Question: Is American guitar building quality better?

mystixboi1

mystixboi1

Kick Henry Jackassowski
Is American guitar building quality better?

OK... so I don't want to get into a discussion about supporting American workers, but I wanted to get your thoughts on this subject. For years, I've always heard that American made guitars are the "BEST" in terms of quality control and overall build quality.

My main guitars are:

Suhr Modern Satin
PRS CU22
Ernie Ball Music Man Albert Lee

All made in the USA and are absolutely fantastic.

However, I recently picked up an Ibanez AT10P(Andy Timmons Premium model) that was made in Indonesia and it is absolutely fantastic. The frets are perfect... no dead spots or frets sticking out. It's just a really well made guitar. I've owned a few other Premium's and they all have had some kind of problems, but this guitar is just in a league of it's own.

Does it play as well as the Suhr... nope, but it's pretty damn good in it's own right. Ibanez has some other high end models that are fantastic and there seem to be more and more builders from outside the US that are doing some amazing work.

What do you say?
 
Any guitar that is built with care and attention to detail will play better than one that comes off an assembly line. Any guitar built with higher quality wood and components will sound better than one made from pallets of fresh cut bulk lumber and cheap components.

Where it's built isn't as much a factor as how it's built and what it's made of.

That said, the overseas factories can build guitars so inexpensively that the US manufacturers have no choice but to out do them in quality and build since they can't beat them in price if they want to be competitive.

I too play guitars that were built in the US, but I bought them because of how well they were built and how they sound more than the "Made in America" sticker.
 
It's all about the skill of the builder or manufacturing team. Great skills and attention to detail transcend country of origin always.. That's the foundation of Japan's huge leap that started in the '70s that continues to this day. The went about upping their skills and quality control. Korea followed suit and so has Indonesia and China.

The one area that can give the USA the edge is the quality of the materials...particularly lumber. And it's not a source thing, but access based on the big brand-names willing to out spend other manufacturers from other countries. Martin will pay more for timber, as will their customers for the Martin name. It does not mean the folks building the Martin are any better than the folks building Alvarez Yairis or Takamines, but Martin has the heritage and stronger brand. Gibson and PRS (as they deal in exotic and figured woods more than Fender and Music Man) also have this advantage. And even Fender and Music Man are in a better position to get dibs on selecting the "best" woods for their guitars than other manufacturers. That said, that "great" wood tooled into a great guitar by a custom-shop employee isn't guaranteed to be better than a high-end production guitar from their own company let alone a good Korean, Indonesia, or other company.

I don't necessarily feel the need to support the American worker above other workers, but I do care about how other countries treat and compensate their workers. And there is still a big stigma related to pricing. Paying the same price for a mass produced Korean-made instrument as an American-made production guitar is something my mind has yet to be able to reconcile. :thu:
 
I think you can make a case for the high quality of most hand-crafted guitars. Most of them are still built in the U.S., but the country of origin doesn't really have much to do with hand-craftedness.

For mass produced guitars, it's not exactly rocket science anymore. A CNC machine in China is probably as good as a CNC machine in the U.S. You can make the case that a $1,000 U.S.-made guitar is better than a $250 Chinese guitar, but I'd hope there's a bit better QA included in that price, as well as better materials.
 
Dogsinotpalc said:
The one area that can give the USA the edge is the quality of the materials...particularly lumber. And it's not a source thing, but access based on the big brand-names willing to out spend other manufacturers from other countries.
Click to expand...

I agree that lumber is a big difference... American and Canadian maple, ash and alder are far superior than Chinese lumber, and likely easier for us to source than the Asian countries that have to import most of their decent lumber.
 
baimun said:
I agree that lumber is a big difference... American and Canadian maple, ash and alder are far superior than Chinese lumber, and likely easier for us to source than the Asian countries that have to import most of their decent lumber.
Click to expand...

And as far as high quality foreign sources woods like Indian Rosewood, they're going to shop their wares for top dollar from the likes of Martin and Taylor before Cort.
 
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I can’t speak to boutique builders. But the build quality of MIA Fender and Gibson isn’t on even on par with good South Korean guitars, much less better. And the latest instruments I’ve seen from Indonesia and China are just as good as the South Korean stuff.

But I will give Gibson a little credit: who else makes affordable guitars with a lacquer finish?
 
There have always been great guitar quality from overseas, but the consistency is getting better. US makers have at times insisted that the overseas makers use inferior hardware and pickups to both cut costs and make the US models more attractive. Korea has been making fantastic electrics for decades. Japan for even longer.

I honestly do prefer US made instruments when it is within my financial ability. Unfortunately that is not always so any longer.
 
Any country can make any quality of guitar. It comes down to what is the target price point of the instrument being built and what compromises must be made to hit that target.
 
With all of the technological advances the masses to build, almost all guitars are relatively equal. It then comes down to the preference of the details: fret wire type, neck shape, material used to build, coatings, etc.

However with custom builders like Kauer, CB Hill, etc, guitars can be shaped and created to personal preferences.
 
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