Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

[rainsong86]

Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

when I bought my Yamaha AES 920 (which is basically an AES620 with quilted maple and african mahagony) I thought it was American made (dope!).. I assumed Yamaha followed the trend of other companies and had their cheap outsourced guitars and their high-end American-made customs.. I was surprised to see "made in japan" on the back and I wasn't even dwarfed by the surprise since the workmanship and attention to detail was ten times better than any American guitar I'd seen retailing around the 1,500 US dollar price line (I paid 620 for my used aes tho)

 

[midnite_man]

Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

Glad I snapped mine up when I did... though it was used anyway.

Same here. I bought my MIJ 60's RI Strat used from ebay about 6 years ago and I'm of the same opinion as most in regards to the quality of Japanese made instruments. My MIJ plays and sounds great, as good or better than any MIA model I've ever played. I'll have to say that the stock pickups that were still in the guitar when I bought it actually sounded pretty decent, and I wouldn't hesitate to use some or all of 'em in any Strat.
If I ever find a Tokei LP for a good deal I'm gonna snag it up. It seems that Japan factories are really good at maintaining consistent quality control. I keep scratching my head when I read or hear about guitarists who have to go through at least several new or used U.S. made, say, "Strats" or "Les Pauls" in seeking a good one to buy....but never hear that about MIJ guitars.
Generally being much more expensive to buy, every U.S. made instrument should shine, sit up, roll over, fetch, the whole nine yards coming out of the box and not have to be messed with for any reason in comparison to MIJ models. As usual, American greed rears it's ugly head.

Okay, I vented and I feel better now. Thanks.

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

I just picked up another Japanese guitar, a CIJ Fender 52 Tele RI. It's freaking great. I like it waaaaay better than the US 52 RI I had a while back. The Texas Specials sound really good, surprisingly.