This is going to be a contentious issue and rightly so but I was in a local music shop today and I went there with a few guitars in mind to try, one was an Ibanez Fireman in a HSH configuration with DiMarzio pups.
So the clerk brings it over and I'm looking at it and liking what I see, see the price of the guitar is around £979 and I was thinking: "If this is Made in Japanese then that's pretty good, if Made in Korea then fair do's" but I see "Made in China" just stamped on the back of the headstock and "How Much?? For Made In China??" popped in to my head. I did feel pangs of shame because it's a downright snobby thing to think so I gave it a little strum and play.
Acoustically it felt dull and wooly, granted the strings were old and had seen better days but there were flaws on the finish too where the body paint had bled in to the neck coat near the join etc but it wasn't a lemon. The frets felt good and the humbuckers were good as to be expected, the general fit and finish was good, the fingerboard a bit anemic but with Rosewood nowadays that seems the norm unless it's a Custom shop jobby.
I ended up taking the Mira S2 because it felt SO much more like me, really comfy neck, lovely pups and just felt right to me.
Just wondering would you pay that kind of money for a MIC factory guitar? It's not a custom shop guitar so I mean if it was hand built by a pro luthier with decent woods etc that'd be a bargain no doubt but just wondering, is it too much?
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If it's made anywhere where labour is cheap (not just China), I expect it to be a bit cheaper than what an equivalent-quality instrument would cost if made somewhere with high labour rates. If it's genuinely boutique quality (from the sound of it the one you tried wasn't- I haven't tried it) then £979 would likely be alright, assuming a boutique quality guitar from the USA would be double that.
In the mid-70s, Japanese meant 'cheaper than American' - and looked down on. By the late 70s, it meant 'better than American and highly respected'.
I played some Ibanez Artcore semis a few years ago which were made in China and I was knocked out by the quality. At the time they were about £500 - they seemed 'dear' for Chinese and 'cheap' for what they were.
I bring the baggage of being 50 to these comments - of course 'all' proper guitars were American when I was growing up. 40 years ago (I'd been playing for a couple of years by then) I never imagined I would get to visit the States. My parents had never left the country! It was a place of wonder - the home of Rock and Roll, diners and electric guitars!
Makers like Taylor produce fantastic quality in Mexico, your Mira has Korean pick-ups and it is rumoured that the Gibson Eric Clapton Crossroads 335 had a body made in Japan....
Increasingly, I think it's about does the guitar (irrespective of origin) measure up? If it does, that's really all that matters....
I guess it's also the cost of everything going up nowadays! I mean Fender Standard strats are around £1,300!!
It all comes down to who's actually running the show and therefore managing the QC.
In fact...when I see a quality guitar made in China that sells for £300....my reaction is: What could they do if they were working on a street price of £500.
And I think the same about the MIM Fender guitars. Why limit the concept to the £400 to £700 price bracket? How amazing would a Classic Player guitar be with a thinner finish and hand finished fretwork?? (just as examples).
Bit daft, really.
The example I use is my friend's epi Explorer. I offered him 500 quid for it, even though he paid 200 used. It is, quite simply, one of the best guitars I've played and heard, bar none. £500 quid is a bargain for a guitar that good.
He won't sell.
I think Farida guitars are Chinese ,they have a pretty good reputation .....
...... wouldn`t buy one myself of course , ahem, cough, cough.... :-\"
Suhrs are essentially very finely made Fender-like guitars. Ultra-upmarket copies, in a way.
As soon as you take that concept down-market you are into American Standard territory price-wise. You are trying to sell a 'down-market' version of an 'up-market' copy at the same price as 'the real thing'.
I was convinced Suhr would struggle with these when they were launched.
The residuals on 'real' Suhrs is awful these days - which would make them even harder to sell if they were still in production.
How much do you think your average guitar in China costs to make?
I have to stress, I disagree completely with Richard. I really don't think it's anything to do with prejudice. I think it's because we've all been told that for decades China has been producing instruments and other gear really cheaply (price-wise, not quality-wise) and so we, as clever consumer capitalists... we expect to benefit from that.
I know I do anyway.
I understand that irrespective of origin, the maths in the guitar world is that for any imported instrument, the UK retail price is circa SIX TIMES the 'build' cost.
On that basis, no guitar offers good value....
If the retail price is around 6 times the build price, doesn't that actually prove my point?