Chinese vs Indo guitars - which are better.. or less bad?

[Vinsanitizer]

Neither.

Save up your money and buy the real thing.

 

[StrummerJoe]

Neither.

Save up your money and buy the real thing.

Also this!

 

[Wildeman]

Micronesia, that's the one's you want, yep.....

 

[Wildeman]

I have an Epi Coronet and Wilshire, Chicom reissues. Both are flawless. CTS pots and switchcraft jacks on both. P90s are perfect. A couple of the best deals I've acquired over the years. A year or so later I picked up an Indonesia PRS Santana SE. The first one arrived with neck pickup DOA. It was replaced with another without issues. Either way it's a crap shoot. I'd prefer not purchasing anything from China but the deal on those two Epis was too good to pass. Alvin gave me the heads up on those. They both rock nicely. The Coronet filled the niche of the long lost 58 or 59 double cut LP TV. Coronet + 1959 is hard to beat.

I still need me one of those! Dangittt.

 

[Wildeman]

Got like $300.00 into this, it's as good as anything to me, it just does it's job.if you're a foosball player...
The Strat is pretty good too

 

[Ken Ops]

Neither.

Save up your money and buy the real thing.

Okay, I’ll play. What is “the real thing” according to you?

Context, in case it’s needed: all my guitars so far are MIJ, and in my opinion they’re all great.

 

[golem]

Generally I like Indonesian better. I'm super impressed with what Ibanez is making there and I don't hate Strandbergs from their because of quality. I'm sure there are other brands that would come to mind if I thought more about this.

I used to be super unimpressed with the finishes on Eastman which I usually think of as the highest end Chinese guitar makers. I've heard they made changes to their finishes since the time I was seeing issues on used guitars (sample size of about a dozen). I still feel like there are better deals out there on American made stuff vs Chinese and Indonesian on the high end of things from those places.

I'll admit that I don't particularly like low end stuff from anywhere.

 

[Wezie Guitar lover]

Had any guitars made in China or Indinesia? What are your experiences with them? Worth bothering with at all?

Seen a few go by that look fine, specs are decent, price is right, but.. it still seems risky. Is it?

I have guitars made in both countries. Quality is when a worker does a great job with the materials given. My Yamaha, Schecter, Douglas explorer style, Squire is fine guitars. I own a boutique. And my Yamaha is almost 20 years old.

So they are good. Counterfeit guitars is no good. Legit copies are fine.

 

[Wezie Guitar lover]

Indonesia is not an up and coming enemy. I would never suggest buying anything made in China if you have any reasonable alternative.

Gibson owns Epiphone and they are located in China. They control everything in house. So why avoid them and Expensive Hagstrom and Eastman guitars?

 

[Wezie Guitar lover]

Also this!

Silly.

 

[Nadir]

The first to avoid supporting "communist china" should be the western multi-national entreprises.

We should stop buying from them.

But could we live without our beloved smartphones? ...

 

[StrummerJoe]

Silly.

Yes. I agree with Vin.

I also agree with avoiding MIC as much as possible.

Ymmv

 

[Ned74]

Last year I sold an LTD viper 50, it was Indo made, think i paid roughly 450aud. It was very well made, great action, not bad pick ups, sounded good for being passive, and was a very handsome axe. For a intermediate guitar it was awesome, but that being said, LTD and ESP make awesome products imo.... Same goes for my PDP M5 kit..... PDP and DW make great drum equipment too...imo

 

[Ned74]

Either can be good or not so good depending on the individual guitar.

I've had both and my preference is for USA or Japanese guitars.

Usually with a MIC guitar, I like to do my part by putting USA made pickups in it.

Certain MIC Epiphone's are so expensive now (new) wise...that I wouldn't even consider it. Certain models like most guitars, just buy used.

Like old Samick guitars, mainly shit, but every 1 in every thousand could be epic.... Full lucky dip

 

[markabrown]

Generally I like Indonesian better. I'm super impressed with what Ibanez is making there and I don't hate Strandbergs from their because of quality. I'm sure there are other brands that would come to mind if I thought more about this.

I used to be super unimpressed with the finishes on Eastman which I usually think of as the highest end Chinese guitar makers. I've heard they made changes to their finishes since the time I was seeing issues on used guitars (sample size of about a dozen). I still feel like there are better deals out there on American made stuff vs Chinese and Indonesian on the high end of things from those places.

I'll admit that I don't particularly like low end stuff from anywhere.

I bought a Korean made 90s Epiphone Les Paul 20 odd years ago. The finish and playability is incredible. I own Gibson and Fender American guitars and NONE of them approach the Epiphone in terms of quality of finish, tone, feel and playability. I think there is an element luck involved but you have to remember that China, India and South East Asian economies are now in transition. They have had immense investment from developed economies and huge internal investment. Recent manufacturing plants are highly advanced, automated and beyond Western capabilities in some cases. It is no longer about cheap labour. Their workforce is becoming highly educated and they, just like the Japanese in the late 60s, are moving from imitation to innovation. Sadly for us in the West they are becoming and without doubt will be the global powers over the next 50 years. I have another 20th anniversary Squire Bullet Stratocaster made in China and, again, playability is incredible. The neck is simply flawless! It cost me £65 from a second hand shop. Change the pickups and job done!

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Okay, I’ll play. What is “the real thing” according to you?

Context, in case it’s needed: all my guitars so far are MIJ, and in my opinion they’re all great.

Made in the USA.

 

[Stuart Banks]

Had any guitars made in China or Indinesia? What are your experiences with them? Worth bothering with at all?

Seen a few go by that look fine, specs are decent, price is right, but.. it still seems risky. Is it?

I bought a MiI Ibanez 12 string semi for about £450 (UK based) and the fit and fixtures look good to me.
I also bought a Gretsch archtop white with gold hardware and that was around the £700 - inside the serial number starts with a K, so I’m assuming it’s Korean made.
I also have a MiI Squier Strat which I can’t fault - I just don’t understand how they can, basically, flood the market with cheap, but well-built guitars for the price.
Of course, the hardware leaves a lot to be desired but I have had no issues with it, or any of them for that matter - I think that buying online is the luck of the draw.

 

[Kyrunner1]

I have 2 MIK Schecter Hellraisers, play very well, Indo Kramer very inexpensive but plays nice, Fender Lead II MIM, also good. But I have a USA 1980 Fender Lead III (bought new in Korea while in the service in 1981) that is excellent and Fender Ultra Strat USA which also is excellent. I think I play them for different sounds but they all play well. Ultra Strat, US made Fender Lead III and Hellraiser are my favorites. But I play most of the 14 I have. So in closing I'd like to say it all depends on personal preference and budget.

 

[doc mckenna]

Everything asked depends on the QC of the company. Not just for guitar. I have a 5 year old huewei and it's still competes well against my wife's Samsung from last year. I had a mim fender Strat and a charvel dk that cost me 1800 cdn and both had major fret sprout. Had a chibson that cost me 450 and it was better, esp frets. The tuners and pickups could have been upgraded, but the labour areas were too notch.

Any worker anywhere will work to their companies design and QC levels. With CNC and even average QC most low price guitars are very good quality because the machine will always cut a good body unless there is an end mill failure. What passes to the consumer on hand worked parts depends on the company. Fender just throws whatever for 349 and it sells well as a Squier. But most non fender products go a lot further for the same price point including hardware.

Played a friend's Harley Benton and if it had fender on the logo you would pay 1500 for it and be happy with the quality, and you got one of those "good ones". China buts out really great guitars if you find a company that puts work into it. Wolf makes great guitars. Period. Not for their price, but in general a great guitar. I had a 3k Godin montreal, a company I love and owned a dozen guitars from, and it was the worse QC I had seen on a guitar. Even though it was a SF guitar there were so many finish flaws I sent it back, even saying no thanks for an additional 570 in savings.

Had a Schechter green Hellraiser I wish I had kept and it was made in Indonesia. Better than my Gibson studio and half the price. The studio was made in the good ol' USA but has a lot of issues with it, esp the nut and the tuners for stability. So no matter where the guitar is built if the worker has time to build it well, it will be built well. Find a company that has good QC and you can order a guitar online and have a decent chance of getting a good one. If they specialize in postal style guitars as oppose to in store cheapos, you are more likely to get a good guitar online.

 

[GabrielRaphael]

Had any guitars made in China or Indinesia? What are your experiences with them? Worth bothering with at all?

Seen a few go by that look fine, specs are decent, price is right, but.. it still seems risky. Is it?

Chris Cannella used to work with EVH for years and back when Fender purchased jackson he told me that the factories in china are able to clone identical relics as they use computers and robots now and got a hold of all the schematics, so they can produce anything, same things you by in the US apart custom shop les pauls and Jacksons and these bodies if already neck through are from the chinese factories, karl Sandoval and very few people actually gluetheur own neck throughs ., parts are only different based on where they are made so if you want gibson hardware they are made in the US or german floyd Rose instead of korean, but for the actual guitars, the wood is not even allowed into the US, its why Gibson got screwed but this also tells you everything about the bodies,

i met only one person with Chinese chibsons etc, he had 9 and body wise they where amazing, action was great, especially the Randy Rhoads rr5, i tried more and he had done things to get the rest set up right. he told me it depends where you get them, ghgate and aliexpress are ok., but they should only come from a factory district or its a reseller ridding nicked bodies.