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Indonesia or China


Mickthemiller

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I have two AJ 220s acoustics one Indonesian one Chinese. My Texan is Indonesian. I think that the Indonesian Epis sound better and are better built - from the three I have.

 

What are other people's opinions?

I have an ej200sce and a masterbilt dr500mce.The former from China, the latter from Indonesia.Absolutely they aren't Martins or Gibsons or Taylors etc. but I have to wonder how many guitar aficionados are that sophisticated that it becomes "this is absolutely superior to that"? Seems to me that it's like wine and art-whatever makes you appear erudite is what you portray yourself to be.It'd be interesting to hear the sonic proof of all who have the final word on any given brand name demonstrated for all to hear.Brings to mind the book "No Logo".But you can't make a ton of money going down that road, can you? And yes I do appreciate good craftsmanship.But I think we've gone past that.Just saying.

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I have an ej200sce and a masterbilt dr500mce.The former from China, the latter from Indonesia.

 

Interesting. I have an EJ200 from 2006 made in Indonesia, as well as a 2013 EJ200sce also made in Indonesia. My DR500 mce is also Indonesian. All are great and better than the Chinese Epi acoustics I road tested. Are you sure your EJ200sce is Chinese? Are they really making the same guitar in two different factories, in two different countries?

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Interesting. I have an EJ200 from 2006 made in Indonesia, as well as a 2013 EJ200sce also made in Indonesia. My DR500 mce is also Indonesian. All are great and better than the Chinese Epi acoustics I road tested. Are you sure your EJ200sce is Chinese? Are they really making the same guitar in two different factories, in two different countries?

I checked on several sites for factory verification and according to what the labels on my ej200sce says - serial#EA 08041755 is made in Quing Dao China in April 2008 guitar #1755.A sticker on the back of the headstock reads "Made in China".It doesn't seem that Epiphone is too eager to get in front of the mysteries surrounding the confusion.Hence all the sleuthing by individuals.It is kind of X-Files though, don't you think?

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As hard as I try I can't seem to find a Chinese made Epi that I think is as nice as my older Korean made guitars. But I keep looking. I hear they make nice guitars in China but are not sending them to Alaska because the cold messes with the finish. Or maybe my hands are just too big for those skinny necks.

 

edit for an extra o in too.

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My Epi 220S Vintage Sunburst was manufactured in Indonesia, as was my 2006 Epi Hummingbird, both are simply excellent guitars from Indonesia, well built, beautiful finish, have easy action, and beautiful tone and volume. Bang for the buck if ever I saw one! .

 

..I agree with Cliffenstein, the new Texans from Indonesia are also killer. Played a few of those in GC today..wanted to take them ALL home lol! ...they also had a Gibson J-45 which I played there and which stood in a magnificent tone class all its own. (Montana is still on the ball!)

 

....While my two Masterbilts (Rosewood and Mahogany AJ's) were manufactured in China between 2010 and 2012 I believe....and those excel beyond any description of excellence that I can give, other than to say that my Masterbilts tone and sound hang neck to neck with my own 2013 Gibson Hummingbird. And that is saying a mouthful because my Gibson Hummingbird sounds out of this world!

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My IB64 Texan and my AJ-220S were both made in Indonesia and it's ridiculous how good both sound. My Texan sounds like an old-time acoustic focusing on mid-range and my AJ-220S sounds just like ithe modern American made all-solid .guitars that cost thousands of dollars.

 

I absolutely adore the old-time acoustic mid-range sound so I tend to favor my Texan, but man has my AJ-220S opened up! It sounds incredible! I was in Guitar Center Saturday morning and, once again, I demoed every Taylor, Martin & Gibson in the place and not a single one played, felt or sounded better than what I already own. Not one! Now, I've had work done to both my Texan and my AJ-220S by a really gifted luthier, but still. Why would I even consider shelling out that kind of money for one of the "big boys" when they don't out perform either of my Epis?

 

One final note...I have yet to see a single online video that truly showcases the sound of a well setup IB64 Texan or AJ-220S.

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Gotta agree with Cliff. I got an Indonesian IB Texan. The only thing I have done to it is change the strings. Like Cliff I have compared it some big name guitars. The only one that outplayed it was the new Martin D-18(TRULY AWESOME!, but 6 times more expensive). Landed on my feet with my Epi

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Back in the 1960s most looked at the MIJ guitars flooding our shores and pronounced them crap. Then when production shifted to Korea those MIJ guitars started looking a whole lot better. As production shifted to China we had a new entrant in the bottom feeder category and folks started looking at the guitars made in Korea more fondly. And so it goes, and so it goes.

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Back in the 1960s most looked at the MIJ guitars flooding our shores and pronounced them crap. Then when production shifted to Korea those MIJ guitars started looking a whole lot better. As production shifted to China we had a new entrant in the bottom feeder category and folks started looking at the guitars made in Korea more fondly. And so it goes, and so it goes.

Well, to be sure, the first Japanese guitars were crap. The later ones were (and still are) top notch.

 

That's a fact. A good guitar is a good guitar. The question really is, do perceptions match the reality?

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  • 5 years later...
On 3/28/2015 at 8:28 PM, fromnabulax said:

 

Interesting. I have an EJ200 from 2006 made in Indonesia, as well as a 2013 EJ200sce also made in Indonesia. My DR500 mce is also Indonesian. All are great and better than the Chinese Epi acoustics I road tested. Are you sure your EJ200sce is Chinese? Are they really making the same guitar in two different factories, in two different countries?

I just got an Epiphone EJ-200 in the mail today from Zzounds. My guitar was definitely made in China..

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