You May Hate Me but.........

I have some player friends who totally look down their noses at any instrument made in Asia and especially Indonesia. I've never bought in to that. Sure, from a resale/value standpoint I like my guitars to be made right here in the USA. But for players, ones you use to gig, campfire guitars etc. I have zero problems with them. Some I would say are actually superb. Take Blueridge for example. They are just wonderful guitars at a price point that won't break the bank.

I recently picked up an Epiphone Masterbilt, Made in Indonesia, AJ 45 with electronics, brand new from Sweetwater for about $500. It's a gloss black with sweet electronics and it sounds superb either unplugged or plugged in.

I played in Church today with a couple female vocalists and the Masterbilt did everything I wanted it to. I had several non players come up after the Service to say how much they enjoyed the tunes and 4 of them said how pretty the guitar looked to them.

Anyway, I've learned to keep an open mind. These Asian guitars have a place (in fact several places) in my arsenal.

You got one in your corner for Epiphone Masterbilts. I had a AJ500 Mahogany dred that played and sounded great! Bought it for $350.

This the golden age of the cheap guitar, that's for sure. My first guitar was a Korean knockoff of a Gibson Dove. It looked like a Dove, it was beautiful, but it sounded like the box it shipped in and was painful to play. I had it for a while, then traded it back for a D-25.

There's lots of great Asian rim acoustic guitars,a nd I would have to put Eastman at the top of that heap. I recently sold an Eastman E6OM to a good friend (same guy that has my old D25-12 and Tele), and it was 90% of a Martin OM-18 at one quarter the price. For ultimate performance, I'll always prefer American mad acoustic guitars, though.

Now with basses, it's different. I love my Epiphone Jack Casady Signature, and DeArmond Starfire, and they are both great to gig out with and not worry about some drunk guy spilling beer on it. After selling my American made Fender Jazz Bass, and wishing I didn't, I bought a made in Japan Jazz Bass from a seller in Japan on eBay after following advice from some knowledgable folks over at TalkBass. Not only is it as good or better than any American Fender I've played, it's drop dead gorgeous in candy apple red.



It was only $550 shipped to my door, and I was allowing some extra money for a set of Lindy Fralin pickups, as some folks said the the MIJ pickups were a weak point. But after plying it for a few weeks, including one gig, I don't feel the need to do anything to the bass, other than add the mother of toilet seat pickguard.

I've mentioned this here before: my Goya solidbody electric, body made in Indonesia out of a light & resonant tropical (I'm presuming) wood I'm otherwise unfamiliar with, is a far superior guitar to the Martin EM-18 it's a near copy of. Also, my favorite of all the Strats I've played and/or owned is an early Fender Japan product. I don't think I've ever played an HB-equipped double-cut semi-hollow guitar better than my Ibanez AS-50 either.

-Dave-

Hello

Often before X-mas - or someones birthday - folks who know that I have itsy bitsy knowledge of guitars come to ask for help. They want to buy the first acoustic guitar for their child. Every time I have managed to find a brand new nice looking guitar which - after my one hour or less tweaking it - is easy to play , intonation is good and sound is reasonable - nothing like US Guild - of course - but decent. All this at 150 - 200€ at local music stores with no special deals - maybe 10-20€ off after sweet talking . . .

And these are good enough, that in a pinch I could go out and play public anytime with them.

I think if someone only wants to own and play American made guitars go for it but they might be missing out on some sweet deals. I am down to just one US made Guild Starfire III. THe rest of my electrics and acoustics are imports. They hail from Japan, Korea, China and Indonesia. The QC on all mine has been outstanding and they have (are) been a joy to play. I have on several occasions come very close to pulling the trigger on some American Made Guild acoustics but alas...I just can't indulge myself to that extent. Lived my whole life frugally especially when it came to myself. Now my wife and son...that is anther story.

Be they import or Red White and Blue, the important thing is you (we) enjoy them. And in the end they are just sticks and strings with some electrical thingies sometimes attached.

I don't hate you. This is a lot easier to moderate than the xenophobic threads that declare anything not MIA to be be junk for no reason other than it was not MIA. ;-)

I'm quite fond of the Alvarez MD series cedar-top guitars. You can find them for no money (I found mine at a yard sale for 200 bucks).

They sound fantastic (warm, woody and loud), the intonation is perfect, necks are very comfortable. I replaced the tuners and the saddle (the previous owner had sanded it too low); that's all it needed. I'm impressed everytime I pick it up. Great guitar!

The fact that snobs turn up their noses at anything not MIA is fine with me -- more for the rest us!

I was at the Guitar show in Dallas yesterday and was impressed with the craftsmanship of the non-American made PRS acoustics, around 1,000 dollars, which are not cheap. The non-Japan Yamahas were also very nice for around 500 dollars. What are we going to do?

Ralph

Some of my favorite guitars are Japanese, like this '90s Jackson Professional Pro:




Saying that a guitar isn't any good because of its country of origin is ridiculous. Every guitar should be judged on its own merits.

GAD said:

Saying that a guitar isn't any good because of its country of origin is ridiculous. Every guitar should be judged on its own merits.

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Just more evidence that guitars should be treated like people!

A few years ago I was asked by one of my daughters to help her find a guitar for her boyfriend. His current instrument was seriously a piece of junk.

Her budget pretty much demanded an import. After a few days of watching the local Craigslist I found a Martin Sigma (I forget what model) dreadnought.

I would consider it the perfect open mike/campfire guitar. It played nicely, sounded pretty good. For $100.00 it couldn't be beat. If he didn't like it I would have kept it.

I've opined on this subject before, but will again FTR... Blueridge and Eastman make some excellent
guitars, and IME Guilds MICs I've tried are as good or better... my D120 is more enjoyable
than several MIA Guilds in the house, might grab another if a deal presented itself.

Yeah, I hate you, but only because of your expansive Guild collection.:encouragement:

richardp69 said:

I recently picked up an Epiphone Masterbilt, Made in Indonesia, AJ 45 with electronics, brand new from Sweetwater for about $500. It's a gloss black with sweet electronics and it sounds superb either unplugged or plugged in.

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I had several Masterbilts, as some may remember, before using them to fund my Guilds. I liked 'em a lot Mine were from the 2004-2010 production run, EF500s in all the solid wood flavors, non-cutaways, no electronics, satin finish, so I was surprised to hear you got a gloss AJ45. Didn't know such a thing existed! Glad to hear it's workin' for ya!

richardp69 said:

I...

Anyway, I've learned to keep an open mind..

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Most guitars I have bought are made overseas to me in the UK, so I couldn't care less where they are from as long as they play and sound good in my hands. An open mind is what it's all about

jcwu said:

Just more evidence that guitars should be treated like people!

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I do hope that more folks would treat people as open-minded as they treat guitars . . .

Below are the two number plates I've had on my cars for the last 35 years. Granted things are a lot different now then they were back then. It's my little message to support the American worker. I try to buy American when possible, but that is harder and harder everyday; if not next to impossible. I used to get lots of comments, now hardly ever. Oh well.

For the record, I have 5 guitars, 4 American made Guilds and a Japanese Yairi.

Tom

I don't look down it. I pinch it between my thumb and forefinger.