Todays Idea of Quality...

[VitaminG]

for every old fart I see complaining that "they don't build 'em like they used to", I see another telling some youngsters that "kids these days have it so good - when I was learning, all I had was a baseball bat with recycled fencing wire for strings...."

[Norton]

no but that why ppl drive hondas not chevys now.

Hondas are just great. We've got 2 of them.

[Spivonious]

Take electric shavers for an example. I've gone through 3 of them till they finally wore out. It takes me about 7 minutes to shave and I shave five days a week. Considering they each lasted about 7 years, this is 228 hours of operation. That's pretty piss poor quality when something, that truthfully is a simple machine, will quit after an operating time of 9.5 days. Would you tolerate that in your car?

Yeah but I have a strong feelign that the shaver itself is fine, it's just the battery won't take a charge anymore. That's not build quality, it's just limitations of current battery technology.

[SEEGERMANY]

"I believe that if you want a guitar that's worthy of passing on to your kids, grandkids, etc, you need to have something custom made."

Tell that to the cats who own pre-1963 Strats and Teles.

[Soap]

"I believe that if you want a guitar that's worthy of passing on to your kids, grandkids, etc, you need to have something custom made."

Tell that to the cats who own pre-1963 Strats and Teles.

That era (pre-1963ish), they were indeed made to last, no debate needed.
Anyone that has one knows it and has a true prize.
You can say without contradiction or personal reservation, they don't make them like that anymore and never will again.

I do agree, if you want to pass down a guitar the will last,
a custom shop would most likely be the preferred way to go.
A custom warmoth will last a very long time.
Although jackson's USA SL1's are very high quality.

[markD]

i still believe that my USA select guitars are heirloom quality....as is my PRS and my chicago factory hamer USA...they are just superbly well built guitars.

in fact, i like the "quality" of my newer USA select guitars over my 80's USA jacksons...the new ones just feel and look better...

[shredmonster]

All I buy is custom anymore. You get what you want and the quality is there.
There are always exceptions to the rule of course but in general terms its what I have found.

[toejam]

The new Japanese import signature models are awesome. I'd say the Mark Morton Dominion (MM1) that I bought earlier this year is on par with my USA Charvel Star. I really want to check out a PD1 (Phil Demmel King V) when they come out.

[texasfury]

Yeah but I have a strong feelign that the shaver itself is fine, it's just the battery won't take a charge anymore. That's not build quality, it's just limitations of current battery technology.

My first shaver was cord only, the second had a battery (which conked out after 2 years, got it serviced, and conked out 2 years later, then the motor dies 3 years later), and the third was similar. So the motor is the common variable here. So seven minutes of use with 24 hours to "recover", that's a pretty poor operating time before failure.

[sonicsamurai]

my fender is perfect in every detail pretty much, and i think the new ones are better....vintage ones may have a great tone, bt if they were so great how come ppl had to redesign the trem, the tuners, string trees etc...i see my fender as state of the art and better for it, now thats fender for ya, everythings generaly great, u never see ppl complain about fender build quality, or messing up the order, or dodgy pain and construction... i pay 150 quid more for a jackson that isn't even american made, and the paints dodgy in places, although i won't deny the sound, set up and construction is excellent, u play gibbos and they've got so many flaws and feel really cheap at times, i don't think fender making construction easier and cheaper has resulted in poorer quality guitars from manufacturers, because the fenders i play, even the mexicans sound and play great and are built well, i just believe others have become complacent, maybe fender having cheaper easier construction methods has meant they can spend more time on attention to detail?

"I believe that if you want a guitar that's worthy of passing on to your kids, grandkids, etc, you need to have something custom made."

maybe, but it would help if the custom shop actually get the order right in the first place!!