SE Customs Now Manufactured in Indonesia?

[Mozzi]

While I do agree with you about the Squiers, and some of the others, as Mozzi pointed out, the Indonesia PRS factory are not making other brands guitars, and the comment about a “step down in quality” is completely unfounded and has no basis in fact as it pertains to PRS. I have had 2 S2s (US made) with wiring problems, nothing that I couldn’t fix with minimal effort, but the point being that every manufacturer, no matter how high their quality standards, will have some defects, it is just a fact of life. It seems apparent to me that PRS have very, very few defective guitars, likely much better than any other guitar brand that is manufactured in mass quantities.[/QUOTE

I think PRS actually make fewer core guitars a day than Gibson's Custom shop making all the 're-issues' - not including all the other guitars Gibson make. Fender make as many instruments a day than PRS does in a month or there abouts. Mass manufacture is perhaps too strong a word if you compare to Fender and Gibson.

It seems to me that PRS, certainly with the core models and I wouldn't be surprised if the same process also extends to the CE and S2 models, will not move a guitar forward to the next stage until the QC check determines that its ready. For example, the sanding after a body comes out of CNC, if that isn't done to the standard expected, it will not go on to having its neck fitted until its ready to go forward. Its those QC checks that mean any issue is dealt with before man hours are wasted on a substandard guitar that fails its final QC. Its too late to go back and sand the body after the neck is fitted, too late to clean all the glue around the neck that's squeezed out - not without stripping the guitar back down and fixing those things and then needing to respray and refit the guitar. Its those QC checks at every stage that generally cut out the inconsistency and human error. Any errors can be corrected - even scrapped if its that bad rather than waste time and resources on trying to make the guitar fit to progress to the next phase.

That may mean that a guitar takes a bit longer to make it to retail but its better than releasing a guitar with issues. I believe that the bulk of a guitar is made by humans - not robots and CNC doesn't take the raw ingredients and pop out a guitar at the other end. Gibson custom shop guitars are not 'perfect', no evidence of the human element in the build process. It may only be a small, insignificant cosmetic blemish that doesn't impact on the playability, function or sound but if you want to look at things under a microscope, they too can have issues and these cost 8-10x as much as a SE does. I think if a guitar functions, plays and sounds like it should with no major cosmetic issues, then I don't really see the problem. Even then, the person buying is the last point of QC and, if the issue is 'too much' for them to accept, then don't buy or, if you ordered online, send it back - and that extends to any guitar at any price point.

I have friends who are happy with their Gibson R9 custom shop re-issue despite the fact that they have 'minor' issues - including the ability to feel where the binding and wood are at different heights, some binding being ground away where the frets were rounded off in one fret, tool marks on the binding by the neck, some stain issue on the neck where it wasn't taped off properly, Some filler around an inlay that's much darker so stands out against inlay and rosewood - maybe things that you have to look closely to see and feel but these are issues on a very expensive Gibson but don't affect the function, playability and sound of the instrument and they are 'happy' because those issues don't outweigh the positives to them.

If the Indonesian factory employ a stringent QC at every stage, as well as the fact that they are only making PRS guitars and so will learn and improve by repetition. US PRS employees have gone to Indonesia to teach them how to build guitars to the standard they require so I can only see the SE line becoming more consistently great with fewer issues (minor or the major ones that PRS have to fix or scrap). That also doesn't mean that the guitars coming out of the factory are bad and we should wait until they get up to speed, up to the standard you expect. A number of SE Paul's guitars have been very favourably reviewed with no issues to complain about. Some reviews putting the SE up against the Core Paul's and how favourably it does - obviously there are some differences but bad quality isn't one of them.

 

[Mbell75]

Chapman are also made in Indonesia and I believe a few others were moving builds out of Korea! If you had watched the recent video PRS had put out, they have their own area where only PRS are made. The team do not work on making guitars for anyone other than PRS so they are not making Squires or Ibanez guitars - just PRS.

US staff have been over there teaching them exactly what they need to know on how to build a PRS SE guitar. There are many many more happy people than the odd one or two that have anything to complain about and the only complaints I have seen here have been incredibly superficial minor - nothing that has affected the playability, the function or the sound and you would have to look very very closely to see the issue that people have complained about.

To say its a step down is unfair. There were occasional issues with the Korean built guitars and I bet a lot of 'issues' are not issues to less picky customers - those that aren' going over the guitar with a microscope but just plugging them in and playing. As I said the majority (if not all) of the issues that I hear about are purely minor cosmetic issues that have absolutely no impact on the function, the playability and the tone of these instruments. It may take a few months to iron out any kinks as the Indonesian team get up to speed as to what is expected and what is unacceptable but it could be a positive move for PRS in the long run as the team are fully focussed on making PRS guitars and only PRS guitars!

I did indeed watch the video. Watch starting at 10:02. The silk screen that goes on the back clearly says the guitar is manufactured bu CORT. My point still stands, these guitars are not being made by PRS, they are being made by Cort. Just like Squier, Epiphone, Ibanez, Jackson....this isn't like Yamaha or Sire who have their own factories in Indonesia and have their own workers making their guitars and basses. These are Cort workers. WMIC is known for top notch quality guitars, Cort, not so much.

 

[shimmilou]

This particular Cort factory is indeed exclusive to building only PRS. It has zero to do with other brands. Squier and Epi both have the manufacturer named on their guitars too, albeit with only initials instead of the full name. Perhaps those other brands aren’t as proud to display the full name?

 

[Mbell75]

This particular Cort factory is indeed exclusive to building only PRS. It has zero to do with other brands. Squier and Epi both have the manufacturer named on their guitars too, albeit with only initials instead of the full name. Perhaps those other brands aren’t as proud to display the full name?

I get that, but its still made by Cort, not PRS. I would prefer they do it like Yamaha where they have actual Yamaha workers making them, not Cort workers.

 

[MichaelC24]

This new factory produces 100% PRS SE guitars, regardless of who their manufacturing partner is (in this case PT Cort / Cor-Tek).
The outside of the building says PRS Indonesia, and the workers will be focused solely on making PRS..
I absolutely believe this will be a huge positive for the company moving forward, and also a well thought decision that will only benefit both PRS and their customers. This is the best time in history for GREAT, affordable Instruments. This will further challenge the market to step up in quality, and I see this as something that more companies will adopt in the future.

 

[Mbell75]

This new factory produces 100% PRS SE guitars, regardless of who their manufacturing partner is (in this case PT Cort / Cor-Tek).
The outside of the building says PRS Indonesia, and the workers will be focused solely on making PRS..
I absolutely believe this will be a huge positive for the company moving forward, and also a well thought decision that will only benefit both PRS and their customers. This is the best time in history for GREAT, affordable Instruments. This will further challenge the market to step up in quality, and I see this as something that more companies will adopt in the future.

Cort is indeed a step down from WMIC in Korea. Squier switched from Samick in China to Cort in Indonesia for the new Classic Vibe series and the quality has dropped considerably according to myself and many others. We will see how the new SE guitars are though.

 

[shimmilou]

Mbell75, as far as current produced PRS in Indonesia, on what are you basing your statement about lower quality? As several of us with experience owning/playing the Indonesian PRS have pointed out, there is zero quality loss. Forget about other brands, we are talking PRS made in a factory exclusive to them. Do you have any experience with Indonesian PRS?

 

[Mbell75]

Mbell75, as far as current produced PRS in Indonesia, on what are you basing your statement about lower quality? As several of us with experience owning/playing the Indonesian PRS have pointed out, there is zero quality loss. Forget about other brands, we are talking PRS made in a factory exclusive to them. Do you have any experience with Indonesian PRS?

They are still made by CORT and Cort is a step down from WMIC, period.

 

[Mozzi]

I did indeed watch the video. Watch starting at 10:02. The silk screen that goes on the back clearly says the guitar is manufactured bu CORT. My point still stands, these guitars are not being made by PRS, they are being made by Cort. Just like Squier, Epiphone, Ibanez, Jackson....this isn't like Yamaha or Sire who have their own factories in Indonesia and have their own workers making their guitars and basses. These are Cort workers. WMIC is known for top notch quality guitars, Cort, not so much.

Show me where I said that the factory was 'PRS' in Indonesia?

What I said was that PRS have their own area where the staff only make PRS guitars - if you read what I wrote. If you had watched the video properly, you would have heard that a specific part of Cort was dedicated to just making PRS - those staff are not doing a run of PRS, a run of Ibanez, a run of Epiphone etc just making PRS guitars and have had help and guidance from US PRS staff. They are made under licence of PRS so you are right that these staff are not PRS staff themselves but that doesn't mean that they are any worse than WMI or that they cannot consistently make SE guitars to an acceptable minimum standard and that minimum standard being the same minimum standard expected from WMI. That doesn't mean that their quality is any less than WMI either and the fact that these staff will be only making PRS SE guitars can only benefit PRS and PRS customers.

I would love to see your evidence that categorically proves that the Indonesian made PRS guitars that are coming out since they moved to that dedicated PRS section are significantly worse than the equivalent guitars that were made by WMI. You also have to factor in how many guitars that had to involve more work by the US staff prior to sending them out to retail and the number of guitars that had to be 'scrapped' because the quality wasn't good enough and the cost to fix outweighed the cost to scrap. For all you know, more Korean made guitars were not up to the standard and involved more US staff hours getting them up to a sellable standard than the guitars coming in from Indonesia right now. I don't have the figures either way which is why I am not categorically stating that Indonesian SE's now are worse than Korean SE's were before - especially when the Korean factories first started making SE guitars for PRS. Its possible that the last year of Korean SE's were 'better' but maybe the Indonesian factory is much better than the Koreans were when they started. Either way, I don't have the facts to back any of this up - do you??

 

[shimmilou]

They are still made by CORT and Cort is a step down from WMIC, period.

Oooooh, I see now. When you use the word “period”, that settles it, despite actual evidence to the contrary.

 

[Mbell75]

Oooooh, I see now. When you use the word “period”, that settles it, despite actual evidence to the contrary.

Go pick up a Schecter or Chapman made by WMIC and pick up a new Squier Classic Vibe or Epiphone made by Cort and tell me which is the better made guitar. WMIC has a reputation for only making top notch instruments. Samick are close behind them and Cort is a distant 3rd. In fact, WMIC is the main reason why Korean made guitars have such a great reputation, second only to made in Japan. Are you new to guitars or something?

 

[MichaelC24]

Why don’t you go pick up a Gibson, and tell me what you think about QC. Odds are your going to find something to complain about on a $1000 ++++ USA made guitar. I owned a Les Paul Standard that came with an unusable nut and terrible QC standards. It has everything to do with the company, and what they are looking to achieve. Fender moved the line to squeeze out as much of a profit as possible, that’s why quality went down. Gibson did the same thing with their import line....
Paul & Co have a reputation of quality for a reason, they haven’t lasted 35 years and became one of the Big 3 by luck. I trust they made the right decision, and by injecting their culture and USA manufacturing processes into this new factory I have no doubt these guitars will be just as good, if not better than any of its predecessors.

 

[Mbell75]

I played a Cort made PRS SE today that was quite nice actually. Didnt notice any flaws on it and it sounded great. Im in the market for a new 245 SE right now but looking at a used one for $200 less than this one. So far so good with the Indonesian made PRS.

 

[ItsMyMoney]

That glue squeezeout problem is something I have seen on many SEs from both countries. Notably on ZM sig models

My Zach Myers frets and neck are baby-butt smooth, and was the deal-maker for me (it's a WMI Korean model).

 

[Tim S]

FWIW, the Cor-Tek Made in China SE guitars are fine by me.

 

[Acnestes]

I have an Indonesian made Custom 24SE, about to be sent back into the time vortex, that should never hav left the factory. The neck joint is a mess. The neck sits so deep in the socket that that not only is the edge of the fingerboard binding flush with the top of the guitar, instead of being about 3/16" above, but you can feel a slight concavity where they actually milled down the surface of the body so it wouldn't be even worse! To bring the action down just to the PRS 5/64" spec I had to lower the trem to about 1/16 and drop all the saddles practically flush. To actually make the action decent, I had to file the saddles down 1/16"
.
I just got a new Custom 24 SE from Sweetwater with the rosewood veneer, which is Korean, and It is a far better guitar. I'm not condemning all Indonesian guitars, but the one I got was a clunker.

As it happens, I just got to try out a Strandberg the other day, which was very interesting, and they are in fact made in Indonesia. I'm toying with picking one up, but to tell the truth among other things I'm really hesitant to drop that kind of money on an Indonesian guitar, despite the fact that the pros are playing them.

 

[Bob Wilson]

Pauls Guitar SE Indonesia.
Delivered new straight from warehouse of major instrument retailer in UK 3 days ago. Getting swapped out next week. Some minor faults, but this..!!
Edit. Did insert photo of very bad nut fixing, but not showing.

 

[Hotblack Desiato]

Pauls Guitar SE Indonesia.
Delivered new straight from warehouse of major instrument retailer in UK 3 days ago. Getting swapped out next week. Some minor faults, but this..!!
Edit. Did insert photo of very bad nut fixing, but not showing.

Welcome to the forum. I think you need to post 3 messages before you can start uploading pics but that aside, can you describe the issue?

I've mentioned before in other posts the SE guitars sold in the UK have been QC'd at the factory and again at the European QC dept. here in the UK so UK customers should expect no issues with new guitars. However the law of averages suggests some rogue guitars do get through.

 

[Bob Wilson]

Welcome to the forum. I think you need to post 3 messages before you can start uploading pics but that aside, can you describe the issue?

I've mentioned before in other posts the SE guitars sold in the UK have been QC'd at the factory and again at the European QC dept. here in the UK so UK customers should expect no issues with new guitars. However the law of averages suggests some rogue guitars do get through.

At the top string side the there is a gap between the nut and fretboard and the bottom of the nut, excess glue and the nut is proud of the side of the fretboard. And a minor niggle, one of the screws on the back plate is totally burred over and sharp. I did post some pics on the PRS Guitar Owners Worldwide Facebook page.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

At the top string side the there is a gap between the nut and fretboard and the bottom of the nut, excess glue and the nut is proud of the side of the fretboard. And a minor niggle, one of the screws on the back plate is totally burred over and sharp. I did post some pics on the PRS Guitar Owners Worldwide Facebook page.

These are issues that your dealer will rectify for you.