Understanding Jackson Indonesian Import Factories

[wrldeatr7]

That would be $$$. Making neck-thrus is more labor-intensive/expensive and time-consuming, especially if you're doing three-piece necks + some more pieces for the headstock.

Does the Mexico plant also make Fenders?

[rjohnstone]

The Mexico plant is setup to make bolt-on guitars. Bodies and necks.
It's cheaper to make neck thru guitars overseas right now as those facilities and staff are already setup to make them.

[xenophobe]

Samick is a Korean company with plants in S. Korea, China and Indonesia.
They've been making Epiphone, Squire, Ibanez, and a host of guitars for other companies for decades.
I remember their early 90's Samick branded LP's were fantastic. So good that Gibson threatened to cancel the Epiphone contract if they didn't "reduce the quality".
Point is, Samick has the skill set to make great guitars. On par, if not better than World.

Um... that's not because Samick makes them so great, that's because Gibson's QC and consistency is garbage and because Samick can at least make them consistent.

BTW, most WMI builds aren't high end either. When they choose to do high end, it's comparable with USA or MIJ quality. Samick can do pretty well, Cort not so much. So yeah, I would put WMI > Samick > Cort.

As for Indonesia, I haven't played a single Jackson made in Indonesia, Malaysia or China that I thought was actually really worth the purchase price.

[rjohnstone]

As for Indonesia, I haven't played a single Jackson made in Indonesia, Malaysia or China that I thought was actually really worth the purchase price.

Ditto... which is why I haven't purchased an import Jackson in years.
I even have a hard time justifying buying one of the new made in Mexico Charvels.
Flatsawn necks are a joke, especially on a guitar that costs nearly a grand.

[Nightbat]

FWIW, my 2003-ish Epi Custom was built by Unsung
And my 2012 WMI Warlock had it's fretboard dyed (black fingers for 2 weeks)

[wrldeatr7]

And my 2012 WMI Warlock had it's fretboard dyed (black fingers for 2 weeks)

What model Warlock is that?

[xenophobe]

I don't recall specifically playing any Unsung, except for a few cheap Ibanez I think? ...so I can't really comment. I have played tons of Samick and Cort. My WMi ebony board is jet black and has that graphite texture like 80's/90's Jackson, I'm sure it's dyed... most ebony is, but never had any color leech off of it. Even if it did, it wouldn't degrade the build quality.

The only gripe I have about WMI is that they cut their frets a little short kinda hiding the fact that they don't do fret ends very well. Other than that, not really much for me to complain about.

Ditto... which is why I haven't purchased an import Jackson in years.
I even have a hard time justifying buying one of the new made in Mexico Charvels.
Flatsawn necks are a joke, especially on a guitar that costs nearly a grand.

Yeah agreed, and those MIC Jacksons they're selling for $1k? That's a joke to me too.

If WMI were making high end Jackson imports, I would had no trouble buying them.

[wrldeatr7]

Yeah agreed, and those MIC Jacksons they're selling for $1k? That's a joke to me too.

Chinese Jacksons for $1000? Where is this?

[xenophobe]

Chinese Jacksons for $1000? Where is this?

The new Pro stuff? Or is that made in Indonesia? Sorry, i wouldn't pay anything for an Import Jackson these days. It's all overpriced firewood.

I swear the last $899 Jackson I played at GC had a MIC label on it. It wasn't a bad guitar, but it was a $300 guitar selling for nearly $1k out the door. No thanks.

[rjohnstone]

I was referring to the new MIM Charvels.
Street price is $899 (MSRP starts at $1,208) Hard tails are $100 cheaper.

I won't look at anything less than a Pro series Jackson today, and even those aren't as impressive lately.
The X and MG series look nice in press shots, but in the hand, they feel cheap.

[wrldeatr7]

Pros are Indonesian. But if it said China, they're really trying rip someone off.

Oh, and some of the 2016 22-fret Rhoads Pro will be $1100.

[xenophobe]

Well, I did play or at the least inspect a number of newer Jacksons all in the $500+ range and I really wasn't impressed. They all felt like beginner's guitars with intermediate prices. Call me a cork sniffer all you want, but I basically won't buy a guitar that isn't either a WMI, or MIJ or USA guitar. I honestly don't care about Fender's profit margin, I care about overall quality. And while the MIC necks are actually fairly nice, I do question the quality of lumber being used.

[wrldeatr7]

The X-Series are made of basswood so they're pretty light and don't feel very "substantial" but are good guitars overall. Unfortunately, they are somewhat expensive for what you're getting.

Some of the Chinese JS Series were made of plywood, not sure if they still are.

[lepard]

I don't recall specifically playing any Unsung, except for a few cheap Ibanez I think? ...so I can't really comment.

The Ibanez crappy Korean guitars were made by Cort. As for what you may have picked up that was made by UnSung, possibly a 2008-2014 set-neck or neck-thru Dean(Dean has gone back to WMI for 2015 with their top of the line imports) or a Korean Epiphone.

[xenophobe]

Probably the Epiphones... Yeah, I know the crappy Ibanez were Cort, but I thought Unsung made some of them too. Well, doesn't really matter. I would never waste money on lower end guitars especially when the used market is weak with lots of great deals on USA and MIJ guitars right now.

Check this out... an ESP Custom Shop Technical House Rhoads with the lawsuit headstock, 1 bid $1350. That's 10x the guitar of any Indonesian or Chinese build.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ESP-Custom-Rhoads-V-Randy-RR1-/272152985271?hash=item3f5d94feb7:g:DEIAAOSwu4BVxhr8