This Guitar is Made in ....

[obzervr]

Hi Ppl, I was reading some posts and saw this theme creeping up often. Regardless the reputation or brand of guitar, a common question that kept appearing is "This guitar is made in ...?" or "where is this guitar made in?"

Having been exposed to the manufacturing world (where a product such as a camera may be designed in Germany, with parts fabricated in Korea, China & Thailand, Pre- Assembled in Vietnam, Final Assembly in Singapore, Randomised QC in USA) a decade ago before my career switch, I'm wondering how much perceived validity of a "Made in Claim".

In a product with many mechanical parts, the impending failure may be cautiously observed on its moving parts assembly from the quality of material, tolerance accuracy of each part and the precision of the assembly.

Strangely for guitars, in many of the posts, I noticed (which I may be wrong) little discussions on the quality of materials used in the final guitar.

For guitars, the mention of Brands come out tops in considering a guitar. Second its Birthplace. Pickup Combination, Tremolo type, '21/22/24 fret' are other frequently appearing themes. Wood type appears occassionally.

For man-made compound items such as the tuner heads, the tremolo bridge, perhaps certain processes such as raw materials used, preparations to remove impurities, the cooling, hardening processes, the finishing, etc. would affect the quality of the final product.

However. for guitars, where over 70% made from organic materials (i.e. wood), the quality features of wood tend to revolve solely around the type of wood. IMHO, discussion limited to wood types is like comparing tremolo bridges by the type of metal used (Copper, Brass, aluminium, cast iron, steel, stainless steel etc..). However, with metal products, we may have been socialised to know that even 2 stainless steel product of the same design may differ, not because of the design quality, but the quality of the materials used to fabricate the design.

However, (I may have missed it if it was there), I can't seem to notice discussions on guitar choices where tone is concerned, covering questions why for instance there is a great difference in percieved quality and price of an ash strat body from Brand A and an ash strat body from Brand B.

consider this. Assuming that we have 10 (ASH wood) Strat Bodies (All fender license),

1 - from Fender US
2 - From Fender Mexico
3 - From Fender Japan
4 - from Fender Korea
5 - From Squier China
6 - From Squier Indonesia
7 - from Warmoth
8 - From Allparts
9 - From Mighty Mite
10 - from Musikraft

and have them all fitted with from parts of the same quality (lets say the parts for american standard stratocaster) by the same luthier.

What do you think would be the differentiating factor in the outcome of the tone and final built quality?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

price tag, human psychology, exposure to wide range of guitars, amps being played with, whoever playing the instrument and perceptions of hearing range

 

[EugeneSmasher]

I think judging a guitar by where it was made is quite a limiting thing to do. I've tried various guitars made in China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and the US (indeed my hobby is trying out guitars at guitar shops) and I've come across both disappointing and impressive guitars from the same country.

It depends on the quality control of the particular factory, and the quality put into individual pieces.

 

[Everdying]

when ppl have a choice, they of cos will go for what they think is made from a country with good QC.
unlike stuff like cameras or computer parts, its either you buy it or you dont, totally different market.
tho there are still some who do go for country of manufacture, which partly explains why canon is still out-selling nikon in the compact camera category.

 

[Suislide]

its the same for so many things.. Cars, valves, ships, electronic goods, you name it. Even pro*******es.

its how the buying population perceives quality of the product and any added value in the product. The easiest way is of course to compare "Made in XXX".

So for guitars and everything else, resale value also comes into play and country of make will then rear its head.
you can talk this thread to death, i just don't think much will come out of it. There will always be someone rich enough to buy a MIA strat and many other who can only afford a Squier..

 

[obzervr]

The thing about cars, computers, and items manufactured from man-made materials would definitely vary on intent (i.e. the manufacturer decided how strong or durable the base material should be etc.) Surely, even for items made from a naturally obtain source such as wood, the variance on the raw similar materials (e.g. Ash) would surely be present. However, what are those differences considering Tree to Tree in the same plantation, the wood may differ in quality. Within a tree, wood from higher up the tree is known to be denser than wood at nearer the roots.

Once, I thought MIA guitar bodies and MIM Guitar bodies varies from the No of Wood Pieces used on the body and grain matching. Sometime later, I stumbled upon a two piece alder MIA and MIM bodies. The MIM had better grain matching that the MIA. And a while late saw a China source for unlicensed copy of a strat body had better grain matching that the MIA and MIM.

That experience made me reconsider the two factors above. Next that I could think of would be moisture content and drying method. i.e. Generally, Wood as a raw material is affected by the age of the tree, the part of the tree it came from, the climate of where the tree was grown. Upon 'felling', supsequent treatment such as quartersawn/ rift sawn and the method of drying (natural/Kiln) would affect the wood plank/board to be used for guitar construction.

However, these are factors that is not observable as most are behind the scene jobs. Any other ideas?