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What do you think about this comment regarding far eastern guitars?


docjeffrey

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I don't want to start a {censored}storm, but I am curious whether you agree with the chief designer of Walden Guitars. He's talking acoustics, but the same thing could easily apply to electrics.

 

Sorry about the large jpegs--it's my screen capture utility on my iPad and I'm too lazy to change the size in photoshop-- I'm not yelling at you.

 

484139_3980973334740_1536321427_n.jpg

 

582826_3980973654748_438090553_n.jpg

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This was written by a guy who is promoting his guitars for commercial succes. With this obvious bias, he has little credibility in my book. He's talking bull{censored} and has an interest in whatever message he sends that will convince someone to buy his MIC guitars because unlike other asian manufacturers (and he includes Japan), he's doing it right. Lol.

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Walden is owned by KHS music which is a big Taiwanese conglomerate that also owns Hercules stands and mapex drums.

 

You've clipped both ends of that conversation so I'm not really sure what "balance" he's referring to in the beginning of that conversation. But from further on I think what he's saying is that Japan didn't copy American guitar manufacturing methods directly and cut corners which the other Asian builders then copied.

 

But that's a very limited perspective. He's totally ignoring or ignorant to the fact that their are plenty of acoustic manufactures in Japan that build to high spec standards every bit as good as American companies. Is he trying to tell me Yairi doesn't build guitars that are as good quality as Martin? I'm sure he does know they do...but it doesn't fit his argument to MARKET his guitars and try to set them apart as something better than the rest.

 

A part of that too could be the ignorance towards "Asian guitars" as being only what people see in America. So while it's probably true that most "asian" guitars Americans see in a store might be of slightly lower production standards than an American guitar...it's because that's what is "wanted" for the American market. As in the electric guitar market..."High end Asian" guitars pretty much only come from Japan, and the majority don't leave the domestic Japanese market. Companies know it's hard to get people to stray from their Martins and Taylors...even if their guitar might be better.

 

As far as the labor issue. Of course he's going to say that. What else is he going to say? And maybe it's true. But as I've argued many times before....for me that's not the point. For me the point is that as a country, China has terrible labor standards, so I cannot know for sure if the things I buy from there are ethically made. So if I have a choice, I won't buy from there. Unless I can see independent reviews of conditions in his factory that prove his point, then I'd rather spend my money supporting countries that I know have better labor standards and better enforce labor laws. I'd rather not take the chance.

 

As for Walden guitars themselves...the few that I have played were very nice. Sounded very good. Some of their higher end models are excellent 'bang for the buck', strictly in terms of quality and sound. But for me, buying a guitar has more factors than just quality and sound as I've already mentioned.

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One could ask when did Americans become the authority on manufacturing guitars when the instrument originated in Spain.

That's just part of the guy's spin as he's trying to sell his MIC gear to a large country with a fair amount of disposable income. I bet he'd word it differently if he were talking to the Japanese press.

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Walden is owned by KHS music which is a big Taiwanese conglomerate that also owns Hercules stands and mapex drums.


You've clipped both ends of that conversation so I'm not really sure what "balance" he's referring to in the beginning of that conversation. But from further on I think what he's saying is that Japan didn't copy American guitar manufacturing methods directly and cut corners which the other Asian builders then copied.


But that's a very limited perspective. He's totally ignoring or ignorant to the fact that their are plenty of acoustic manufactures in Japan that build to high spec standards every bit as good as American companies. Is he trying to tell me Yairi doesn't build guitars that are as good quality as Martin? I'm sure he does know they do...but it doesn't fit his argument to MARKET his guitars and try to set them apart as something better than the rest.


A part of that too could be the ignorance towards "Asian guitars" as being only what people see in America. So while it's probably true that most "asian" guitars Americans see in a store might be of slightly lower production standards than an American guitar...it's because that's what is "wanted" for the American market. As in the electric guitar market..."High end Asian" guitars pretty much only come from Japan, and the majority don't leave the domestic Japanese market. Companies know it's hard to get people to stray from their Martins and Taylors...even if their guitar might be better.




 

Impressively accurate insight into the matter. :thu:

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what makes American built and designed guitars so superior?

 

I have several 'built in the USA' guitars, along with others which are chinese, korean, japan. they are all guitars, they all have 'slightly' (subjectively) different sounds, they all have different build qualities, different woods, pickups, designs. who cares? I don't care what some one else plays, if they are happy rocking super low budget guitar, then fine, if they have the most expensive PRS of Gibson ever made, then fine. I play guitars that I like, because I like playing them and the way they sound and the way it makes me feel when I play something that I think sounds cool

 

as far as the article, its from a Guitar magazine, its going to be bias in one way or another, its just one guy slagging off some other guys because he thinks he is 'better' than them. I have no time for people like that, {censored} him

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Not really. I think you missed his point which was that Japan actually DID go back to the source when they were getting serious about building fine instruments.


"...it
stops
at Japan."

 

 

I don't think you are reading it correctly. When he said in the article that it "stops in Japan" he meant the "route" back to how Asian guitars were built. Like the other Asian countries didn't go far enough to "American" quality, and stopped at Japanese "OEM" quality.

 

He says "They [Japan] were building OEM knock offs of famous Martins and so on, as low cost alternatives to real instruments" Then he says "That philosophy of building has very much been copied culturally throughout other Asian manufacturers...." and then he says "You see the same guitars coming from many different factories that all have the same compromises in terms of building, material selection and finish."

 

To me that is clearly saying they learned the imperfections from Japan...not that Japan is the exception. If he meant that...then I don't think he would have said "I don't know if any Asian manufacturers have really gone right back to the root and said..." Well...last time I checked...Japan was an Asian manufacturer. Plus using the words "real instruments" shows me he thinks those japanese guitars weren't "real instruments" compared to the US made originals.

 

Which to me shows he's not aware of the entire scope of Japanese acoustic guitar construction and still basing his opinions on 60's and 70's stereotypes about japanese products.

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well thank you very much sir!

 

 

By the sound of it, it seems i did get soundcreation's point. And quite agree with it. As to the " and it stops at japan..." comment, it could mean this or that (not very clear).

 

 

Our generation (I'm over 50) have lived the period when "made in japan" meant cheap little toys that were cheap and mass produced. Does anyone think that this is representative of japanese craftmanship throughout their history? Recovering from a desastrous conflict (WWII), Japan found a way in the 50's and 60's to produce like crazy at the cost of being untrue to their native mindbogglingly high standards and they raised from the ashes and recovered. Other asian countries don't have it as good and, yes, they may have gotten a few tricks from the japanese to make ends meet in dire times. But this guys' theory about the japanese being the "type" of builder that is responsable for sub-standard manufactuting is ridiculous, it shows either ignorance or a readiness to bull{censored} people for the sake of promoting his chinese-made-with-american-know-how (sic) guitars (dissing the asian people's abilities along the way). He's full of beans, if not worse and stinkier. Next time I grab a Walden, I'll remember that.

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How much does a manufacturer have to spend on ads to get a guitar magazine to turn a press release into an interview?

 

 

magazines in general have a very tough go of it these days.....let alone specialty ones like guitar mags. They are not going to do anything to upset a large advertiser. Walden certainly qualifies as that.

 

And in terms of actual content (non advertising portion of magazines) it's pretty much become like a hollywood movie. It's more about "product placement". Or in this case commercials dressed up as articles. I mean do you ever see a truly negative review of a product in specialty magazines? At worst they might say things like "this guitar/amp/pedal etc...might not be for everyone...yada yada..."

 

They simply cannot afford to lose their ad revenue cause the price of the mag itself is not going to make them profitable.

 

I was going to mention this before but I found it funny in the article that he mentions trying to take the American elements of build quality into making waldens....yet when I look at their guitars, from what I can see they use bolt on necks. From what I understand the Dove Tail joint is what is considered to be the best method to join neck to body and is "traditional". True or not I don't know...but it's for sure a cost cutting method to use bolt on.

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