Who parent company makes the best import brand

[Guest]

Gibson has epiphone. Fender has their Mexican line. ESP has ltd. PRS has their SE line. Music man has Sterling. Ibanez has everything not made in Japan. Jackson, Schecter, Dean, Hamer all make USA models but also sell imports. Now obviously within all the import lines, there are high and low end, but as an overall blanket statement, who does everyone feel makes the most consistent quality of imports?

[JeffB]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

Schecter, Fender mim/squier, and PRS SE. Just dont see as much wonk. Dean used to be pretty good, but Ive seen some real garbage in recent years in the import lineup.

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

Those Czech Deans are really nice... Ibanez is pretty consistent and good.... The Squier Classic Vibe series is really great..............

[saladin]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

Squier is really on the game right now with a lot of cool offerings!

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

PRS.

Like I was just telling AJ, PRS does have a $1000 American quality line. It's just that they cost $500 and are made in Korea

[uOpt]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

Fender's Mexican reissue models (not the standards) are nice, much nicer than most imports. Of course their Japanese imports are good, too.

To me all those Korean-made things feel way too similar to each other. If you'd force me to use one I'd go with the Schecter. No way I ever touch an imported Hamer again.

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

The older Korean made LTD's were really, really good. Even the low end models. Then they shipped production elsewhere, twice, and those guitars are more reflective of their pricing.

The higher end LTD's are still MIK and are still pretty good, but the value isn't the same as it used to be.

I've noticed the same thing as uOpt, a lot of the MIK stuff is very similar across brands, I'm pretty sure they're made in the same factories, Samick/Schecter/Cort etc.

[ItsaBass]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

G&L, with their Tribute line.

[ItsaBass]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

No way I ever touch an important Hamer again.

sig'd

[ratherdashing]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

G&L Tribute series holds its own against anything Fender USA makes.

PRS SE line is excellent too, as others have said.

I'm a huge fan of the MIJ Fender product, especially the 80's made stuff. I have yet to play a MIJ Fender that I didn't consider to be an excellent guitar.

Also on the Fender side of things, the Squier Classic Vibe series is really excellent for the money.

I've also noticed a big increase in quality from Epiphone in the past few years. I think their Chinese plant is fully capable of making a great guitar now. I actually have an Epi NGD coming soon ...

Here's the thing: import quality CAN be just as good as domestic. It's all about what the brand owner wants. If they want a great guitar, and are willing to pay for it, the overseas manufacturer will build them a great guitar. If they want cheap crap, they'll get cheap crap.

[Deathmonkey]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

I've been really impressed with the Schecters over $800 or so, especially the Loomis sig and the ATX line. I think their cheaper guitars suffer from substandard woods, so they can be a bit of a crapshoot to find one not made of some old Malaysian dude's door. But I have a Garza sig and an ATX 8 that are very well made, and sound quite good.

[TheLivingDead]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

Hamer's old Koreans were pretty damn nice.

[SrDeMaFp]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

LTD, without a doubt.

[aleclee]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

I was a PRS fanboi for a long time but today I'd take a Sterling over a PRS SE.

[youngthrasher9]

Re: Who parent company makes the best import brand

I'm just going to say PRS.