#16
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"do you buy Martin BECAUSE it's American, or do you buy Martin because YOU LIKE MARTINs... "
Both and no.
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Rick Steel and Wood, "Listen closely and she'll tell you her secrets" RG |
#17
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Two weeks ago I told a friend, "I don't know exactly what my next guitar will be, but it will be made by Martin". I had in mind a HD-28AWB Elderly custom, or an 000-18V or OM-18GE. That was then. I just bought an Eastman AC420B. Not a Martin, not American. But I played it for an hour, and it spoke to me. I'll be considering Eastman for my mahogany OM, too. And I'll play some Martins and others, too. I don't delude myself into thinking my Eastman will be someone's collectible in 50 years, but then, I'll be dead and won't care very much ...
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#18
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I think in Europe we have a healthy cynicism that lends itself to the free market. In the UK if one of our manufacturers are outstanding they will tend to survive, producing very top quality goods. The lower end of the the market is conceded to those countries where the cost of living is lower because we cannot seriously compete on that front. times are hard for every country's manufacturers now but strangely enough we were tipped into recession by economic events happening thousands of miles away. Seems we are all inextricably connected regardless. Bearing that in mind it seems best to go for the best you can afford wherever it may be produced. I can see the point in considering work conditions and sustainability though. Some of the far east manufacturers are also pretty good on this front though.
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#19
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As for Chinese-made guitars: Love em. Like American guitars, there are hits and misses. But the increased quality coming out of the East is great for us consumers.
And, even as a journalist, I know about outsourcing. Believe it or not, newspaper copy editors have been outsourced to several countries, mostly India. Talk about an oddity: People living thousands of miles away editing stories based in, say, Orange County. I shake my head just thinking about it.
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Larrivee OM-03 Italian Spruce, L-03R Yamaha FG3, FS3, LL16, FG730S Martin Custom D Mahogany Blueridge BR-140A Ibanez Talman Harmony Sovereign circa 1970s Last edited by rlouie; 06-05-2010 at 09:53 AM. |
#20
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Quote:
Yup, me too. Our house sports 5 acoustics at the moment, two built in the USA, one Canada and two from Asia. They were chosen for their reputation and affordability and kept for their tone and playability.
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Baby #1.1 Baby #1.2 Baby #02 Baby #03 Baby #04 Baby #05 Larry's songs... …Just because you've argued someone into silence doesn't mean you have convinced them… |
#21
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Martin, Taylor and Fender all make their lower end guitars in Mexico if I'm correct, while Guild and Breedlove do in Asia. As much as I'm sure they would love to keep 100% of their production in the US, at the end of the day they need to be affordable to compete with other imports and make a profit.
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#22
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Quote:
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Chris Larrivee's '07 L-09 (40th Commemorative); '09 00-03 S.E; '08 P-09 Eastman '07 AC 650-12 Jumbo (NAMM) Martin '11 D Mahogany (FSC) Golden Era type Voyage-Air '10 VAOM-06 -the nylon string- Goya (Levin) '58 G-30 Yamaha '72 G-170A (Japanese solid top) Garcia '67 Model 3 -dulcimer- '11 McSpadden |
#23
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In terms of foreign-made musical instruments at my house, the champion nation by far is Canada - I just counted up and I've got six Canadian-made instruments here.
How come we never hear much on these online guitar forums about The Creeping Canadian Menace?!? THAT'S what really frightens me: that we're being slowly but insidiously Canadianized, and eventually we're all going to end up dressing like the McKenzie Brothers, and then take it further with hair and beards and missing teeth like all those French-Canadian hockey players whose idea of a good time is whacking people with a hockey stick!! Wade Hampton "Pretty Scary, Eh?" Miller PS: I think it's great that there are surprisingly high quality lowcost guitars coming out of China these days. We happen to be in a historical moment when that is actually possible. But the Chinese pay the same prices for raw materials as we do, and so eventually their prices will go up. Short version: enjoy this historical moment while it's here, because it will change soon enough. |
#24
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i agree with the original poster. blueridge was the company that first made me think of it, because their low end all solid guitars are so nice, and as you go up the blueridge line, they keep sounding better. their parlors are the only parlors i really like the sound of below three grand, and i actually like them as much as those more expensive ones.
one of the nicest guitars i've played in the last year was an eastman AC822. finish and hardware were first rate, sound was a dream, neck was perfect. it was one of the guitars i'll remember for a very long time. if it weren't so deep, i'd have laid it away in a heartbeat. and price-wise, it was a lot more than those entry solid blueridges, but it was still quite a value. also i play small guitars only, and i have yet to find a small u.s. made guitar i really like at any price - i've never really liked the boxy sound of most smaller guits. but guild makes a couple GADS that both fit my needs physically and sound very good, one on layaway, the other to ship monday, btw. i've tried a lot of guitars before i ordered those two including plenty of martins and gibsons and taylors. funny thing, i found myself writing about price here more than once, but because of my current need for a smaller guitar, price doesn't even come into it. gibson makes a few guitars that work physically, but they're made to have that old-time blues sound, which is not what i'm looking for. the only martin i played that was physically comfortable was a terze, and i didn't like it at all. taylor doesn't make an all solid guitar that is small enough, nor does breedlove. so there is something else for me to like about chinese made guitars in addition to price/value, and to me it's essential. |
#25
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One thing about the Asian made Guilds and Breedloves is that while they are impeccably built, they seem to be quite a bit heavier built than their US made counterparts. (I can tell a US Breedlove from an Atlas series simply by the weight), and while lots of folks like the GAD series all the ones I've played seem dead compared to the Waverly ones.
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Larrivee OM-03RE; O-01 Martin D-35; Guild F-212; Tacoma Roadking Breedlove American Series C20/SR Rainsong SFTA-FLE; WS3000; CH-PA Taylor GA3-12, Guild F-212 https://markhorning.bandcamp.com/music |
#26
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For me, it is not which country, which continent or which hemisphere. It is how the item is produced and what are the side affects of the production. Much of Asia and the many of developing countries don't even consider these concerns. So my choice is to buy from clean industries and clean producers rather than polluters. If that means I have to spend more for clean products, then I am willing to spend more for a clean world. Regarding the OP's opening comments about quality of Chinese guitars, I can only say I have never played one I have wanted to buy. Sure some were better players than other similarly priced guitars, but I wouldn't buy them either. Another interesting observation is the number of threads here and on other forums asking how they can improve, repair or enhance these Chinese made guitars. At first they love them, but soon they need repairs, major adjustments and replacement parts. As you can tell, I have yet to be impressed. For me, the true test will be in 10 or 20 years to see how many of these Chinese guitars are still around and if they will ever have vintage qualities. |
#27
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This is also a theme in the resonator world.
The "low cost" becomes more of a "mid cost" after hotrodding the guitar with better cones and better tuning machines. The time spent modifying the neck stick pedestals to make it more responsive, fixing whatever problems the nut and bridge have, and rough fret dressing all add up, too. And the cost of tools and supplies. And finally the "just as good" posts and endless arguing on internet forums takes its toll. Rationalizing a new guitar indicates a problem IMO.
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-------------------------------------------------- Identical String Change polls on the front page by two different people? Seriously? Shill - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill Sockpuppet - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sock_puppet_(internet) Forumspam - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_spam |
#28
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Patti, here are some more suggestions for small bodied solid wood guitars. Santa Cruz small bodied http://www.santacruzguitar.com/instr...allbodied.html Santa Cruz Firefly http://www.santacruzguitar.com/instr.../ff_model.html Santa Cruz PJ http://www.santacruzguitar.com/instr.../pj_model.html Santa Cruz Style 1 http://www.santacruzguitar.com/instr...ty1_model.html Collings Baby Series http://www.collingsguitars.com/baby-series.html and from across the Atlantic..... Brook Guitars makes a number of small bodied guitars http://brookguitars.com/ |
#29
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Help me out here guys. Give me a list of acoustic Guitars that are still being made here if its not to tall an order.
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#30
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The last few Martins I've played against my Johnson JD26 had no real advantage tonally or construction wise to merit me having to pay a small forune just to have a Martin when the JD26 was just as well built and had better tonal qualities at a more than reasonable price.
I've had to do a little adjusting to mine but it's doing just fine and I always am pleased with the sound and am amazed at the overtones this guitar makes. Most of the Martins I've played lately have not had the sound that I expected to hear from them , but they were new instruments that probably needed to be played a while for them to start voicing well. I've had in the past a D28, a D35, A hand made Gallager style D18 style guitar made by Tony Sullivan in Wartrace ,Tenn. Gibsons, Yamahas, Alvarez, Hofner, Seagull and none have been as nice as my JD26. It's Asian made and I can't tell the difference in quality in make and the sound is great. |