American, European, Japanese, Korean, Chinese

[henry norton]

I've noticed some Chinese made guita#s are approaching the £1000 mark now. This at the same time as Gibson launching their new Melody Maker US built range at less than £500 (sadly no basses yet). There's no doubt the high end Chinese gear is very nicely made and designed (often by US companies) whereas the pared down Melody Makers leave allot to be desired in terms of equipment and finish. Eventually this will filter through to bass guitars so the question is would anyone here put up with sharp frets and minimal equipment just to have "Made In The USA" stamped on the back of the headstock?

[neepheid]

The notion that an instrument is somehow automatically better than another because of where it's made is nonsense in my opinion. There are only two types of bass - good basses and bad basses. Good basses can be made anywhere, as can bad basses.

[ahpook]

[quote name='neepheid' post='1359582' date='Sep 2 2011, 10:28 AM']The notion that an instrument is somehow automatically better than another because of where it's made is nonsense in my opinion. There are only two types of bass - good basses and bad basses. Good basses can be made anywhere, as can bad basses.[/quote]

plus the one

[thisnameistaken]

I don't know where most of my musical instruments were made, it's never occurred to me to find out. The only one I am sure of is my Warwick which is from 1991 and thus German.

[charic]

I think Manufacturing lines get reputations rather than countries.

When you hear a German made Warwick is better than Korean or MIM vs CIJ vs MIA it's really about the manufacturing lines and the standard they work too.

[krazy_olie]

It's hard to say really, the reality is that USA made bass will usually have a higher spec so I don't think you can do 1 to one comparisons.
E.g is a USA jazz bass better than a MIM because of it's production line or it's components/design upgrades/wood choice etc. Probably more the latter but I don't think the former can be ruled out. Different plants will have different QC levels, providing different levels of consistency, better machinery. Any factory somewhere will have someone having a bad day and you might get his/her bad work.
Having said that this is starting to change, with cheaper USA lines like highway one and some very high spec "imports" starting to enter the market it all turns on it's head

[Lozz196]

I`m not fussed where the bass is made, only how good it feels and sounds.

Just coincidence that out of all my Precisions, the two I kept are made in the US.

[chris_b]

[quote name='krazy_olie' post='1359664' date='Sep 2 2011, 11:26 AM']....the reality is that USA made bass will usually have a higher spec....[/quote]
Really?

Don’t Japanese Fenders have a better reputation than the US ones? Japanese made Sadowsky Metro basses have a much higher spec than most US factory made basses.

IBM laptops, Nikon cameras, Phil Jones Bass, TC and Lakland Skyline are all made in the Far East and are top quality products. Ashdown made a huge mistake by cutting back on the spec and QC when they moved production to the Far East. That was their fault not the manufacturers.

It’s the company that matters not the factory.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='neepheid' post='1359582' date='Sep 2 2011, 10:28 AM']The notion that an instrument is somehow automatically better than another because of where it's made is nonsense in my opinion. There are only two types of bass - good basses and bad basses. Good basses can be made anywhere, as can bad basses.[/quote]
This.

I have guitars and basses made all over the world - Japan, USA, Korea, UK, Italy, Austria.

However all my made in the US instruments come from small companies rather than big factories like Fender, Gibson & MusicMan.

And the basses I use most often were all made in the UK (Gus, Overwater, Sei).

[Herbie The Rad Dorklift]

I dunno. This may be naive of me but I'm happy to have anything as long as the price reflects it.

There could be 2 basses exactly the same quality and playability, one made in USA, one made in China.

I would be happy to pay upwards of £1000 for the USA one, but would want the Chinese one for much less because it's cheaper to manufacture things over there.

Dunno if I explained that right.

[fender73]

Agree with the 'if it plays well, i don't care where it's made' comments.

I currently have a Korean Warwick, and dislike the 'If it ain't German, it ain't a proper Warwick' comments. It IS a Warwick, it says so on the Headstock! :-)

Graeme

[Doctor J]

Most of mine are Japanese, not an active policy, just the ones I've tried, liked and kept have largely been from Japan and a few from Germany.

[Jacqueslemac]

I have Fenders from Japan, Mexico and the USA and although the USA one is head and shoulders over the others, that could be down to the higher specification, as well as my own personal preferences (the neck profile, how they look, how they feel to play and what they sound like).

As someone else has said, I don't think it's the country that is as important as the specification and quality control processes. After all, photos from Fender's USA factory show that the employees there look very similar to those employed in Mexico (not wishing to bring any racial/cultural stereotypes into the equation!).

From my own standpoint, it's nice to know my best Jazz is a USA-made one and my Warwick is German-made, but it wasn't a deciding factor in my choice. It was about the way they felt and whether I could afford them.

But, to play devil's advocate, reputations are often based on fact, so there may - once anyway - have been a reason.

[geilerbass]

I love Japanese-made instruments. Don't know why, but every Japanese-made bass I've ever tried has been amazing. Of all the instruments I've ever played, the ones that have stood out as 'the best' in my eyes have all been Japanese-made.

So generally I view MIJ/CIJ (or whatever) as a mark of quality.

No doubt there are plenty of duff Japanese basses out there, but that's just based on my personal experience.

[joe_bass]

I've owned US & Mexican Fenders, a Chinese Warwick Rockbass, German Warwicks, a Japanese Sadowsky & others. Within their respective price brackets the quality has been excellent.

It's not down to specifically the country it's made in. Eg if Sadowsky was to transfer production of the Metro series from Japan to China & the quality was to drop significantly it wouldn't be because the workers happen to be Chinese instead of Japanese.

Though I'm not saying anyone one here seems to hold this view, I know people off basschat who do though!

[machinehead]

I also own US, Mexican and Japanese made Fenders. All of them are great and it's hard to see a great deal of difference between them. Especially when you consider that the most expensive one costs about three times the cost of the cheapest!!

Now, having said that, my favourite one is my US made vintage 75 reissue jazz. But is that anything to do with where it was made? Personally, I don't think so. I just love the feel of the neck, the sound is lovely and the look is just lovely.

Frank.

[Foxx]

Depends on the price it's been built down to i guess, as everything nowadays seems to be.

[Blademan_98]

I have a Squier (don't know where it's made probably China?) and it's had some mods like a fake logo (not done by me I hasten to add).

It plays nicely and has great tone (to my ears).

My wife and I went into Aylesbury music today and looked at the USA Jazz at £1050.

She said "Look that's your bass, it must be priced wrong because yours only cost £150!"

It may not have the quality and build of a USA Jazz but it looks like one and sounds nice and bass like!

I love it and so does my bank balance.

Edited September 3, 2011 by Blademan_98

[spinynorman]

It's odd, isn't it, that Apple doesn't sell "Made in America" iPad's for twice the price.

What reason could there be for MIA guitars to be higher quality? It's not like the wood is locally sourced, or the Far East doesn't know how to assemble electrical components. Are American CNC operators more skilled than their Mexican, Japanese or Chinese counterparts? Somehow I doubt it.

So, it looks like a marketing trick the US guitar industry has been getting away with ever since the Japanese started beating them at their own game in the 1970s. Even then it doesn't make much business sense; if you can make the same product cheaper in another location, business school 101 says you should do it.

The only theory that stands up is that the country music fraternity will pay a premium for a US made instrument, even if it isn't as good.

Oh, and before I get flamed

[krazy_olie]

[quote name='chris_b' post='1359700' date='Sep 2 2011, 11:49 AM']Really?

Don’t Japanese Fenders have a better reputation than the US ones? Japanese made Sadowsky Metro basses have a much higher spec than most US factory made basses.

IBM laptops, Nikon cameras, Phil Jones Bass, TC and Lakland Skyline are all made in the Far East and are top quality products. Ashdown made a huge mistake by cutting back on the spec and QC when they moved production to the Far East. That was their fault not the manufacturers.

It’s the company that matters not the factory.[/quote]

Nothing wrong with Japanese Fenders, I have one myself. However for example a USA standard Jazz will have string through body, higher quality hardware, usually better pickups, graphite truss rod, compared to it's Japanese and Mexican equivalents. So when you pay extra for a USA model these days you aren't only paying for the increased manufacturing costs. As a result it's hard to compare fairly. If you take something like a Marcus Miller Jazz bass it has a high spec and as a result costs as much as a USA one, Highway 1 basses were "lower" spec and as a result much cheaper.

[henry norton]

[quote name='krazy_olie' post='1361468' date='Sep 4 2011, 01:16 AM']If you take something like a Marcus Miller Jazz bass it has a high spec and as a result costs as much as a USA one, Highway 1 basses were "lower" spec and as a result much cheaper.[/quote]
Yeah that's the question though. Fender sold a fair few Highway Ones even though you could probably get a better made, better specced Fender for the same price.

By the way I play a JV Squier which was cheaper and better made than the equivalent US made Precision, yet plenty of people still went out and bought Fenders back then (in the olden days when Fenders were US made by default!).

[Spike Vincent]

Back in the day ( as I believe the youth say now) "Made in the USA" did carry a certain cache and a reasonable gaurantee of quality.This was when Japanese instruments were cheap copies and China was still a mystery. I don't think this is the case now,with quality instruments being made everywhere."Hand made in Bristol" is about the only thing that would get my attention now.

[Ian Savage]

I tend to not buy Chinese-made on political grounds (human rights etc), US/Japan/Korea I'm not so bothered new, 'though of course pre-1990s a lot more Korean stuff was dodgy than is now, and pretty much the same for Japanese pre-1970s.

[fragglefart]

Don't mind where a bass comes from but would have different price expectations based on labour costs.

I would love to have a UK hand-built bass one day, and yeah, an American Fender 'just because'.

[Davout]

A lot of the price difference is set by the Marketing departments according to what they think they can get away with in a certain market. There is also the Exchange Rate consideration too. At present the US dollar is rather overvalued, & during the course of the next few months I would guess that the marketplace will start to correct it. I'm afraid the USA will have to get used to similar economic conditions to the rest of us. That's what Globalisation means; it's a Leveller.

Tony.