Europe / USA vs Far East

[alembicbassman]

I've noticed that the Euopean and USA made basses retail for much higher prices compared to their far Eastern siblings.

Production costs are obviously cheaper, but is the quality control better from the European / USA camp?

One American bass player told me that USA Fenders are probably put together by Mexicans living in the USA anyway so there's not much difference between a Mexican Jazz and a USA Jazz.

Warwick's Chinese Rockbasses are half the price of their German counterparts.

Yamaha manufacture their TRB 1005/6 in Korea which makes them a lot cheaper than the TRB5/6 top line stuff.

Anybody had any major QC issues with these cheaper far Eastern instruments?

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='alembicbassman' post='378238' date='Jan 12 2009, 08:47 PM']One American bass player told me that USA Fenders are probably put together by Mexicans living in the USA anyway[/quote]

I'm not sure I get your point? Fenders have been built by Mexicans in living in the USA since the 50s.

To answer your question, I don't think you can generalise. No doubt some basses built in Korea wipe th floor with some US/EU-built instruments, and vice-versa.

[ironside1966]

I think it is the quality of the wood and parts not what country guitars are made in, also the tolerance and QC have a factor.

In this day and age it is silly to think that people form one county to another are more or less capable of quility work.
May be the training as better training costs more money, but i am sure wadges have somthing to do with it.

[OutToPlayJazz]

In terms of Fenders, the USA ones may be made by similar people, but the parts are much better quality. You get all the nice bits on a MIA.

As for the Eastern contingent, especially that Malasian(?) Cort factory that builds the Squiers & Laklands - Well, there's nothing wrong with the QC of stuff coming out of there, is there?

The same as the car industry, you'll struggle to find something badly made these days. They're all pretty good. It is the 21st century, after all.

Rich.

[Buzz]

QC wise is down the company and the factory, there are a number of companies that keep a very close eye on QC of their produced items.

Feature wise is a different story, like Fender for example, all the USA models also have much better features such as the bone nut as standard, the new high mass bridge, better pups, rolled edges on the fingerboard etc...

If those features were on a bass made not in a "premier" country so to speak, then would it be better or worse....I'd say very likely they'd be no noticable difference if there is one.

Hell, look at some of the Squier range, VMJ's I've never ever heard a bad word upon in regards to QC, and the new hardware from the MIA range is trickling down, all the new Classic Vibe range sport synthetic bone nuts and High mass bridges.

But you're talking about mass produced instruments.

Basses like Ric's for example all have hand finished necks, so unless you can find skilled workers (or train them up) who care about instruments and how the instruments feel, and being honest, those skills lie in UK/Europe/USA etc (because it's essentially a skill learned commonly as a hobby first before trying to make a career out of it), you're going to struggle to match the quality level, so the basses have to be made where they're made and benefit from the skills of the staff.

[WHUFC BASS]

As mentioned you can't generalise but I think the far-east come in for a lot of undeserved stick. I would put Japanese instruments up against anything coming out of the U.S. or Europe. They have been consistently good since the 70s - so much so that Gibson and Fender used their plants for manufacturing their guitars.
As for Korea, again, some very high quality instruments come out of Korea. They are well made, and yes, they do use quality parts too. From experience Washburn and Schecter make cheap quality instruments.

As for the Korean Rockbasses, they are quality. They use MEC pickups and Warwick tuners and play fantastically. I have a 5 String Corvette and I love it. It has the best neck on a 5-string I have ever played. It sounds great too. They use quality swamp as and maple on it too.
I think the Chinese models that are in production now just aren't as good.

Edited January 12, 2009 by WHUFC BASS

[neepheid]

Any factory can churn out a Friday afternoon special.

[The Burpster]

[quote name='neepheid' post='378490' date='Jan 12 2009, 11:57 PM']Any factory can churn out a Friday afternoon special.[/quote]

And can also produce an absoulte doosey!

I have seen close to perfect from Korea and exceedingly shonky from a US custom shop.

I would suggest that here in 2009, it is about the final result in your hands. If it is made well, fits [u]your[/u] criteria and budget, does it matter where its made?

QC is definately better from some companies than others irrespective of which country of origin.

Honestly, who has ever had someone come up to them after a set and say.....


"oh I much prefer the sound of your US made blah blah, against that nasty Korean one.....?"

[johnnylager]

I have a Czech Spector, a Korean KSD & until recently a US Stingray & I have to say they are all great. The 'Ray needed a neck shim & still needs a bit of stoning up the dusty end, but it's 20 years old and was largely unplayed for 10 years before it came to me.

It's a bit of an arse getting a new battery cover that fits for the KSD though. Then again Brooklyn Gear have had a few problems recently.

[rjb]

[quote]Warwick's Chinese Rockbasses are half the price of their German counterparts.[/quote]

Labour costs aside, the Rockbasses use non exotic woods with cheaper electronics and flat bodies.

I don't think QC is the issue it once was, the vast majority of asian stuff is very well put together these days.

Edited January 13, 2009 by rjb

[Adrenochrome]

[quote name='alembicbassman' post='378238' date='Jan 12 2009, 08:47 PM']Anybody had any major QC issues with these cheaper far Eastern instruments?[/quote]

No, not at all, and I've had a few.

[tempo]

As already stated, it's not down to which country the bass is made in, but the attitude of the company that makes it. Try out a top line Cort, Ibanez prestige, Lakland Skyline, G&L trib etc. All as well put together as any production line instrument from US/Europe. There are manufacturers, ie Fender, who as previously stated, keep some features & options only on their US builds though.

[OutToPlayJazz]

I was just thinking that I'd like to see something like a far-east made Squier Classic Vibe jazz (excellent quality!) with all the nice American series Fender bits on it. That would be an amazing bass!

[Toasted]

I think it can often be on a bass-by-bass-basis. ooher.

[wateroftyne]

What evidence are you basing your bass-by-bass-basis on?

[Toasted]

My bass-by-bass-basis is based on the basic principle of, uh, basses?

[chris_b]

The quality of the bass in your hand is down to one thing, the management of the company that made it, not the guy on the end of the conveyor belt. All the boutique basses have far east counterparts which are very well made and presented, ie Metro, Skyline, Kingston so it's not "where" that counts.

[Leowasright]

Given the basis that I can comment on basses on this basis.......

Given the GAS I suffered over the last year, I would say Japanese product is easily the most consistent, and probably best, on balance.

However, even despite the fact that QA (quality control/assurance) regimes outside Japan never reach Japanese levels; (And you have to remember many of the origins of modern quality originated in the US in the 50s), people will always hanker after well known makes from their original country of origin( I'm saying USA here), even if the product is more hit and miss.

I am sure this is the case with Fender USA and Mexico, but not with Fender Japan, whose QA is higher.

To some extent it is also true with Gibsons vs Epiphones. You will probably find Epiphones, although built to a lower standard, are more consistent than USA Gibsons are.

What I am not saying is that China/Indonesia/Korea build necessarily better stuff, but that build potentially more consistent stuff.

The simplest alternative word for QA is consistency.

Make sense??

[Kubs]

From my experiences far east basses are still step down from american/european- they are nice maybe have better price/performance...but its mainly because they cost half or third of price.

To MIA vs. MIM fenders....its BS to say there is no differecne cause they are made by mexicans in america because manufacturing of fenders has this system(I got this from Talkbasser who is Fender dealer and was on excursion in both fender factories)

bodies and necks are cut in american factory, nicer grain and no more that 2-3 pieces bodies stays for american standard produciton
perfect matched grain goes for american deluxe series,

3 and more pieces are supposed to finish in mexican factory.....

There is no problem in mexican factory only resources are cheaper than americans...

Fender Japan vs MIA is little more problematic because there to much japan models that are really cheapo basswood and weak electronics and hardware...I would say that deluxe or higher series from japan could be equal in terms of quality and sound to USA but dont forget that they cost same price.


I also would like to comment that Fender are for most players "working horses" and they dont mess much with seting up, changing strings etc. so such fenders could be quite difficult to judge because bad setup and old strings could make Sadowsky sound like average bass....



Also another problem is that usually when it comes to USA vs. East discussion separates on two groups

American owners says-"I tried also east production but my american has better everything, it definitely deserves its price, but east production is also great"
East production owners says "I dont find reasonable to pay one or two grades for american thera are differences but i dont think they cost so much"