How to find out where your guitar was made?

[nathanmccann]

How do you find out where your guitar was made? And if you were buying one online , could you find out on the website? thanks

[twodice]

http://www.guitardaterproject.org/

[tsiratiug]

I am the only person that doesn't care where (or what factory) my guitar was made? If the instrument I pull off the wall feels good, sounds good and doesn't have a major cosmetic flaw I really don't care which village did the assembly. Obviously, if I'm buying an American guitar I want to make sure it was made in America but, the exact factory or town of an import?.....it just never occurs to me to think about it. A guitar is a tool for making music and if someone is paying me to do a gig or session and the track sounds good.... well, actually, nothing else in the equation matters.

[matiac]

I dunno Guitarist (yup, I'm dyslexic, I can read backwards) with recent issues with certain Chinese guitars, I have issues buying anything Chinese. But, I've heard other people rave about them, so who knows? All I know is my techy had a 2008 alpine white Epiphone Custom with an EE (China) serial number, had a busted peghead, and because it was painted white I suppose they figured no-one would see the neck was made of agathis (!). Again, it was an early run, probably their quality's gotten better, who knows? Even Gibsons been known to put out some clunkers, so I suppose that whole discussion would be subjective. I agree it (guitar) is a tool, but for what I spend on that tool, I don't want it to break or malfunction. Especially something like a Gibson...lotta coin for most of their "tools".

[antwhi2001]

Tsira,

 

Over here in Europe we don't have an equivalent to Guitar Center where you can stroll in and try lots of different models of guitar. There are very few big guitar retailers left, (there's now no national chain in the UK, apart from internet dealers). Buying online is increasingly becoming the only way to get specific models, so trying them and picking one that sounds/feels right isn't always possible. Hence people do their research and find out which countries/factories have a good reputation before buying, to improve their chances.

[nathanmccann]

Thats true , im from northern ireland and there is very little music stores that have specific models. its disappointing, how ever britain has produced some of the best music groups ;)/

[Lord Summerisle]

I am the only person that doesn't care where (or what factory) my guitar was made? If the instrument I pull off the wall feels good' date=' sounds good and doesn't have a major cosmetic flaw I really don't care which village did the assembly. Obviously, if I'm buying an American guitar I want to make sure it was made in America but, the exact factory or town of an import?.....it just never occurs to me to think about it. A guitar is a tool for making music and if someone is paying me to do a gig or session and the track sounds good.... well, actually, nothing else in the equation matters.

 

[/quote']

 

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

The general consensus amongst Telecaster aficionados these days seems to be that the Baja (Mexican) blows the new American Standard out of the water:

 

 

In a way, you're taking a hit to buy the Mexican made guitar over the American. It's only $80 cheaper than the American Standard, but of course the American Standard comes with the good Fender ABS case whereas the Baja only comes with a gig-bag, Alternatively, you could see it that over $100 of the purchase price of the American guitar is tied up in the case...

 

But either way (having played both), I agree that the Mexican guitar is the better guitar.

 

Similarly, I couldn't care less if my Epiphone is Chinese, Korean, Indonesian or Japanese - provided that it's a good guitar. I know that some people worry about the ethics of buying Chinese made goods and I appreciate those concerns, but unfortunately I think we've reached a stage where those sort of arguments are out of our hands. This Hewlett-Packard PC I'm using right now to type this message was made where? I'll give you one guess...