IMO, the Chinese have blown past the Koreans. The high-end stuff coming out of the Grand Reward factory in Southern China is right up there with anything that's ever come out of Korea.
And as for the
Eastman jazz guitars, mandolins and acoustic guitars being hand-built in Beijing, there's never been production Korean instruments that came close to that quality level.
It's true that the vast majority of Chinese guitars are cheap on all accounts. But that's because the brands that buy them, position them for low-cost price points. The reason for that is consumer perception and expectation. Folks aren't willing to pay as much for a Chinese instrument as a Mexican or USA-built instrument. But if the Chinese want -- and the customers are willing to pay for it -- they can build electric guitars just about as well as anyone. There was a steep learning curve, but they came up it very quickly.
As for the counterfeiters, I was made aware of pirated Seymour Duncan pickups installed on fake guitars. I hired a Chinese lawyer, we got an investigation going, a bunch of the big guitar companies got a parallel investigation going, and then we got the government to conduct a raid, confiscate guitars and put some folks in jail. That was sweet.
I have a fake ESP Lynch tiger stripe in my office. Most folks, including George, think it's the real thing from five feet away. And for $330 shipped, it's not a bad guitar.
But it's theft, plain and simple.
