You guitar was made where ?

Re: You guitar was made where ?

It depends on the brand and where they've cut corners on components and hardware used in guitars that are made in wherever. Pickups and electrical components can be replaced, even necks can be refretted; you are less likely to find a bridge that can retrofit a bridge made of pot metal. Ibanez is notorious for having 1,000 different locking tremolo models, and only 3-4 are worth the hassle.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

Ibanez is notorious for having 1,000 different locking tremolo models, and only 3-4 are worth the hassle.

I've recently gone through a number of non-tremolo Ibanez guitars, and they cannot design a bridge, period. All of the "Gibraltar" bridges look great but are totally useless. Sharp corners on some, deep saddles on others making it difficult for palm muting, etc.

That and their use of cosmo chrome. Either figure out how to make it not wear off, or just use regular chrome and black.
 
You guitar was made where ?

All of mine are made in USA. Two being store bought and two built by me. I've had my fair share of Asian made guitars and some where better than others. Between a MIM and MIJ Strat, I'd have to play both to decide. But, in my experience, MIJ instruments seem to be consistently better quality than MIM.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

No preference. Play them and buy the one you like best.

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

Both my babies were made in Indonesia so it doesn't matter to me where it's from. I'm an odd duck, sometimes I buy a guitar for looks or price and then see what can be done to make it's use for what I do. I've been fortunate to get some pretty solid guitars despite my methods though. But to answer the OP's question the right thing to do would be to play them both and listen to them and listen to what your hands and ears are telling you. Is it worth getting this guitar? Because of modern manufacturing techniques pickups are easily replacable so listen to it acoustically, does it give a good lively response or is it like trying to punch a bowl of pudding and dead and kind of sticky. (Hey, I know what I'm trying to say if you may not. :P ) There's a lot of factors that go into purchasing a guitar. It's like finding a woman in this respect, you may be attracted to it's looks but if it's not good for you it will most likely always be not good for you.
 
You guitar was made where ?

There was a fire yup but they temporarily moved Mexican production to the States and slapped on hybrid Mexican/US serial numbers, or something to that effect.

Actually, there were no MIM guitars made at all while the plant was reconstructed from the fire. I was working in a music store when this happened and our Fender rep as well as folks at Fender I talked with a few times a week told me that when I asked about production. Luckily there was a lot of extra stock available that had left the facility already so stores were out for a short time. I remember this because we sold loads of MIM Strats and I was the one doing the ordering.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

My First guitar I want to say was made in Korea. It's a Laguna LE112 (I still own it!)

My First Jackson King V was Made in Japan, and it plays like absolute butter and sounds amazing. I believe it was a Pre-fender one too, but literally right before they got bought out. Probably one of the last made before the Japanese factory got shut down.

My recent Jackson was made Indonesia, and it's a post Fender one. Can't say it plays or sounds as nice as the MIJ King V, but I think I need different pickups and a good set-up, and to break it in more by playing it a lot. The MIJ King V is just so worn in from me playing it a bunch that I just tend to play the best on that one.

My Ibanez Destroyer was made in China, and contrary to what many people think, it's very well made, and sounds boss.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

OK, so let me slightly rephrase my question :


Which model, MIM vs. MIJ do you think will have the 'better' build quality ?

I've played MIMs that were great and MIMs that were crap. Same for MIJs. It comes down to the individual guitar.

That being said, one of my electric guitars came from San Luis Obispo, CA and the other came from Japan. My acoustic was built in Mexico by a company based in Escondido, CA.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

I'd just take what played/sounded best....if it was made in Timbuktoo ...so be it.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

Most of the guitars I own were made in the USA. I have a few Teles that were made in Japan & Korea and quite Honestly they are pretty nice guitars. I also have a few hand made guitars, One made here in NY & one made in Canada. The Canadian made is my newest guitar (Brian Monty Blues Queen). All of my Strats were made in the USA. All of my Gibson's were made in the USA. I guess I am partial to the earlier made guitars. I have an SG that I bought in '68 or 69 and back then anything made outside of the US was an inferior guitar. Today I don't think the quality drops off as much as it used to. Quality standards in Japan have become very good. Today I would rate quality like this.
#1...... Made in the USA
#2....... Made in Japan
#3....... Made in Mexico
#4....... Made in Korea
#5....... Made in China
#6....... Made in Indonesia

I guess the order of 3 &4 could be flipped depending on the instrument. But I have played some Chinese made Guilds that were really well made, they played well & sounded really good. So??? Rating these today is very hard. Years ago anything made outside the US or Canada was a pretty cheap guitar.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

I don't think it's fair to rank country of origin, because the differences are going to be in the parent company's quality control. Samick produces nice guitars and crap guitars in the same factory, and the difference comes down to price point, specs and oversight. This is why PRS SE's can get better reviews than many other Korean made guitars. In the case of Fender Mexico, I don't think FMIC looked closely enough out their output, but they have improved a bit.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

I like to take **** and make salad. Good hardware, pickups, setup and assembly trump all.

But, for the record, Indo made Ibanezes smoke MIM Fenders, in my book.

Korean made LTD in that same vicinity, older examples were better.

MIJ Jacksons over that.

MIJ Ibanez over that.

MIJ ESP and US Jacksons next.

I won't comment on Fender or Gibson because, meh, I'm not usually impressed.
 
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Re: You guitar was made where ?

I have a MIM str@t which I'd struggle to fault. My brother in law has one too and he loves it. The only thing that let's either guitar down is the bloke playing it.

I've never played an 80's MIJ str@t though.

My favourite guitars are MIMG - Made In My Garage.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

I still prefer my MII Ibby to any Am Std. Strat one and a half times its price... And that's in terms of quality.
 
Re: You guitar was made where ?

Let me just say as I have stated earlier that "most" of my guitars are American made. Back when I first started playing there really wasn't a lot of great guitars out there that were made outside of the US. That said is over the years I have accumulated a bunch of guitars that were made in Japan and Korea. The Japanese made guitars are better then the Korean guitars, but the US made are still better. I think the list I put up dealing strickly with quality issues is pretty good. There are a few that could flip flop, but all in all this doesn't mean that a Koren made or Chinese made guitar sucks. They are still fine guitars.
 
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