Made in Korea Epi's vs. Made in China Epi's

[brad1]

The first Gibson owned factory in China is called 'Gibson QingDao' and builds only Epiphone Guitars

Thanks, I learned something new. :)

[milod]

I have two recent MIC Epis, a Dot I got last summer and a later-made PR5e.

 

The Dot seems more heavily built, and not just because of the center block. It's also after JimR said they'd upgraded the pots and switches. It seems properly and substantially built and plays well and sounds good, which is what counts to me.

 

The cutaway AE seems by comparison to be almost flimsy. I'm still in the process of getting it happy instead of buzzing with 9-42 for a fingerpicker. It's quite comfortable, though, with almost a parlor sound acoustic and a bit more whumfph run through an amp, although with a bit more background noise from the pickup system. It also doesn't like my multi-effect box's built-in tuner, which is okay, I guess, since the guitar has one built in.

 

This is just a feel, but the neck feels... light. There seem to be more Epis with broken or otherwise little usable necks than some other brands at MF and such, so I wonder a bit about the wood. I s'pose if a 99 percent stedda 99.98 percent wood still makes sense economically, I'll not complain much. But it seems that's more true with acoustic designs that the good old Dot that must require being bashed to break.

 

That AE, btw, is quite similar in shape to a friend's early 1950s Gibbie with a neck pickup and big knobs on it. Same cutaway on a flattop, etc., although he's always used much heavier strings and flatpicks it. You might imagine where my nasty little mind has gone in case there's a difficulty with the pickup system long term. The Epi seems much lighter...???

 

But the bottom line is that I think there perhaps are two factors involved that nobody mentions here: 1. is the wood pretty much sourced the same or different at given times and K-C switching of factories? and 2., has there been any change in the mode of aging of the wood and ... what's the general humidity difference between the two factories.

 

You could make a case that the Seoul area ain't much different to, say... Boston. From my perspective that's pretty humid, but not tropically humid. I wonder about the difference with the China plants and what, if any, difference one might find in how woods respond to the difference.

 

m

[Muddy Dave]

Hi All,

 

Just joined and wanted to add my 2cents worth. I have an MIK Epi Les Paul standard and a MIC Epi ES-335 Dot. I like both guitars but prefer the Dot. The MIC Dot is really well made and handles and plays well. The sound is far better than I expected. I find the bass on the LP a little too heavy for my liking.

 

With all things there is a learning curve and with all brands you get some good stuff and some stinkers. If I dare mention the "F" word here, I own a Squire by "F" CV Strat MIC and I would not trade it for a Korean, Mexican or many American made strats I've played. I recall as a kid hearing "oh, that's just japanese junk", refering to electronics. IMHO If you like what you've got keep it. If it doesn't work for you, ditch it! I get annoyed with people who say "wow nice <place your major brand or model here>" without even playing or listening to it.

 

Dave

[milod]

I honestly think that most nations that are even semi-developed have the capability to produce high quality musical instruments. The question is not "if," because they can, but rather whether it can be done at an acceptable level of quality at a given cost.

 

In fact, that's been the question for all sorts of products from all sorts of countries for as long as we have records of people buying what today we'd consider "manufactured goods."

 

My question actually is more along lines of "where are they getting what woods and how are they aged and otherwise prepared for musical instrument manufacturing." The Chinese as a people have been doing incredible cabinetry, luthery (albeit for different instruments) and inlay work for thousands of years. Ditto the Koreans and Japanese. The real question to me then goes further.

 

m