USA made hype WTF?

[JACKSONFREAK]

I have had guitars made in U.S.A., Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia. Etc..All good instruments for hat i paid for them. And yes the Korean stuff can be substandard in some cases. But for the most part they have come up to the level of Japan in build quality. Sure the woods are always as select as the woods here in the states. But you're also not paying the price for those woods. The hardware is thinner metals, the electronics arent the best. But thats easily swapped out. I've put Gibson hardware and electronics in an Epi LPC and it made a huge differance. But it still wsnt my USA made Gibson LPC. Why? The quality of the woods used and the types of woods used. My point?
If the guitar plays and sounds the way you want it too for the money. Great Buy it. Who cares where it's made. There is a price differance from Asia to Mexico to the USA for a reason. It boils down to the quality of each part and how it's made. Finish is also a factoor in pricing. Nitro to poly. etc...
And all my gear that says "Made in USA" on it better be made in the USA or there's gonna be trouble for that company. (ie Washburn trying to pass off Korean made instruments as US made ones back in the 90's) Lets just say Washburn almost went bankrupt over that one.
Ok im done.
Gil

[straycat]

I buy used so if I find an older Jap C/J,Fender etc I'm helping the little shop owner here in the USA.90% of my guitars I build come from USACG.

[Thrust]

i agree 100% . we need to stand up against every country taking jobs away from us because they pay their workers $.50 an hour but until they do something about it i'm going to continue to buy imports for prcaticallity.

Well, your logic is a bit reversed. We should stand up to US corporations taking advantage of lax labor/environmental laws and preying upon developing countries while concomitantly reducing our own well-being.

[Cygnus X1]

Well, your logic is a bit reversed. We should stand up to US corporations taking advantage of lax labor/environmental laws and preying upon developing countries while concomitantly reducing our own well-being.

Laws are fine. It's the buereacratic tangle and reams of paperwork and whatnot for compliance that drives the companies to outsource. The EPA needs to be reformed.

[Shawn Lutz]

I have USA made guitars and I'm no USA snob. There can be shitty USA guitars (Gibson/Jackson/Charvel/Fender) in my experience and shitty Japan and Korean made guitars. The flip side is there also excellent quality guitars for the built in Asia.

The cheaper import models do skimp a bit on electronics but they are relatively cheap and easy to replace. If you have one whit good wood, fretwork and finish thats all you need...I always replace pickups anyway.

heres a couple Korean guirats that can stand up against USA models at a fraction of the cost of their USA brethen.

[VitaminG]

Well, your logic is a bit reversed. We should stand up to US corporations taking advantage of lax labor/environmental laws and preying upon developing countries while concomitantly reducing our own well-being.

no no. It wouldn't be US corporations forcing jobs offshore - it's the evil little third world countries that are stealing jobs from America. Xenophobia rules!!

[Ace]

I've got tons of Jap guitars and they're all great, but I must say for a non-Strat guy I just got 2 American Strats and I love them !!! Excellent build and quality !!! But I've also heard that the Jap Fender Strats are better.

Sounds like your a closet strat guy to me buddy!! :ROTF:

You can buy a great strat in any price range. You can also buy a piece of shit strat at any price too.

[pott]

Why do you need to defend yourself for not hating America? It'd be your right. I don't quite get that.

Otherwise I agree, but I'm European so for us USA are even more expensive and in many cases less worth it. Fenders are way more expensive than over there but still amongst the cheapest MIA guitars out there. I'd only buy a US Strat if it really were that much better than the MIM ones.

Though again I AM broke.

All my guitars are Japanese. Not because I chose to buy Japanese guitars though, it just happened so. Ah wait my Kramer Stagey says 'American series' but they were actually made in Japan and then shipped to the USA for setup and final assembly I believe. I don't think that's MIA nor do I give a damn if it's not. If anything I'd be boycotting US made stuff.

[lerxstcat]

If you can afford to buy American, God bless you and more power to you. Don't question my patriotism just because I don't have the same luxury that you do.

Even regarding China, I think it's better to trade with them than to fight a world war with them. If you disagree, that's your right. In America, we are free to disagree politically and economically without considering our opponents traitors simply because they disagree with us.

If I like a guitar, I like it, wherever it's from. Sure a Chinese Squier and a USA Jackson are far apart on the quality scale, but there's a place for each. And I have been pleasantly surprised by Chinese and Indonesian Squiers, just as I've played American Strats that were dogs.