** Thoughts on the far eastern manufacturers **

[jimibt]

i've got nothing but praise for the likes of Shine, Fine and Samick who variously have produced the epiphone range for gibson for quite a few years. in fact, having owned one of the epi las pauls from the Fine workshop and a 335 from Shine for a good few years, i have to say that with the addition of the BKP's, you'd be hard pushed to better the tone in an original LP or pre 78 335. of course, this is my subjective opinion but i do have a les paul deluxe (with the 'wee' pickups') to compare with and find both the unplugged and amped sounds to be 'different' but none better than the other.

anyone out there got other 'models' from the far east that they feel are of good build quality/choice of materials that 'match' the originals that they set out to model??

jim

btw - if you're reading this Tim, you were right re the country boys in my custom tele. they now sound great after having played them live over the past 4-6 weeks. i think the piledrivers may have been just too powerful for the set that we're doing (frank black/beat farmers etc..) - thanks again

[Ratrod]

I've owned some guitars from the far east and I still do. The Epi explorer I had was good and so was the DeArmond M77 (both Korean).

The Chinese Dean is made of the proper materials and has some decent hardware but doesn't have the attention to detail as the DeArmond had. The sound (with the BKP's) is unbelievable, exactly the way I heard it in my head.

The now almost 30 year old Japanese Yamaha SG-400 is as good as any Gibson from it's time.

[indysmith]

Nowadays japanese luthiers seem to be better than the americans, hence why they no longer sell jap Fenders in the states - why pay more for something that ain't as well built?

[Davey]

japan guitars are just as good as the american counterparts.

thing is, the american companies usualy give them less features.

take jackson for example.

japan axes are mostly bolt on with rosewood fingerboards and sucky pickups.
they had a run in the early 90's where the japanese axes had the same features than the american ones and they sold more cos they were cheaper and they had to tone down the jap axes cos they didnt sell american ones hehe

i got a japan charvel and i would put it against any guitar american or not in terms of craftsmanship and quality.

i wont buy any chinese or korean guitars for a while though.. they might look good on paper but the ones i played sucked ass

[indysmith]

i wont buy any chinese or korean guitars for a while though.. they might look good on paper but the ones i played sucked ass

unfortunately i must second this, they seem horribly built (loose jacks, knobs, everything, cheap hardware, useless wood), and the pickups on them are generally appauling too!!!!

[jimibt]

Davey,

both the epi les paul standard and the shine 335 that i have are korean. both made from the 'proper' materials (i.e. mahogany, maple, rosewood etc). i would say that the electrics are the one 'feature' that lets them down - but this is easily remedied with good replacement pots/toggle switch. of course, the addition of the BKP's takes it way out there. so take a look at the korean built axes out there without prejudice, i think you'll be quite surprised. in fact, ebay is by far one of the best 'shop windows' for the shine stuff at the moment.

[jimibt]

i wont buy any chinese or korean guitars for a while though.. they might look good on paper but the ones i played sucked ass

unfortunately i must second this, they seem horribly built (loose jacks, knobs, everything, cheap hardware, useless wood), and the pickups on them are generally appauling too!!!!

yes, the pups are prolly on a scale of 1-10, on average about 2. but for £200, you can really make quite a nice upgrade on these.

[HJM]

Epi Les Pauls- if you ask Epiphone directly they'll tell you that some bodies are made from alder and the maple top is just a veneer.  Not tried a shine.

The thing is the wood work and fretting is usually good, just needing a fret dress. But the hardware is average at best, and the electronics need replacing. So a £200 guitar could need £400 of pickups, bridges and tuners. It'll be better than a £600 guitar at that point.

My main problem is they fell too generic, I'm pretty take it or leave it with the necks, they're good, but not great. They feel kind of fake, and the initial 'wow this is a great deal' fades you end up wondering why you don't play it.

Jap guitars on the other hand I love. I've got a Charvel 750xl and it's faultless, great tone, proper thick maple top on a Mahogany body, new pickups is all it needed, the hardware is top notch. My Fender Jap strat is the same.

For the record I've got a China made OLP Musicman 5 string bass, it's got a Bartollini in it and sounds fine, well made, just a little dull.

[tewboss]

I'm surprised nobody mentions ESP as their LTD range are made in Korea, and I pretty sure the actual ESP Hetfield Trucker is made there - I know the LTD version is and that includes *spits* EMG's and Tonepros bridge etc.

Also Moollon effects are made in Korea and they the only boutique make I've heard of from Korea. I've just been on their website, and their guitars and basses don't look half bad either</understatement>

[Davey]

i say it again. it will be a while before i buy a korean guitar again.

the pots, knobs, jacks pups bridges, tuners can be replaced, no biggie.. usualy not even that much a wad of cash to do so

what the ptoblem is, shitety finishes, cr@p wood (some do use good wood, but those extend in the higher price range)

by far the worst thing is build quality. while some might be good, the vast majority of them are utter cr@p

true, i havent tried out every one of them, but enough that it has to be a seriously GOOD guitar for me to buy korean.


but.. i am spoilt.. i'm afraid custom is the only way to go now (and it's all your fault Ben!), granted i do not have the guitar i ordered yet and is still good two months till i get it, but the interaction and the 'custumer support' have convinced me lol

[Skybone]

Of the 6 guitars I own, 4 were made in Japan, 1 was made in Mexico, and the other made in Korea or China.

The 4 MIJ's are fantastic, 3 are loaded with BKP's, the other is original. The Mex is a Fender Jazz Bass, and that's a great guitar. The other far eastern is an acoustic, and I've wavered on changing it many times, until I've tried a load of other acoustics out in comparison, and it keeps on coming home with me because it sounds great.

What do I think of far eastern made guitars, in the words of Tony the Tiger, they'rrrrre great.

[chrisola]

the cheaper woods in korean guitars will probably spread to USA soon, as they are all from easily re-newable sources...

Made in japan means excellent QC.. old story from manufacturing:

a usa company asked their new contractors in japan to produce a batch of items. they needed 97% of the items to be perfect and pass the QC.

Several weeks later the contractor shipped the items, complete with a letter explaining that after much trouble they had manged to make 3% of the order sub standard, as requested.

:D

[_tom_]

So far the only Epiphone I've played that I really liked is the one I own! I played a couple of mates Epiphone g400 customs or something (those horrible looking ones with 3 humbuckers) and I hate them. Also tried a mates G400 "Extreme" which I also disliked! They all feel so cheap and nasty to me!

But somehow my Epi LP custom feels so nice and perfect! Even prefer playing it to a couple Gibsons I tried at Music Live (though I would have to play them with 11s to get a good measure of the playability). Guess I was lucky and got a "good one"  :D

[dave_mc]

^ (chrisola) :lol:  i don't doubt it, though, japanese guitars pwn!

[HJM]

the cheaper woods in korean guitars will probably spread to USA soon, as they are all from easily re-newable sources...

Made in japan means excellent QC.. old story from manufacturing:

a usa company asked their new contractors in japan to produce a batch of items. they needed 97% of the items to be perfect and pass the QC.

Several weeks later the contractor shipped the items, complete with a letter explaining that after much trouble they had manged to make 3% of the order sub standard, as requested.

:D

That's like the old Mullard one, 1% failure rate, the one bad valve or transistor in the box was always bottom left corner.....