As a buyer of Chinese guitars, I've noticed great improvements over the years. Because they're now using precision CNC lathes, intonation isn't a problem like it used to be a few years ago when string lengths were often a tad too short to tune well. As always, I replace the tuning heads with locking ones; the ones that come with their guitars are cheap and poor quality. Pickups are usually okay. Bridges, which use to be fairly sharp and break strings in the old days, are buffed and smooth now. Fret work has also greatly improved; they don't stick out like razor blades anymore. I've played shows and recorded with them. No one ever complained about their sound.
Very old topic but. Eastman is in China too and they are handmade th-cam.com/video/-1UWnuo-PmQ/w-d-xo.html. Godin is in canada they not consider themselves as handmade th-cam.com/video/9ker5s2tAKU/w-d-xo.html both are very good factories. But this one is a real nightmare I don't know the brand they produce for but they just selling pieces of shit.
Wjat is the brand so I can see how they sound im.in usa and might want one more hand made then a epiphone or even a gibson standard non special guitars are
The bottom line is there are a lot of guitars being made here. That means a lot of people are buying these. If they are, as so many here say, junk, they won't be in business long. I particularly like the "luthiers" who want to build 3-4 guitars a year and bitch and moan because nobody will pay 5-10 grand because they hand sanded or carved a radius with a pocket knife instead of using a router. Talented players make a guitar sound good, not where it was made.
Problem isn't quality when talking brands like Ibanez, Epiphone, Fender and so on. Problem is work conditions and ethicality, how many hours need to be worked to make X amount of money vs how much per unit is sold to customer. I hope that Ibanez do things right.
from the sole working progress, this is no different than the gibson factory. really no bad working conditions. the painting /exhaust thing, is pretty good set up in this factory. atleast to me.
this guy is wearing a dust mask, which is not a proper protection against the toxic fumes he is indeed breathing. unfortunately this poor guy is going to get sick real fast.
Ido Tavori yeah and as far as I remember theres a ventilation sucking the fumes straight out. second thing is, even if people have the opportunity to wear such masks, there are many guys spraying without them. in germany US. everywhere.
This factory has no dust collection system in place, all saw dust collects on the floor, fans seen are for employees as it probably extremely hot working conditions, so fans just blow dust .
I'm not going to lie, I really enjoy watching them work on these instruments, they seem like they really care about good quality! Are these guys still around by any chance?
As long as Gibson and others want to way overcharge for a Les Paul $3000-$5000 for some, bring these on..If you've never played one then you don't know ! I had absolutely no problems or concerns with the Left Handed couple I bought...really makes you see that your spending upwards of 70% and more just so your Guitar has a "legit" Gibson on the headstock.
I agree, guitars are not collectable assets or a exclusive sport like "golf" people want affordable good guitars with reasonable electrics so they can actually play them not hang htem up on a wall like mules
No eye protection. No hearing protection. Completely inadequate ventilation and cheap cloth masks being used while handling dangerous chemicals. Gee, I wonder why it's cheaper to manufacture there...
Most all companies that make good low priced guitars are using CNC machines. I also do not see any hearing protection. just a thought of labor practices
I have much respect in chinese crafts and art which date back for centuries.. Their manufacture of guitars are proving more and more to have fine construction and playability, with a good choice of woods.
I have ordered a few guitars from china, and yes they have been copies, but to my supprise, they have been of verry high quality. One of these guitars was a Gibson Ace Frehley Les Paul, i ordered it with an ebony fingerboard, and obviously it seems due to that, that more attention was paid to the guitar, its beautiful!!
All the so-called top manufacturers like G and F buy this stuff. Who the hell do you think buys a million guitars a year. I worked for a company in London that made very expensive bathroom accessories. They would buy tons of tap and mixer units from Italy, strip the chrome thus removing the Made in Italy stamp, and replate them. They were sold at a massive profit as "Hand made by British Craftsmen" Wake up and smell the money.
yea, F may buy this crap and label it "affinity" and throw them in a box with a amp for 200 bucks but that's it bruh...even the 300 dollar squires are better products than these ive handled both.....
Unbelievable, huge difference between the Gibson, Fender and PRS factories. That's why you pay more for an American production vs Chinese. I certainly respect our custom Luthiers of course. Nothing like a quality, hand made guitar, by an experienced Luthier. If you are serious about your guitar, buy one like I did 35 years ago. I played almost 30 Les Pauls before I spent a months salary, in person, at a Music Store. A used, Les Paul Deluxe. She still plays like there is no tomorrow, and the tone is sweeter every day. I have her maintained by a Luthier. And oh, by the way, she's worth almost 30k today. So it is almost as good as money in the bank.
The laminated Plywood that they use is cured with an epoxy in a heated press, Is durable, resists temp changes. The neck is more stable and in some cases the tone is more bright. Samick makes 90% of the worlds guitar bodies and necks. They sometimes get sent outsourced for assembly in the USA or Mexico. Washburn was an example of this...The orient has been making musical instruments for thousands of years before the Europeans. The expense that is added to the cost is when the guitar has binding, custom pickups, custom hardware or passed through the hands of a Luthier for a few hours for fret work and final finishing. That is the only difference between a $1000 guitar and a $200 guitar. Learning on cheaper guitars how to finish fretwork, crowning, leveling and polish will make any guitar play amazing...Save yourself some money. Watch some you tube vids or take a luthiers course. You will reward yourself with a beautifully playing instrument and pride that you can do this yourself.
Honestly Chinese guitars aren't as bad as people expect them to be just because they're from China doesn't mean its bad. If there is fret buzz just adjust the neck and you wont get any buzz and if the pick ups are bad just change them, and after that you will get near to a Gibson quality guitar.
There was a time not too long in the USA when all you needed to make it was a will to work hard every day. USA workers built strong neighborhoods where families could thrive without fear of theft or violence, where each looked out for the other when times were good or not so good. I remember a time when the USA was thriving, from the smallest town to the largest City. We have gone from Thriving to just Surviving in my short lifetime and this mainly is due to the loss of our Manufacturing Base.
Unless your USA & UK gear is vintage, they're loaded with Chinese-made parts & materials. Pots & caps, tuners, bridges, knobs & plastic parts (pickguards, etc.), Celestion speakers, vacuum tubes, etc. are mostly made in China. Outsourcing began back in the 70's.
This is a really interesting comments section. A lot of debates going on about different aspects of guitar manufacturing and prices. Far east vs American quality and prices. One could spend hours here.
Gotta give to 'em that these guitars look like they're made by hand. I bought a Korean Fender Strat; had a problem with the bridge wanting to shift and drift on me, turns out the body was made of plywood that had rotted and dried out. replaced it with an Alder body bought from Carvin; I still have it.
I`m so glad you replied, you obviously dont know the difference between manufactured and assembled. The raw materials are imported, the guitars and ALL the important parts (pickups etc) ARE manufactured in the USA. How do I know? Ive BEEN to the plant (2006). 95% of the guitar is MANUFACTURED in the USA!
Dear friends, Dear Luthers Seeing these necks, bodies stapeld all over its just breaks my heart. When I carved a neck, a body of finishing a quitar I was seeing it at the end as one my child. This is not massive production but massive distraction. Please dont support in general industrial quitars (I mean the known brand names). They just hire musician and behind their music they sell their instruments. Go to your luther and ask for an affordable model for you. I am confident that you will find something that maybe costs a couple of dollars more but it will give a better feeling playing with. (ps.: sorry for the english)
General Motors says they make more money in China then they do in America and they’re actually selling more cars in China and they may actually give up on the American market maybe they’re going to move all their production to China I don’t know I wish they would not but the way the world is nowadays you just don’t know💰💰💰💰💰🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
@ViridianG The use of Chinese manufacturing is an attack on the Western world started by Politicians who are working for Globalists who want to control people. They are eliminating jobs by using China to produce everything that the Western world made with pride, thus forcing people to be dependent on the Governments, which will eventually lead us to a point where we will have nothing. The day will also come when we won't even have access to Chinese products, American, British, Japanese and German goods will be something out of fairy tale.
Necks, bodies and pickups for Fenders are made in america, the rest of the parts are fittings, of course they are outsourced, its how companies stay competetive. Gibson would have ceased trading if they hadnt had a change of ethos, now they have sales of $1/2 billion annually, its a success and the important (major) parts are still manufactured in the US.
You can say what you want, but wood is wood. If properly milled and worked, some will sound bad, some will sound good. As long as everything is straight and true, and you put the right hardware in, you’ll have a good guitar. So to these guys who get all butt hurt over this, well, talk to gibson and fender. They’re the ones that priced everything beyond everyone’s reach. And to those hand builders vetting all hurt and offended, the only reason your stuff takes so long and is so labor intensive is that you choose to do it that way. I myself would love to apprentice at a place like this.
For China, these are good working conditions. They don't have the same labor laws we do. And most are unemployed, so these people are just happy to have jobs! During the industrial revolution of USA, the working conditions were much worse! China is now going through their own industrial revolution.
I'll be honest. These guitar are not bad. Most of the people who hate them are people who are fighting for the ethnical part about China laborers and how American money are being spent on China. Most of these comments about not wanting one of these is not even about why the guitar such. They just talk about the US economy
i made a light hearted comment (a joke) a few days ago. i enjoyed the factory tour, i did wonder about the workers and conditions. you provide work for many people this is a good thing , i hope you continue for many years to come.
i bought an ESP LTD alexi 600 worth around $1500, made in korea.. 2 frets is not level 2 frets have same note/pitch, its a good thing we can refret guitars..
Well lots of guitars are made in China: Epiphone by Gibson, Fender Squier, Ibanez, ESP LTD, Dean, BC Rich, Jackson, Yamaha, Schecter, etc. etc. etc. Some are plywood, some are solid woods. Plywood is a perfectly fine wood for electric guitars. Even the Gibson USA Zoot Suit models are plywood.
you seem to know well what you are talking about. I buy and travel to China since 1995 and being told by various factories i buy from that workers are actually hard to keep bound to them for a longer period. Workers communicate among each other by SMS and drop their tools instantly whenever they find a job that gets paid higher. Chinese factory owners have to provide many "gooddies" ahead of time. Fair to mention that in former times workers had to wait up to 6 months before they would get paid
I get that with acoustic guitars. I'm struggling to see it with electric guitars. it would be interesting to make two identical electric guitars one from ply and one from natural timer and have a sound off.
YOU ARE 100% CORRECT!.....I work on alot of guitars and found this out..I have also worked at Harley Davidson...SAME THING....All the lights,grips,handlebars,seats and more are made over seas...
the people in this shop new their stations and appeared to do good work. although the comments below showed varying levels of respect for this place, i thought it was pretty cool, and not what i expected when I started watching. i would own a guitar from this shop.
The Es-335 is plywood and many Ibanez are made of plywood. As long as its good plywood its good wood, though there is a difference in the tone still many famous guitars are made of plywood
As you can see, making an electric guitar is actually easy and not complicate at all. The skill level required is that of a 7 year old and the materials and machines are common, simple and attainable everywhere. The materials and labor are the cost of making these guitars. It's all about economics. The actual original design is a very important aspect and clearly none of these instruments have been created and designed in China, so it's all about the cheap labor and that's how they undercut the original American factories. That is the real problem-the Chinese are profiting off of American inventions and that's why I don't like the idea of China making electric guitars. Yes I do own many Chinese electric guitars because of my very limited income they are just about the only kind that I can actually afford to purchase, so I do. However IF I had the money I would support the Original American Factories.- Peter age 72
Hi Peter age 72, The question is where did the original idea of the Guitar design come from? Certainly not America. Who did the Americans copy to get to designs like Gibson and Fender? Truth is you gotta start somewhere and designs constantly evolve. By what you have written you're saying that you lack the skill level of a 7 year old, so you have so many Chinese guitars.
I recently bought three guitars from china with my own specs as they make anything you want and they are brilliant for the money! Most off the guitars in the $200-1300 mark are all Chinese made.
You're exactly right. That dude needs to read the specs of his guitar. guitar made of Honduran mahogany is the gold standard, Jesus. I don't think this guy will ever understand how these processes work. It's been all over the news that Gibson's rosewood was confiscated after getting here from India.
It is common knowledge that pots & caps are made in Asia. And Grover tuners are made in Asia too. They haven't been made in USA in DECADES! USA doesn't manufacture much anymore. Outsourcing has been going on since the 70's.
Understand what you are saying,however,unless I get to watch the entire process from start to finish,I'm not 100% sure Fender,Gibson,et al,make everything that goes into their guitars,on this side of the ocean.
To all the haters here in the comments. When I watched this video I was a little bit disgusted by how badly the shop was set up but we have to remember that the U.S. is not the only place in world. Back in the old country, when I was 16 I worked all summer long just to be able to afford a crappy $100 guitar and boy that was big money for me. There are millions of kids out there who don't have a chance to get their hands on a Fender or Gibson or even a Cort. Just some food for thought.
Steven B2 The shop a actually looks fine, much better than the backyard luthiers around here and their equipment is the same used in most manufacturers today, other than proper ventilation and related, I would love to own half the gear in that shop. In fact, most of would or only dream of owning those machines.
There is more hands on work being done in this video than at the gibson factory. ...One day these guitars will be sought out for there hand made value. I'm sure these people take great pride in thier work.
Of course, there is a Mahogany tree. Some Epiphones that are made in Indonesia get those mahogany planks from the Philippines, but, it is called "industrial mahogany".
This is the rate for the cities only, not the rural areas! This number is NOT ALL OF CHINA. And the exact numbers are disputed, as there have been reports that China is underestimating the rate. There are hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens living in poverty! CHECK YOUR FACTS!
And the Fender Mexico Strat is made with the same Materials and cost twice as much,and a American made Strat cost about 2000-2500 Dollar where i live and is not half the Money worth,Factory made the same like in the video.abetter Tonewood for 3 Times the price ? and then paint it solid.The same cheap whammy bar , cheap tuners i changed after a half year,of use, the Frets have to change after 10 ;months .Maybe it was a Monday build.
We're arguing semantics. When I say Gibsons are just ASSEMBLED in USA I'm just trying to make a point! There are MANY people who blindly assume that Gibson parts are entirely manufactured in USA! Again, go to a music store and check out some Genuine Gibson Replacement Parts. They don't say "Made in USA" anywhere on the parts or packaging. If they were made in USA, Gibson would proudly advertise that.
yes, labor is cheap in china, but the parts, it depends. genuine seymour duncan's are made in california, and generic chinese pickups can be just as good, as long as they were made in a reputable factory. the biggest difference in an American Gibson, and a similar guitar from china, is just the name.
Could someone please answer this? We have a Les Paul built in USA and one in China. The 2nd one costs 6-8 times less than the 1st one.From where does this difference in cost comes from? Is it because wages are lower but the quality (assembly, electronic parts, wood...) of products are same or vise versa ???
Epiphone1978 lots of contributing factors, the cost of living is higher, the companies like Gibson and Fender want to make a huge profit, the Chinese guitars will likely come with lower quality and cheaper components. If you want true Gibson quality you have to go Custom Shop which is well known today. That cost for a CS guitar is set so high to pay for the rediculous amount of time in order to produce something of that quality. Time = money and again, they want a huge profit. If Gibson produced guitars that weren't plagued with quality issues in all their lineup of available solidbodies, they would be back on top again. Meanwhile, people are doing their research and moving to new, cheaper vendors and some of those are from china.
You can clearly see in the video when the camera passes by the unfinished bodies that their not a single piece of wood but it looks like a bunch of layers of wood pressed together as in particle board. I bought a guitar kinda like these and that's exactly what it was, particle board.
I hate that type of body. There's another name for it that escapes me. I want to say laminated but it's so particle boardlike that name wouldn't fit. Lol.
raze101 Most if not all of these shops use 3 pieces of mahogany for bodies, especially the LP copies as its much cheaper to produce a guitar this way. Nothing wrong with it , I doubt anyone would ever notice the difference in sound but that is why these are 10x less expensive. Sure you need a good setup, fret level and polish and ultimately replace the tuners and electronics but even then you are still in the lead on costs. They are Chinese builders and their craft is getting better and better all the time.
actually, a plywood body is beyond infinite more stable than a single piece body.....that's the reason plywood was created in first place. So the moisture in the air doesn't affect the wood. In fact, today guitar necks are made like "plywood" out of 3, 4 or up to 7 pieces of wood glued together, to improve the tuning stability.
@@AndGuitar my recent LP chinese purchase features a solid mahogony ONE piece neck and body it is a real gem and flawless..AND plays and sounds BETTER than my real Gibson....I got tired of Gibson and Fender fleecing me...and for the record I had to do exactly everything to those as you would a CHinese replics...new Pups, setup and ALL of them needed fret work...my bud bought a Gibson Custom shop SG toally unplayable and is just crap....back it went and they replaced it with an equally shitty insturment...6000 Vs 200....not a hard choice..I laugh when these guys say they will never sound as good as the real ones...that is a huge misconception and totally not true..my new Replica sounds and plays better than the real one. AND it is a tad bit heavier than my real LP.
It’s so amazing to see how bare bones this factory is but they’re still doing all the hands on work and difficult stuff as they would do at the fender factory. I hope these people are being paid right because their skills are important but often mistreated/over worked to the max like us at the factory
my only critisim is....it appears some of the guitars are being made from plywood(NOT ALLof them I SAW THERE) and fillered over. i'm sure those were extreme low-end kids models but just wanted to point out.
You still don't get it. Many of the parts on USA Gibson guitars are made in Asia. The hardware is not from Germany, it's from Asia. The woods are from all over (Africa, North America, Central America, South America, Asia). The guitar cases are made in Canada. And again I say, Gibson PARTS don't say Made in USA on them. I'm not talking about the back of the headstock on the GUITAR, I'm talking about the PARTS. But yes, the guitar is ASSEMBLED in USA.
You're right about the whole felony thing but don't be misslead.. I worked for a factory in the U.K. that made fibre optic cables and you would be suprised that quite often we had to put made in USA on the print.. It's wrong but companies still do it.
Epiphones are not assembled in USA, they are made in China. And ALL guitars are hand-made, if you mean hand-CARVED then you're mistaken because Gibsons bodies are cut by automated machines. And saying "You can never get the quality of a Gibson when its made in China" is ignorant. China has been building musical instruments for thousands of years...long before USA was around. MANY of their guitars have gorgeous woods & finishes...and their inlay work is amazing too.
I'm old enough to remember when people used to say they would never buy Japanese crap. Then in 1976 Yamaha came out with the SG2000 it blew the Les Paul away for quality.The same was true of their cars, people used to mock them, now look at Toyota etc. Motorbikes, 90% of the bikes today are Suzuki, Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha. Same can be said for electrical goods. Its now China's turn to imitate and then innovate.
I got a fake Chinese Martin D-45 and my biggest complaint is the smell. The thing smells like chemicals and stinks the whole house up. Other than that it was pretty good. The intonation was just as good as my real Martin, the thing stayed in tune and the thing looked pretty good. I was reading about all the ways to spot a fake Martin D-45 and this guitar passed most of the tests that they used to fail. They must watch videos and read about the differences and make changes to get it as close as possible. I had to polish and round the the fret ends to get rid of the sharp edges and to be able to smoothly bend the strings. Overall it's nice, just needs to lose the horrible smell. I still prefer to support and buy real American guitars but there is no way i'm buying a real D-45. Way to much money for now.
it migth looks not a shiny factory, but watch for as they organized the process for basic steps... this is what makes a products reliable, the ""cheap workforce"" wouldnt be sufficient itself... about plywood... it would be easy change plywood blanks to solid wood, but, it would cost more definetely..
As a buyer of Chinese guitars, I've noticed great improvements over the years. Because they're now using precision CNC lathes, intonation isn't a problem like it used to be a few years ago when string lengths were often a tad too short to tune well. As always, I replace the tuning heads with locking ones; the ones that come with their guitars are cheap and poor quality. Pickups are usually okay. Bridges, which use to be fairly sharp and break strings in the old days, are buffed and smooth now. Fret work has also greatly improved; they don't stick out like razor blades anymore. I've played shows and recorded with them. No one ever complained about their sound.
Love all the safety precautions, especially the guy on the jointer
Seems to me that there is a lot of work going on that could classify these as handmade.
Very old topic but. Eastman is in China too and they are handmade th-cam.com/video/-1UWnuo-PmQ/w-d-xo.html. Godin is in canada they not consider themselves as handmade th-cam.com/video/9ker5s2tAKU/w-d-xo.html both are very good factories. But this one is a real nightmare I don't know the brand they produce for but they just selling pieces of shit.
Wjat is the brand so I can see how they sound im.in usa and might want one more hand made then a epiphone or even a gibson standard non special guitars are
The bottom line is there are a lot of guitars being made here. That means a lot of people are buying these. If they are, as so many here say, junk, they won't be in business long. I particularly like the "luthiers" who want to build 3-4 guitars a year and bitch and moan because nobody will pay 5-10 grand because they hand sanded or carved a radius with a pocket knife instead of using a router. Talented players make a guitar sound good, not where it was made.
+nitetrane98 HA, awesome point.
+nitetrane98 I would love to see Eric Clapton trying to play mine.
Rock on 🤘
Could not agree more with Jonathan M here. These guys are doing a grand job and busy at it as far as I am concerned.
i have no problem with the way these guitars are made. these workers seem highly skilled at what they do.
Problem isn't quality when talking brands like Ibanez, Epiphone, Fender and so on. Problem is work conditions and ethicality, how many hours need to be worked to make X amount of money vs how much per unit is sold to customer. I hope that Ibanez do things right.
from the sole working progress, this is no different than the gibson factory.
really no bad working conditions. the painting /exhaust thing, is pretty good set up in this factory. atleast to me.
this guy is wearing a dust mask, which is not a proper protection against the toxic fumes he is indeed breathing. unfortunately this poor guy is going to get sick real fast.
Ido Tavori
yeah and as far as I remember theres a ventilation sucking the fumes straight out. second thing is, even if people have the opportunity to wear such masks, there are many guys spraying without them. in germany US. everywhere.
Ido Tavori
please watch the gibson factory tour and look at the painter. praying WITHOUT any mask.
This factory has no dust collection system in place, all saw dust collects on the floor, fans seen are for employees as it probably extremely hot working conditions, so fans just blow dust .
Listen to the audio - they are using a water based non-VOC finish system.Teal'c From Chulak
I'm not going to lie, I really enjoy watching them work on these instruments, they seem like they really care about good quality! Are these guys still around by any chance?
Thank you Rino88 we love your guitars in Europe🙏
As long as Gibson and others want to way overcharge for a Les Paul $3000-$5000 for some, bring these on..If you've never played one then you don't know ! I had absolutely no problems or concerns with the Left Handed couple I bought...really makes you see that your spending upwards of 70% and more just so your Guitar has a "legit" Gibson on the headstock.
I agree, guitars are not collectable assets or a exclusive sport like "golf" people want affordable good guitars with reasonable electrics so they can actually play them not hang htem up on a wall like mules
No eye protection. No hearing protection. Completely inadequate ventilation and cheap cloth masks being used while handling dangerous chemicals. Gee, I wonder why it's cheaper to manufacture there...
Why you mention Gibson's factory?
I've worked in worse places in England and there are plenty of them
Most all companies that make good low priced guitars are using CNC machines. I also do not see any hearing protection. just a thought of labor practices
We don't send single guitar orders to USA. Only ship big orders to USA.
Our market is Europe.
I have much respect in chinese crafts and art which date back for centuries.. Their manufacture of guitars are proving more and more to have fine construction and playability, with a good choice of woods.
These are what instruments made completely by hand look like.
I have ordered a few guitars from china, and yes they have been copies, but to my supprise, they have been of verry high quality.
One of these guitars was a Gibson Ace Frehley Les Paul, i ordered it with an ebony fingerboard, and obviously it seems due to that, that more attention was paid to the guitar, its beautiful!!
Fascinating look inside a Chinese guitar manufacturing facility.
All the so-called top manufacturers like G and F buy this stuff. Who the hell do you think buys a million guitars a year. I worked for a company in London that made very expensive bathroom accessories. They would buy tons of tap and mixer units from Italy, strip the chrome thus removing the Made in Italy stamp, and replate them. They were sold at a massive profit as "Hand made by British Craftsmen" Wake up and smell the money.
yea, F may buy this crap and label it "affinity" and throw them in a box with a amp for 200 bucks but that's it bruh...even the 300 dollar squires are better products than these ive handled both.....
Unbelievable, huge difference between the Gibson, Fender and PRS factories. That's why you pay more for an American production vs Chinese. I certainly respect our custom Luthiers of course. Nothing like a quality, hand made guitar, by an experienced Luthier. If you are serious about your guitar, buy one like I did 35 years ago. I played almost 30 Les Pauls before I spent a months salary, in person, at a Music Store. A used, Les Paul Deluxe. She still plays like there is no tomorrow, and the tone is sweeter every day. I have her maintained by a Luthier. And oh, by the way, she's worth almost 30k today. So it is almost as good as money in the bank.
People! Hearing Protection! What are you thinking!
The laminated Plywood that they use is cured with an epoxy in a heated press, Is durable, resists temp changes. The neck is more stable and in some cases the tone is more bright. Samick makes 90% of the worlds guitar bodies and necks. They sometimes get sent outsourced for assembly in the USA or Mexico. Washburn was an example of this...The orient has been making musical instruments for thousands of years before the Europeans. The expense that is added to the cost is when the guitar has binding, custom pickups, custom hardware or passed through the hands of a Luthier for a few hours for fret work and final finishing. That is the only difference between a $1000 guitar and a $200 guitar. Learning on cheaper guitars how to finish fretwork, crowning, leveling and polish will make any guitar play amazing...Save yourself some money. Watch some you tube vids or take a luthiers course. You will reward yourself with a beautifully playing instrument and pride that you can do this yourself.
Honestly Chinese guitars aren't as bad as people expect them to be just because they're from China doesn't mean its bad. If there is fret buzz just adjust the neck and you wont get any buzz and if the pick ups are bad just change them, and after that you will get near to a Gibson quality guitar.
considering the amount of necks theyre making, they must be extremely skilled. practise makes perfect, must be second nature to them
Why are so many people against these guitars?? i own a squire and an ibanez and they are PERFECT!!
There was a time not too long in the USA when all you needed to make it was a will to work hard every day. USA workers built strong neighborhoods where families could thrive without fear of theft or violence, where each looked out for the other when times were good or not so good. I remember a time when the USA was thriving, from the smallest town to the largest City. We have gone from Thriving to just Surviving in my short lifetime and this mainly is due to the loss of our Manufacturing Base.
Unless your USA & UK gear is vintage, they're loaded with Chinese-made parts & materials. Pots & caps, tuners, bridges, knobs & plastic parts (pickguards, etc.), Celestion speakers, vacuum tubes, etc. are mostly made in China. Outsourcing began back in the 70's.
This is a really interesting comments section. A lot of debates going on about different aspects of guitar manufacturing and prices. Far east vs American quality and prices. One could spend hours here.
sympathic guys, looks like good working climate and top products...
Gotta give to 'em that these guitars look like they're made by hand. I bought a Korean Fender Strat; had a problem with the bridge wanting to shift and drift on me, turns out the body was made of plywood that had rotted and dried out. replaced it with an Alder body bought from Carvin; I still have it.
I`m so glad you replied, you obviously dont know the difference between manufactured and assembled. The raw materials are imported, the guitars and ALL the important parts (pickups etc) ARE manufactured in the USA. How do I know? Ive BEEN to the plant (2006). 95% of the guitar is MANUFACTURED in the USA!
The wood there using in China is plywood there not solid body guitar
BigEvilLadia23 The wood used depends on customer orders.
Dear friends, Dear Luthers
Seeing these necks, bodies stapeld all over its just breaks my heart. When I carved a neck, a body of finishing a quitar I was seeing it at the end as one my child.
This is not massive production but massive distraction. Please dont support in general industrial quitars (I mean the known brand names). They just hire musician and behind their music they sell their instruments.
Go to your luther and ask for an affordable model for you. I am confident that you will find something that maybe costs a couple of dollars more but it will give a better feeling playing with.
(ps.: sorry for the english)
ready for the pawn shop!
I like the guitar like. Made in japan usa Mexican And Canadian guitar there good guitar
I'm waiting for the Chinese replica corvettes. Shipped to your house for $1000.00. Title and all
Dont joke, that may happen.
Hrigh Quarity!
I'll take a '63.
General Motors says they make more money in China then they do in America and they’re actually selling more cars in China and they may actually give up on the American market maybe they’re going to move all their production to China I don’t know I wish they would not but the way the world is nowadays you just don’t know💰💰💰💰💰🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
@ViridianG The use of Chinese manufacturing is an attack on the Western world started by Politicians who are working for Globalists who want to control people. They are eliminating jobs by using China to produce everything that the Western world made with pride, thus forcing people to be dependent on the Governments, which will eventually lead us to a point where we will have nothing. The day will also come when we won't even have access to Chinese products, American, British, Japanese and German goods will be something out of fairy tale.
They have learned a lot very quickly. The quality of the products is very good and getting better all the time.
1:18 Dude is making a guitar in a suit... A suit! Pro.
Necks, bodies and pickups for Fenders are made in america, the rest of the parts are fittings, of course they are outsourced, its how companies stay competetive. Gibson would have ceased trading if they hadnt had a change of ethos, now they have sales of $1/2 billion annually, its a success and the important (major) parts are still manufactured in the US.
@pezman1963
exactly... many people enter here and complai for the quality.... the real deal it´s these hard working people
Wow I love that EG-10 guitar. Wish I knew where to get one.
Cool video. Decent guitars for the dollars. At least a good starting point for self customization. Keeps us poor boys playin.
better than what I can make at home!
You can say what you want, but wood is wood. If properly milled and worked, some will sound bad, some will sound good. As long as everything is straight and true, and you put the right hardware in, you’ll have a good guitar. So to these guys who get all butt hurt over this, well, talk to gibson and fender. They’re the ones that priced everything beyond everyone’s reach. And to those hand builders vetting all hurt and offended, the only reason your stuff takes so long and is so labor intensive is that you choose to do it that way. I myself would love to apprentice at a place like this.
For China, these are good working conditions. They don't have the same labor laws we do. And most are unemployed, so these people are just happy to have jobs! During the industrial revolution of USA, the working conditions were much worse! China is now going through their own industrial revolution.
These are really well built guitars,not as shit as everyone thinks.I own 4 and they are all built well and play great.
I agree. I have about 8 that I have set up myself after purchase
I'll be honest. These guitar are not bad. Most of the people who hate them are people who are fighting for the ethnical part about China laborers and how American money are being spent on China. Most of these comments about not wanting one of these is not even about why the guitar such. They just talk about the US economy
Do you also build custom designs? I mean like in big quantities?
i made a light hearted comment (a joke) a few days ago. i enjoyed the factory tour, i did wonder about the workers and conditions. you provide work for many people this is a good thing , i hope you continue for many years to come.
i bought an ESP LTD alexi 600 worth around $1500, made in korea.. 2 frets is not level 2 frets have same note/pitch, its a good thing we can refret guitars..
Well lots of guitars are made in China: Epiphone by Gibson, Fender Squier, Ibanez, ESP LTD, Dean, BC Rich, Jackson, Yamaha, Schecter, etc. etc. etc. Some are plywood, some are solid woods. Plywood is a perfectly fine wood for electric guitars. Even the Gibson USA Zoot Suit models are plywood.
incredible video. much respect for chinese guitars.
Why? They sound like shit.
Poorly made guitars for poor people, that's all they are. They play like shit too.
True that, dog shit, diarrhea.
They lost me with the plywood body's.
Am I the only one in this world that builds guitars by hand anymore oh wait a minute I'm sorry Pablo I know exactly how you feel
Hard working people
you seem to know well what you are talking about. I buy and travel to China since 1995 and being told by various factories i buy from that workers are actually hard to keep bound to them for a longer period. Workers communicate among each other by SMS and drop their tools instantly whenever they find a job that gets paid higher. Chinese factory owners have to provide many "gooddies" ahead of time. Fair to mention that in former times workers had to wait up to 6 months before they would get paid
I own 4 Chinese guitars at the moment. 2 telecasters & 2 acoustics. No complaints.
I get that with acoustic guitars. I'm struggling to see it with electric guitars.
it would be interesting to make two identical electric guitars one from ply and one from natural timer and have a sound off.
YOU ARE 100% CORRECT!.....I work on alot of guitars and found this out..I have also worked at Harley Davidson...SAME THING....All the lights,grips,handlebars,seats and more are made over seas...
At :59 they do look like plywood. You can see the laminated layers
the people in this shop new their stations and appeared to do good work. although the comments below showed varying levels of respect for this place, i thought it was pretty cool, and not what i expected when I started watching. i would own a guitar from this shop.
The Es-335 is plywood and many Ibanez are made of plywood. As long as its good plywood its good wood, though there is a difference in the tone still many famous guitars are made of plywood
I watched this video...
...then watched the "PRS Factory Tour" video:
Now I think my american PRS is cheap.
Thanks!
Hand made just like American guitars used to be.
As you can see, making an electric guitar is actually easy and not complicate at all. The skill level required is that of a 7 year old and the materials and machines are common, simple and attainable everywhere. The materials and labor are the cost of making these guitars. It's all about economics. The actual original design is a very important aspect and clearly none of these instruments have been created and designed in China, so it's all about the cheap labor and that's how they undercut the original American factories. That is the real problem-the Chinese are profiting off of American inventions and that's why I don't like the idea of China making electric guitars. Yes I do own many Chinese electric guitars because of my very limited income they are just about the only kind that I can actually afford to purchase, so I do. However IF I had the money I would support the Original American Factories.- Peter age 72
Hi Peter age 72,
The question is where did the original idea of the Guitar design come from? Certainly not America. Who did the Americans copy to get to designs like Gibson and Fender?
Truth is you gotta start somewhere and designs constantly evolve.
By what you have written you're saying that you lack the skill level of a 7 year old, so you have so many Chinese guitars.
您需要制作这些吉他，而没有着名的标志将它留空，那么你需要像日本人一样做，他们不会发明多，他们使事情更好，你的吉他是好的，但需要花费更多的时间在安抚调整和整理所有关于如何吉他琴颈感觉当你玩任何本地的吉他手时，会买到正确的真正的吉他琴，这样你就可以把你的吉他制造商的东西与它进行比较
so i guess it takes about 9 minutes to build a guitar. wow ,i think i want one! i think i saw some new fenders in the other room.
I recently bought three guitars from china with my own specs as they make anything you want and they are brilliant for the money! Most off the guitars in the $200-1300 mark are all Chinese made.
Aliexpress? I've bought a couple from them.
From where?
You're exactly right. That dude needs to read the specs of his guitar. guitar made of Honduran mahogany is the gold standard, Jesus. I don't think this guy will ever understand how these processes work. It's been all over the news that Gibson's rosewood was confiscated after getting here from India.
It is common knowledge that pots & caps are made in Asia. And Grover tuners are made in Asia too. They haven't been made in USA in DECADES! USA doesn't manufacture much anymore. Outsourcing has been going on since the 70's.
hand made hand assembled quality guitars get one now
Interesting to see the inside of a factory.
Gibson Les Paul & SG Zoot Suit models are plywood. And Gibson Firebird & Thunderbird models are multiple plies of mahogany & walnut.
Understand what you are saying,however,unless I get to watch the entire process from start to finish,I'm not 100% sure Fender,Gibson,et al,make everything that goes into their guitars,on this side of the ocean.
To all the haters here in the comments.
When I watched this video I was a little bit disgusted by how badly the shop was set up but we have to remember that the U.S. is not the only place in world.
Back in the old country, when I was 16 I worked all summer long just to be able to afford a crappy $100 guitar and boy that was big money for me. There are millions of kids out there who don't have a chance to get their hands on a Fender or Gibson or even a Cort.
Just some food for thought.
Steven B2 The shop a actually looks fine, much better than the backyard luthiers around here and their equipment is the same used in most manufacturers today, other than proper ventilation and related, I would love to own half the gear in that shop. In fact, most of would or only dream of owning those machines.
In Brazil those same guitars are made by Golden Guitars.
I think its owners are relatives!!!!
Great video
Grandma mary
There is more hands on work being done in this video than at the gibson factory. ...One day these guitars will be sought out for there hand made value. I'm sure these people take great pride in thier work.
Bravo
Of course, there is a Mahogany tree. Some Epiphones that are made in Indonesia get those mahogany planks from the Philippines, but, it is called "industrial mahogany".
I wonder how much those guys are earning per week?
Why, so I can see the bodies cut by CNC machines and the imported parts assembled onto the guitars?
Ed Roman guitars...is it here?
This is the rate for the cities only, not the rural areas! This number is NOT ALL OF CHINA. And the exact numbers are disputed, as there have been reports that China is underestimating the rate. There are hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens living in poverty! CHECK YOUR FACTS!
Plywood bodies.... Not worth half of the price you pay....
And the Fender Mexico Strat is made with the same Materials and cost twice as much,and a American made Strat cost about 2000-2500 Dollar where i live and is not half the Money worth,Factory made the same like in the video.abetter Tonewood for 3 Times the price ? and then paint it solid.The same cheap whammy bar , cheap tuners i changed after a half year,of use, the Frets have to change after 10 ;months .Maybe it was a Monday build.
Oh , and i have to give it back to shop to adjust, the Intonation the Trem,But yeah it's Fender.
I don't care where it is made or what company makes it. If it is a plywood body it is a piece of junk.
We're arguing semantics. When I say Gibsons are just ASSEMBLED in USA I'm just trying to make a point! There are MANY people who blindly assume that Gibson parts are entirely manufactured in USA! Again, go to a music store and check out some Genuine Gibson Replacement Parts. They don't say "Made in USA" anywhere on the parts or packaging. If they were made in USA, Gibson would proudly advertise that.
yes, labor is cheap in china, but the parts, it depends. genuine seymour duncan's are made in california, and generic chinese pickups can be just as good, as long as they were made in a reputable factory. the biggest difference in an American Gibson, and a similar guitar from china, is just the name.
Could someone please answer this? We have a Les Paul built in USA and one in China. The 2nd one costs 6-8 times less than the 1st one.From where does this difference in cost comes from? Is it because wages are lower but the quality (assembly, electronic parts, wood...) of products are same or vise versa ???
Epiphone1978 lots of contributing factors, the cost of living is higher, the companies like Gibson and Fender want to make a huge profit, the Chinese guitars will likely come with lower quality and cheaper components. If you want true Gibson quality you have to go Custom Shop which is well known today. That cost for a CS guitar is set so high to pay for the rediculous amount of time in order to produce something of that quality. Time = money and again, they want a huge profit. If Gibson produced guitars that weren't plagued with quality issues in all their lineup of available solidbodies, they would be back on top again. Meanwhile, people are doing their research and moving to new, cheaper vendors and some of those are from china.
100% HANDMADE
You can clearly see in the video when the camera passes by the unfinished bodies that their not a single piece of wood but it looks like a bunch of layers of wood pressed together as in particle board. I bought a guitar kinda like these and that's exactly what it was, particle board.
I hate that type of body. There's another name for it that escapes me. I want to say laminated but it's so particle boardlike that name wouldn't fit. Lol.
It's plywood.
raze101 Most if not all of these shops use 3 pieces of mahogany for bodies, especially the LP copies as its much cheaper to produce a guitar this way. Nothing wrong with it , I doubt anyone would ever notice the difference in sound but that is why these are 10x less expensive. Sure you need a good setup, fret level and polish and ultimately replace the tuners and electronics but even then you are still in the lead on costs. They are Chinese builders and their craft is getting better and better all the time.
actually, a plywood body is beyond infinite more stable than a single piece body.....that's the reason plywood was created in first place. So the moisture in the air doesn't affect the wood.
In fact, today guitar necks are made like "plywood" out of 3, 4 or up to 7 pieces of wood glued together, to improve the tuning stability.
@@AndGuitar my recent LP chinese purchase features a solid mahogony ONE piece neck and body it is a real gem and flawless..AND plays and sounds BETTER than my real Gibson....I got tired of Gibson and Fender fleecing me...and for the record I had to do exactly everything to those as you would a CHinese replics...new Pups, setup and ALL of them needed fret work...my bud bought a Gibson Custom shop SG toally unplayable and is just crap....back it went and they replaced it with an equally shitty insturment...6000 Vs 200....not a hard choice..I laugh when these guys say they will never sound as good as the real ones...that is a huge misconception and totally not true..my new Replica sounds and plays better than the real one. AND it is a tad bit heavier than my real LP.
lots of nice cardboard for the bodies, to give them that great tone of a screaching cat.
It’s so amazing to see how bare bones this factory is but they’re still doing all the hands on work and difficult stuff as they would do at the fender factory.
I hope these people are being paid right because their skills are important but often mistreated/over worked to the max like us at the factory
my only critisim is....it appears some of the guitars are being made from plywood(NOT ALLof them I SAW THERE) and fillered over. i'm sure those were extreme low-end kids models but just wanted to point out.
You still don't get it. Many of the parts on USA Gibson guitars are made in Asia. The hardware is not from Germany, it's from Asia. The woods are from all over (Africa, North America, Central America, South America, Asia). The guitar cases are made in Canada. And again I say, Gibson PARTS don't say Made in USA on them. I'm not talking about the back of the headstock on the GUITAR, I'm talking about the PARTS. But yes, the guitar is ASSEMBLED in USA.
You're right about the whole felony thing but don't be misslead.. I worked for a factory in the U.K. that made fibre optic cables and you would be suprised that quite often we had to put made in USA on the print.. It's wrong but companies still do it.
Epiphones are not assembled in USA, they are made in China. And ALL guitars are hand-made, if you mean hand-CARVED then you're mistaken because Gibsons bodies are cut by automated machines. And saying "You can never get the quality of a Gibson when its made in China" is ignorant. China has been building musical instruments for thousands of years...long before USA was around. MANY of their guitars have gorgeous woods & finishes...and their inlay work is amazing too.
Most inexpensive guitars are made with woods that are abundant & available because those woods cost less.
I'm old enough to remember when people used to say they would never buy Japanese crap. Then in 1976 Yamaha came out with the SG2000 it blew the Les Paul away for quality.The same was true of their cars, people used to mock them, now look at Toyota etc.
Motorbikes, 90% of the bikes today are Suzuki, Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha.
Same can be said for electrical goods.
Its now China's turn to imitate and then innovate.
Wow, handmade guitars!! No CNC like PRS, Gibson, Fender, Jackson, Dean, EXP, Schecter, Peavey. Go China Go!
I got a fake Chinese Martin D-45 and my biggest complaint is the smell. The thing smells like chemicals and stinks the whole house up. Other than that it was pretty good. The intonation was just as good as my real Martin, the thing stayed in tune and the thing looked pretty good. I was reading about all the ways to spot a fake Martin D-45 and this guitar passed most of the tests that they used to fail. They must watch videos and read about the differences and make changes to get it as close as possible. I had to polish and round the the fret ends to get rid of the sharp edges and to be able to smoothly bend the strings. Overall it's nice, just needs to lose the horrible smell. I still prefer to support and buy real American guitars but there is no way i'm buying a real D-45. Way to much money for now.
do they still sell |Rino88?
it doesn't matter...important is skill...
it migth looks not a shiny factory, but watch for as they organized the process for basic steps... this is what makes a products reliable,
the ""cheap workforce"" wouldnt be sufficient itself...
about plywood... it would be easy change plywood blanks to solid wood, but, it would cost more definetely..