Opinions on Korean guitars

[kevinr]

My Epi Joe Pass is Korean and it's a very well made guitar, just lacks a little of the western "made by a guitarist" feel

[ToneMonkey]

I'm fairly sure that the Fenix I had (and sadly gave back to it's rightful owner last week) was Korean.  Every bit as well made as a standard Fender in this case.

Now that I've rewired it and set it up properly, it's a right beast (stacked HB's)

[Telerocker]

I had a Fenix-telecaster made in Korea and after one year the neck was a banana. Neckwood was not dried properly, obviously. But, I think nowadays you can buy better budgetguitars then say 20-30 years ago. I have a cheap Yamaha Pacifica-tele 311 MS (made in Taiwan!) which sounds - after replacing bridge, tuners, saddle and pickups - very good en is finished better then my American Series Telecaster. The woods are happening in this guitar. So: just play and feel, every guitar is different and will appeal or not.

[Dr. Stein]

It's interesting that China is thought of as so far down the pile. Fernandes make most of their guitars in China and the build quality on them is excellent. They also stretch into the £7-800 price bracket - I'd always thought of China as being above Korea and below Japan. Which I guess just goes to show that you can't generalise by country.

Does anyone other than Fender build in Mexico?

[HairyChris]

just bought a korean schecter blackjack from 2005 lying in a shop. Its pretty nice, 500k pots, well soldered very clean inside. The neck feels good, lacquer isnt peggy, overall good finish. Not fond of the sh1 sh4 split combo but its ok. I really got impressed on the fret job, arent sharp on the corner, well polished. Also the freboard is made out of nice rosewood, feels very soft and silky and seems to be good quality wood.

To be honest if feels better than my custom baritone I used to own and made by my luthier and the overall playing sensations are quite the same as my made in japan esp eclipse.  :)

I had one of those for a while, dirt cheap too. Tuned to B standard it absolutely *destroyed* through a Dual Recto but I couldn't justify keeping it as I didn't use it much. Mahogany/Maple with set maple neck and decent hardware.

I also currently have a Schecter Hellraiser 7 and Agile 8. The HR weighs a ton but is well built. The Agile, some things about it are nice, others are annoying (not great set-up or final finish. Frets not the best either). Still inexpensive for what it is.

[ToneMonkey]

I had a Fenix-telecaster made in Korea and after one year the neck was a banana. Neckwood was not dried properly, obviously.

Wow man, that does suprise me.  I heard that they used to malke all the Squires, but had a fall out with Fender as they kept on keeping the good wood for themselves.

[dheim]

I've got a bunch of Korean guitars... Of course quality depends on the price range... If a brand could afford to produce a 200 euro guitar in the USA you'd see poor USA guitars as well... My epiphone lp is nice and so was my ibanez s320 (that I don't own anymore) - in the 300 - 400 euro range, my dean caddy is very nice - 600 euros - and my ltd ec1000 deluxe and my ibanez sa2020 prestige are great, around 1000-1100 euros.  my cort a5 bass - 700 euros, if I remember well, is excellent too. So have no fear to buy a Korean guitar, unless it's a very cheap one! Lately it's not too easy to find a really cheap Korean, they shifted entry level production in Indonesia and china.