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374 Posts
I think that a bias or preference for country of origin is a very generational thing. Up until the late 70's, Japanese guitars were "cheap." Then by the 80's/early 90's Japanese guitars were hugely desirable and Korean guitars were cheap. By the late 90's/early 2000's, Korean build quality had largely improved and Chinese guitars were cheap. Then by the 2010's, some Chinese guitars were remarkably improved and Indonesian guitars were cheap. Now, as many have stated, you can find some excellently made Indonesian guitars. In a decade, we'll be seeing a new crop of instruments made in Bangladesh or Madagascar and scoff at them...but then those will start to improve as well.
I remember back in the mid 90's, my uncle, a session and studio musician for decades, looking at my first guitar- a Korean built Ibanez RX. He took one look and said "oh, made in Korea...you could have got a Mexican strat for a couple hundred more." But then he sat down and jammed with it and was thoroughly impressed at the quality for $199.
In the end, it comes down to the QC policy enforced by the brand regardless of country of origin. This is how we've seen some shit Gibsons and "meh" Fenders coming out of the US over the last 10-15 years and some surprisingly good guitars coming out of Korea, China, and Indonesia. There is also something to be said for older brands coasting on their reputation and newer brands wanting to make a good name for themselves, but unable to mass produce in the US or even Japan. You can find skilled workers anywhere, but it's up to management to train them properly and enforce standards. When you have lax management oversight, that's when problems slip through.
In 30 years, we'll probably see a huge demand for used Indo's made in the 2015-2025 range. All of the shitty instruments from that era would have been tossed in the wood chipper long before, and the best ones would have been taken care of. Just like cars: a lot of awesome hot rods and muscle cars from decades ago were used, abused, and abandoned to rust in some corn field. The ones that were taken care of are still running, so now you only see the most pristine examples on the road.
I remember back in the mid 90's, my uncle, a session and studio musician for decades, looking at my first guitar- a Korean built Ibanez RX. He took one look and said "oh, made in Korea...you could have got a Mexican strat for a couple hundred more." But then he sat down and jammed with it and was thoroughly impressed at the quality for $199.
In the end, it comes down to the QC policy enforced by the brand regardless of country of origin. This is how we've seen some shit Gibsons and "meh" Fenders coming out of the US over the last 10-15 years and some surprisingly good guitars coming out of Korea, China, and Indonesia. There is also something to be said for older brands coasting on their reputation and newer brands wanting to make a good name for themselves, but unable to mass produce in the US or even Japan. You can find skilled workers anywhere, but it's up to management to train them properly and enforce standards. When you have lax management oversight, that's when problems slip through.
In 30 years, we'll probably see a huge demand for used Indo's made in the 2015-2025 range. All of the shitty instruments from that era would have been tossed in the wood chipper long before, and the best ones would have been taken care of. Just like cars: a lot of awesome hot rods and muscle cars from decades ago were used, abused, and abandoned to rust in some corn field. The ones that were taken care of are still running, so now you only see the most pristine examples on the road.
