People should stop obsessing about guitars being made in USA

littlebadboy

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“The country a guitar is made in does not matter much”: Paul Reed Smith thinks people should stop obsessing about guitars being made in America. “It’s always been about the skill level of the guitar makers.”

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The article is here.

What do you guys and girls think?
 
I beg to differ…
My 6 core guitars are all of consistent quality, all but one were bought without holding them. My one SE had issues so I replaced the trem and tuners to go with locking as it wouldn’t return to tune after trem use. It had really bad trem pivot screws. I also had to file fret ends on the SE to get it closer to core quality. It still isn’t core quality, even though I replaced pickups with core. I don’t like that the fretboard isn’t rolled and I haven’t rolled it because it is maple.

I don’t wish to make time to “run the rack” of SE looking for one that the builder produced of core quality. My experience is that core can be obtained with consistent quality because every one I ever handled was fantastic. I can’t say the same about SE as few stood out as close to core. Just my opinion of course…
 
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Sales pitch..To me it's the quality of matetials as much if not more than the workmanship QC or country of origin. Sure any country can make great guitars but is it the exception or the norm? Eastman comes to mind. Outstandingly made China guitars with top quality materials. Most companies will list woods and we say to ourselves "ohh that's the same" but it's really just in the family or classification. Not mahogany hog. Or maple? It's not all North American maple. Same with metals. In all sorts of ways we know the difference there. Tools? Not the same even if both made from a material in the family. Don't even get me started on electronics. We all know those temu gadgets aren't what a Sony is or was.

One reason I respect Martin is they'll list select hardwood but on others they'll say Mahogany. This avoids confusion from blanket buzzwords. As a whole this doesn’t make import guitars bad or even American good but ofter there are real world differences beyond the print out.

Play what you can.. if your playing that's what matters most!
 
“The country a guitar is made in does not matter much”: Paul Reed Smith thinks people should stop obsessing about guitars being made in America. “It’s always been about the skill level of the guitar makers.”

Paul-Reed-Smith-new@2000x1500-1068x801.jpg


The article is here.

What do you guys and girls think?
When I bought an SE, I expected some items to be of less value than those on the core models. Otherwise, why would anyone buy core models. But I also expected a higher quality than one might find on overseas models of other brands. I was not disappointed.
 
There are numerous posts here where commenters have discussed the less than desireable quality of their SE guitars. Mine was one of them. Considering that all SE guitars get handled by QC in the PRS factory in the US before being shipped tells me they feel a need to fix what doesn’t meet US specs. Time will tell if the QC check is no longer needed and therefore omitted on overseas made guitars.
 
I bought my SE 24 Standard because of the way it played. Fit my fretting hand like it was custom made for me.

Issues? Yes.

1: The 3 way blade switch was flakey since day one and just last week I wound up replacing it.

2: Despite installing locking tunes and having two tech's going over the nut slots the guitar goes out of tune when doing the slightest "shimmer" effect using the bar. I finally gave up and blocked the trem off in both directions. Too bad because I wanted to experiment with it.

3: Even though the intonation is dead on I have to keep the B string tuned 1/2 cent flat or things sound out of tune.

4: Of all the guitars I own this one is the most tempermental with temperature changes. Takes quite a while for the guitar to settle in.

But it's still a great player.
 
I've consistently had better luck with American made versus far east made guitars. My Core and S2 PRS guitars are exponentially better than the SE Silver Sky that I tried like hell to love earlier this year. After the experience that I had with that as well as a couple less than wonderful experiences with a couple other far east made guitars (Chinese made ESP LTD's a number of years back when I wanted to try a seven string), I'll stick with guitars that are US made, made in Japan, or made in South Korea. Having said that, the Mexican made Strat that replaced my SE Silver Sky is immensely better than the Indonesian SE was. Is the Mexican Strat flawless? No, it needed a decent bit of setup work, but I anticipated that going in since it shipped with 9-42 strings and I prefer 10's. I had to adjust the truss rod, adjust the intonation, lower the action, and adjust the trem for the heavier strings. No big deal. What I've seen of SE models lately in my local Guitar Center and in my own experience, the fret work is pretty shoddy and fit and finish over all is a little inconsistent.
 
2: Despite installing locking tunes and having two tech's going over the nut slots the guitar goes out of tune when doing the slightest "shimmer" effect using the bar. I finally gave up and blocked the trem off in both directions. Too bad because I wanted to experiment with it.
I replaced my SE SAS trem with a Mann bridge because of this problem. More than one of the SE pivot screws were bent which means they never lined up correctly. Also, the pivot groove was not round or vee shaped for a good knife edge match. Frankly, the SE screws looked crappy and PRS should swap to the core screws for the SE line. The Mann screws are turned on a lathe and perfectly machined. This solved my out of tune problem.
 
IMO, A Proper Guitar Made From Proper Materials Built In Any Country By A Properly Skilled Builder Will Be A Good Guitar In Most Instances. I Would Put My Nik Huber's Up Against My PRS Guitars On All Levels. America Doesn't Have A Stronghold On Craftsmanship...I Am Talking Higher End Stuff Mind You.

PRS Is My Favorite But There Are Builders All Over The World Making Incredible Instruments.
 
He isn't wrong, though I hope this isn't a precursor to PRS moving production out of the U.S.

Take a look at how PRS-ized the SEs have become. It wouldn’t surprise me to see some Bolt-On or S2 guitars start to be made overseas. Or more specifically, overseas models will continue to move up in price-points and features/design until they supplant those lines.
 
There are numerous posts here where commenters have discussed the less than desireable quality of their SE guitars. Mine was one of them. Considering that all SE guitars get handled by QC in the PRS factory in the US before being shipped tells me they feel a need to fix what doesn’t meet US specs. Time will tell if the QC check is no longer needed and therefore omitted on overseas made guitars.
I bought in 2016, and I’m pretty sure mine missed QC. The tone control was missing its cap. There were also some setup issues. It got personal attention when I visited the factory. Afterward, I modded several items.
 
He isn't wrong, though I hope this isn't a precursor to PRS moving production out of the U.S.
My thoughts exactly. It's such an obvious statement to make that it makes me wonder if there are plans to shift production completely overseas at some point. Otherwise, trying to raise the reputation of your international product lines by blaming your primary customers about their perceived biases is a bold move indeed.

Especially considering that you helped create these biases via your own marketing of the American product as being a premium tier in both craftsmanship and quality components for years. I'm sure there are skilled guitar makers working over at Yamaha as well. Will Paul sit down for an interview to talk about how people shouldn't obsess over the PRS name and buy a Revstar because the guitar maker does not matter much? Silly.
 
My thoughts exactly. It's such an obvious statement to make that it makes me wonder if there are plans to shift production completely overseas at some point. Otherwise, trying to raise the reputation of your international product lines by blaming your primary customers about their perceived biases is a bold move indeed.

Especially considering that you helped create these biases via your own marketing of the American product as being a premium tier in both craftsmanship and quality components for years. I'm sure there are skilled guitar makers working over at Yamaha as well. Will Paul sit down for an interview to talk about how people shouldn't obsess over the PRS name and buy a Revstar because the guitar maker does not matter much? Silly.

Ahmad, Dewi, and Agung work on the PRS line at Cortek, there’s a particular pride they take in what they’re making. It’s different than when they’re assigned to the Ibanez or Schecter side of the property.
 
Ahmad, Dewi, and Agung work on the PRS line at Cortek, there’s a particular pride they take in what they’re making. It’s different than when they’re assigned to the Ibanez or Schecter side of the property.

Dewi posted in the other thread PRS doesn't want to go the way of Keisel.. they have their sites set on Schecter! Cortek has the plans ready to go when Paul retires
 
There have been periods of time where Japan built better guitars than any of the major US builders. There were periods in the 70s and 80s where G and F both got sloppy and MIJ Fender and Tokai strats were better than MIA Fenders. At the same time, Ibanez was building great guitars and even Yamaha were often better and cheaper than F or G stuff.
 
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