they state average weight of a bass is 8.75lb IIRC), routed and assembled in China using the same electronics they use in the Canadian basses, then shipped to the main Canadian factory to do the fret and nut there, by the same team who do that job on the Canadian built instruments at 2-3x the price. The difference is the Canadian instruments can be customised, both in terms of woods and finishes, the Chinese instruments have a lot less options.

darthed1981

Everything everywhere is made in the cheapest way possible to leverage the most profit margin, cos capitalism.  This means by and large there is literally no reason why a US made guitar should be superior to a Mexican or Korean one.

As someone said above, US labour is fundamentally pricier than almost anywhere else, therefore a production line US guitar will be more expensive than a production line Korean one.

This is also added to because the big manufacturers increase the specification of their US made models, even in daft ways like US fenders getting 22 frets and mexican ones 21, better pickups, better hardware etc.  There is no reason why Fender couldn't make a USA Professional Strat in the Far East to the same spec for the same quality and have it retail for £600.  However that is bad for Fender as they would only get £300 of that at best, bad for the retailer who gets a much smaller margin etc. etc. there is simply no good business reason for an existing name to make their high-end in the Far East. 

There is also snobbery in the guitar community as well, and to be more fair, a desire to be closer to a certain history and heritage that is associated with the "great" players they grew up listening to.  We talk about two associated hobbies/occupations here remember, playing guitar and collecting gear.  These are complementary and usually we all do both, but they are different things.

The QC issue is made more extreme because the Far East workers demand better wages as they get better.  This leads to the companies in those countries off-shoring, so the Korean manufacturer closes their Korean factory in favour of one in Indonesia etc.  With the best will in the world it takes a few years to get right.

Squier are so good these days you would have to assume that Fender's Chinese manufacturer are on it like a car bonnet now, but China is actually now getting more expensive for labour...

antifash

JAPAN.