I recently had a talk wilth a guy that owns a local music shop, and he was goin on about how in his opinion " There really isnt any difference between an American strat or a Korean made, as he points to a Schecter". He made this comment after I told him that "Fender bumped up they're prices a little, but the quality is still there". Has the quality of the guitar we've all so cherished all these years diminished in recent years?

Personaly i think fmic have generaly been pretty consistent since they took over cbs. Eastern guitar quality has risen expodentialy over the last decade though.

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I think that Fender quality has actually risen a bit in the past 10-15 years IMHO. The whole idea is that the market is changing, for example Korean made guitars once considered horrible in the late 1980's are now very close to American made guitars, not only in electric but also acoustic guitars like Blueridge and Breedlove. I have a schecter and its quality is superb. I could not have said that in the mid 1980's.


By time you will find production shifting to places like Korea and then elsewhere in south east Asia, with only a core high value added industry in places where higher labor costs persist. Most musical instruments companies have a production line overseas.

Go get you MIA before its too late.
Cheeeers
H

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I think that Fender quality has actually risen a bit in the past 10-15 years IMHO. The whole idea is that the market is changing, for example Korean made guitars once considered horrible in the late 1980's are now very close to American made guitars, not only in electric but also acoustic guitars like Blueridge and Breedlove. I have a schecter and its quality is superb. I could not have said that in the mid 1980's.


By time you will find production shifting to places like Korea and then elsewhere in south east Asia, with only a core high value added industry in places where higher labor costs persist. Most musical instruments companies have a production line overseas.

Go get you MIA before its too late.
Cheeeers
H

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Hisham your comments on schecter are interesting. Knopfler said the best tele he ever played was the schecter he used on solid rock. The neck on his first strat turned out to be a schecter (confirmed by rudy pensa) then he went on to have sponsorship from them. Check the alchemy dvd every guitar on it is a schecter. I thought they had gone the other way started great and declined lately. Townsend, malmsteen and knopfler loved em for a good few years.

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Were the Scheters he used American or Korean made?, I guess they still have a custom shop open for business which produces A1 class guitars... but in the late eighties and nineties I think they were exclusively American .. but nevertheless, the Korean quality that is circulating today is superb, just the change the pups.


But i agree with you that their Korean made G's is still lesser in quality than their American custom models, but not too far off. Their prices have also risen to reflect rising demand.

I also heard that comment about Schecter going down the gutter a few years back, when they opened their Korean plant, which is understandable, but after putting duncan JB/Jazz in that guitar of mine I can compare tone clarity, playability, and correct intonation etc... to my Am Dlx easy.

Hisham

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Hmmm good food for thought. From the little i know of them they were bought out in the mid 80's and then sold and bought again sometime in the 90's. The Korean guitars started around 97 if i remember right. Maybe thats when schecter was sold to the current owner.

I have absolutely no doubt that their craftsmanship today is very good. The far east has been on a steady incline since 1978. A force to be reckoned with no doubt.

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The price was sweet too I got mine used for $ 355 + $120 for the new pups... not bad ... especially if junior wants to fool around

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