Quote:
Originally Posted by random works
I don't know if it is worth it for the Chinese to build more expensive guitars for a certain market. I bet they could make guitars to complete marginally at the 1500-2000 level and maybe a little above, but they would have to put a lot into it. They seem to do fine below this range and might actually make more profit than if they moved up. I wonder if we will see the Chinese do what Takamine did and offer more expensive instruments in their top linew
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What I saw the times I visited Asia is that there are upper range product categories for Asian-made guitars that are mainly intended for their own domestic markets, or for their own and those of neighboring countries. On those trips I saw that they did in fact make these higher quality, higher priced guitars, but weren't bothering (or, at best, only occasionally attempting) to market them in North America.
Just as it doesn't make a lot of economic sense for North American manufacturers to try to compete with the cheapest entry level guitars from Asia, because of built-in cultural resistance at the upper end of our market it doesn't always make a lot of sense for the Asian guitar manufacturers to push hard to sell their more expensive instruments over here.
So, short version: yes, expensive and often exquisite musical instruments do get built over in Asia, but they're mostly sold over there.
Hope that makes sense.
Wade Hampton Miller