Re: hey I have a question of how cheap guitar makers do it
As others have alluded to, it depends entirely on company location, volume, legal situation, and to a lesser extent philosophy.
The cheaper labor is, the more likely it is to be hand finished.
The higher the volume being produced, the more likely
The less restrictive workplace health regulations are the more likely it is to be hand finished
Company Philosophy can go either way.
If you´re shipping something like 2-300 guitars /day, have "high" labor costs like Korea, and the government cares at least a lilttle but how long taxpayers live, the gchances of it being done by machine go up fast.
On the flipside, if your workers only earn 5$ /day or less, you´re producing 100 /month, and the government couldn´t care less about how many thousands get injured, crippled, maimed or killed at work, you can safely bet your ass it´s going to be hand finished.
Remember , "hand finished" is =/= finished well or even properly. I can dip a guitar in sealer 10x by hand and get a half inch thick finish, too, it just takes much less time than doing it right, which involves lots of sanding, which is by far the most time consuming part of any non-graphic finish. Dipping , quick sanding, colorcoating, quick sanding, clearcoating, buffing is much faster which means more profit, which means it´s probably going to be done that way the farther down the ladder you go.
Hell, if guitars were made of metal or another electrically conductive material the lower end ones would all simply be powdercoated and done with.
