Guitarist-isms that make you cringe

Frantic1

The "first to see will buy" arrogance of some peoples adverts......i've a good mind to turn up,look at it,and just say 'meh,not for me thank you'"and depart......thus proving him incorrect!

Offset

thegummy said:

Offset said:

And I didn't mention a lack of skill in my original post.  I was pointing out that the word 'crafted' is intended to portray a different image of guitar production to the actual reality.

I agree with that of course, that's what I was meaning when I said about them using the term "crafted".

But when I said "bit harsh" I was saying that it's a bit more involved than putting together an Ikea table, isn't it?

Maybe it's not, I could be wrong.

No, you're right.  And my Cort G300 is superbly, um, 'crafted', ie. put together and finished.  But the use of the word and the impression it tries to convey is just hugely irksome.

Litterick

Offset said:

On the contrary - it's pretty much how it is and they have my very real sympathy.  Just one example:

https://unitelive.org/cort-guitar-makers-international/

A useful link. Thank you.

ICBM

Litterick said:

Offset said:

On the contrary - it's pretty much how it is and they have my very real sympathy.  Just one example:

https://unitelive.org/cort-guitar-makers-international/

A useful link. Thank you.

It would be nice if it made some guitar buyers think twice about whether they need a whole collection of mid-priced guitars all bought at the lowest possible prices, rather than just a couple of more expensive ones built under better working conditions.

But I doubt it will.

Supportact

Offset said:

thegummy said:

Offset said:

thegummy said:

Litterick said:

Made in USA,  but Crafted in Korea.

On the back of that, "crafted in $country" in general, as if means anything different to "made in"

'Crafted' is intended to give the impression that some wizened, aged and super-skilled luthier has lovingly created your £300 guitar using time-honoured techniques and handed-down wisdom.  It moves your mind away from the reality, which is of course that the bodies are routed out by a CNC machine and the parts are bolted on in an Asian sweat-shop by a bunch of poor souls who are paid 30p an hour.

Bit harsh on the factory workers!

On the contrary - it's pretty much how it is and they have my very real sympathy.  Just one example:

https://unitelive.org/cort-guitar-makers-international/

I'd not seen that story. Thanks for posting.

thegummy

ICBM said:

It would be nice if it made some guitar buyers think twice about whether they need a whole collection of mid-priced guitars all bought at the lowest possible prices, rather than just a couple of more expensive ones built under better working conditions.

But I doubt it will.

Not really that simple - buying a more expensive guitar made in a first world country with better working conditions doesn't help the Indonesian people at all, it actually takes work away from them.

ICBM

thegummy said:

Not really that simple - buying a more expensive guitar made in a first world country with better working conditions doesn't help the Indonesian people at all, it actually takes work away from them.

I didn't say first-world country.

No reason better guitars can't be built in Indonesia - in fact some really quite decent Ibanez models are made there already.

thegummy

ICBM said:

I didn't say first-world country.

No reason better guitars can't be built in Indonesia - in fact some really quite decent Ibanez models are made there already.

Ah right, I thought the brands like Ibanez who made their cheap and expensive instruments in East Asia made both ends of their range in the same factory and that the expensive ones were just higher specced.

Offset

thegummy said:

ICBM said:

I didn't say first-world country.

No reason better guitars can't be built in Indonesia - in fact some really quite decent Ibanez models are made there already.

Ah right, I thought the brands like Ibanez who made their cheap and expensive instruments in East Asia made both ends of their range in the same factory and that the expensive ones were just higher specced.

The cheaper Ibanez and PRS models (SE) plus countless other well-known brands are made by Cort in Indonesia.  Higher-end Ibanez guitars are 'crafted' in Japan.  Sorry, couldn't resist :-)

ICBM

Offset said:

The cheaper Ibanez and PRS models (SE) plus countless other well-known brands are made by Cort in Indonesia.  Higher-end Ibanez guitars are 'crafted' in Japan.  Sorry, couldn't resist :-)

Only the very high end. There are other premium models - eg the Blue Floral JEM - which are made in Indonesia. Location is not the important factor, it's the intent behind the manufacturing quality.

The low cost of many of the guitars coming out of Indonesia now is ludicrous. We might see it as a good thing as buyers, but it really isn't - it really just means that expenses, of which the largest is labour, have been screwed down to the absolute minimum, so it's no wonder they have to mistreat their workforce.

Hootsmon

Guitarist-ism

thegummy

ICBM said:

Offset said:

The cheaper Ibanez and PRS models (SE) plus countless other well-known brands are made by Cort in Indonesia.  Higher-end Ibanez guitars are 'crafted' in Japan.  Sorry, couldn't resist :-)

Only the very high end. There are other premium models - eg the Blue Floral JEM - which are made in Indonesia. Location is not the important factor, it's the intent behind the manufacturing quality.

The low cost of many of the guitars coming out of Indonesia now is ludicrous. We might see it as a good thing as buyers, but it really isn't - it really just means that expenses, of which the largest is labour, have been screwed down to the absolute minimum, so it's no wonder they have to mistreat their workforce.

So are those JEMs you mention made by different workers to the lower end ibanez models?

ICBM

thegummy said:

So are those JEMs you mention made by different workers to the lower end ibanez models?

I have no idea - most likely, since factories usually have separate production lines for different models and ranges. Whether they're treated any better or not, I have no idea either.

The point being that if they were all building higher-end guitars with more margins in the pricing, the workers wouldn't need to be treated so poorly.

You can buy an Indonesian-made Squier Bullet Mustang - a fully-functional electric guitar of a quality which puts any cheap guitar made in the last century to shame - for *less* than the actual dollar price of a cheap and worse-made guitar in the mid-1980s, let alone inflation-adjusted. There's something not right about that, and the workers' conditions have to be a part of it.

Zoonyboy

private build and private stock. They are all for sale, aren't they. Or do the factories keep them?

Lewy

When people make a disproportionately big deal over relatively small dimensional things. e.g.

'I need a 1 3/4" nut...1 11/16" is just completely unplayable for me'

....how does anyone ever switch from guitar to mandolin and back without needing physiotherapy!

thegummy

Lewy said:

When people make a disproportionately big deal over relatively small dimensional things. e.g.

'I need a 1 3/4" nut...1 11/16" is just completely unplayable for me'

....how does anyone ever switch from guitar to mandolin and back without needing physiotherapy!

That's a good one and there's actually a lot of exaggeration of very small differences all over the guitar community.

I'll give people the benefit of the doubt that it makes a bigger difference psychologically rather than thinking they're just being pretentious.

thegummy

Zoonyboy said:

private build and private stock. They are all for sale, aren't they. Or do the factories keep them?

You mean when I bought "Paul's Guitar", Mr Smith wasn't left without one!? Shenanigans!