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Buying knock off's , A really interesting review


gardo

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There is an interesting situation with China when you make comparisons. Japan post war produced many cheap copies that would get its economy moving but as soon as they could and with a little Marshall plan help they moved rapidly up the quality scale. Sony Honda, Nissan, Canon

South Korea learned from this (Hyundai, Samsung) and didn't waste any time on tat going full modernist as soon as they could.

China, on the other hand seems to be bogged down in what looks like a giant scale garden shed enterprise. The Mao collectivist era still looks to be steering it's industry like "bodge on an industrial scale" was the answer. Quality control seems to be a sticker not an activity.

(That said said they have his £250 that they will end up loaning back to the UK for interest and he has, what? a plank, so who's the mug?)

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There's a reason why big companies try hard to fight against counterfeiters - not only does it take sales away that they might have made, it hurts their reputation directly - imagine someone ordering a guitar like that, seeing all the flaws and deciding they don't want it anymore, so they put it up for sale on the used market - and some poor kid buys it from the unscrupulous seller thinking it's a real Fender - and going forward, their impression of Fender is lessened by the cheap POC guitar that they "think" is a real Fender...

 

I don't have problem with cheap guitars from China or anywhere else... but I will never buy one from them directly from someone like Aliexpress - I'll go through an authorized dealer and get a Squier, or Epiphone or whatever and get a guitar that is still inexpensive, but that hopefully has a bit more quality control, a real warranty, and a company who will stand behind it.

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There are some good, well-operated instrument factories in China. When we were trying to start our guitar company, my partner thought he had found one [i still have two of the guitars]. Their weakness: no real knowledge of the guitar market in the US or EU. They work in a vacuum, gleaning what they can from pictures and brief trips abroad. But they do not have a grasp on things like kiln drying [a concept we introduced to the factory after our first lot of guitars arrived in the US], or quality components [switches/pots/wire/jacks/pickups/caps]. I wound up spending a lot of time making that first lot playable and ready to sell.

Many of the factories there are supervised by American management, but many companies have learned the lessons and have moved on to places like Viet Nam and Indonesia seeking even cheaper labor or more skilled staff. The Chinese government focus is all about exports, and quality is a very low level consideration, hence all the knock-offs made there of major brands [not just guitars...phones, purses, shoes...]. They also do not understand the value of standardized processes yet, and so they keep tinkering with their production methodologies, creating all sorts of variants. I terminated more than one agreement on my regular job with several producers in China because their output was so inconsistent quality-wise. When our owners decided to open our own factory in Shenzen, they still let it be Chinese run [by 'in-laws'], but under my 'control'. I shut it down after 3 months because they kept making changes to approved processes without saying anything, but when product arrived here, it was obvious to me that they were not following procedure. We found 80% of their output was not sellable...and their costs were inconsistent. Their understanding of capitalism: make it cheaper :facepalm:

 

 

Back to the guy in the video...he wanted a custom left handed Tele that in the US or the EU would have been a very expensive instrument, likely at least 3-5x what he paid, but he wanted it at a Squier price. And now he feels like he should be allowed to whine about getting a POS? :facepalm:

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That is a great perspective, DM, thanks. Before my retirement I worked for a US manufacturing company (not in the music industry). Our owner/managers looked into having some of our parts and products manufactured off shore (you can read between the lines). We would furnish our CADD drawings and specifications, they would make the parts or devices for pennies compared to our costs. Very attractive, some of our competitors were jumping on it. Oh, would they sign a non disclosure agreement......?

 

I was proud when the owners rejected the concept - I remember a staff meeting where one of them said "my name is on every one of those xxxx's. I want to watch it being made"

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"Grant Harding commented 10-22-2017, 04:22 PM

Editing a comment

I've tried that, but the woods are usually not high enough grade to provide the snappy cleans that I use. Great for high gain stuff where you want less contribution from the body though."

 

​So you're saying you get that high grade wood for those snappy cleans from that $230 knock off. Come on man.

 

 

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No - that guitar in the OP is a streaming pile of crap. I've had to save up and invest in high end instruments to meet my requirements. My point is that Squiers are good' date=' but not amazing for punchy cleans no matter what you do to them.[/quote']

 

​I need a clip or a reference of a snappy guitar clean.

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There is an interesting situation with China when you make comparisons. Japan post war produced many cheap copies that would get its economy moving but as soon as they could and with a little Marshall plan help they moved rapidly up the quality scale. Sony Honda, Nissan, Canon

South Korea learned from this (Hyundai, Samsung) and didn't waste any time on tat going full modernist as soon as they could.

China, on the other hand seems to be bogged down in what looks like a giant scale garden shed enterprise. The Mao collectivist era still looks to be steering it's industry like "bodge on an industrial scale" was the answer. Quality control seems to be a sticker not an activity.

(That said said they have his £250 that they will end up loaning back to the UK for interest and he has, what? a plank, so who's the mug?)

 

Japan named one of their cities Usa (ooh sah) and labeled some of the goods produced there accordingly.

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​I need a clip or a reference of a snappy guitar clean.

Here's a comparison that I think demonstrates the additional snap and clarity that a great guitar made of great high grade woods can have vs a good one built to a price point. They're both fine in most situations, but if I can have either I'll take the gorgeous sounding one that plays like butter. :)

 

 

 

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