How cheap can manufacturers really be.

[simso]

It still amazes me the shit that is used to manufacture guitars and necks, this neck snapped off real easy on the customer, the break was super ugly, so Ive done a scarf cut to insert a joiner piece and the wood is pretty pathetic, fibrous, no real grain structure.

[woodrat]

Yes... Thats fairly pathetic all right:(

John

[demonx]

How cheap...

I've seen a Chinese made electric guitar that when a modification/routing was performed it was discovered that the body was just white foam with a veneer over it!

I've seen Chinese pricelists from the cheap knock off factory and they're selling complete, painted and assembled with parts electrics for $35.00 and acoustics from $45.00 !!!

I only wish that my costs were that low!

[liam_fnq]

Everything is made to a price point. If you want to pay shit all you get shit....
How much was this guitar?

[Dominic]

This cheap http://www.swamp.net.au/12-string-guitars/
From a newish online shop in Canberra. A 12 string spruce topped dred, with builtin tuner, and gig bag for 149.99.
Dom

[56nortondomy]

I bought some tuners from Swamp, they were absolute crap, i wouldn't touch any of there products now, let alone a guitar.
Wayne

[Trevor Gore]

On the other hand, I've bought Neutrik mono and stereo jacks and Speakon speaker connectors from Swamp, the genuine thing, top quality and about half the price of anywhere else, good service.

I guess you've just got to know what you're buying.

[Dominic]

Buying $9.49 machine heads and expecting them to be any good is borderline insane. But then slagging the whole shop for making that purchase is just unfair.

I didn't mean to target the shop. They have good cases and stuff as Trevor says and its cheap and I've had good service from them. I was talking about a manufacturer who could make such a cheap guitar and get it to the shop in Canberra although I can bet these are below cost.

Cheers
Dom

[simso]

$795
This instrument was from one of the big four, I wont say anything more.

[kiwigeo]

Everything is made to a price point. If you want to pay shit all you get shit....
How much was this guitar?

If you're a shitty player then a shitty guitar is generally the best choice. My guitars are not stradivarius quality but I dont let idiots get their hands on them.

[Taffy Evans]

I remember back in the day working for Chrysler cars pressing panels and if a fault occurred, sooner than stop the run, they let it go through and let somebody else fix it, but they probably didn't either as it would slow them down too. Possibly its the same with mass guitar production, fixing/replacing the few that come back must be a cheaper option.

I had a customer ask me [over the phone] about a guitar he had in his hands in the store [he said he was buying it to use while I worked on his Martin???] was it worth the money?, whats it like? etc.
All I could tell him was you get what you pay for, and its factory made so you take your chances at that price. Then I start getting calls about how unplayable the guitar is. All he did was buy more work for me

The same make of guitar from the same store but different customer had a buzz, store suggested loose top brace. In fact it was all the back braces were not glued to the back, it was just the fact that they were tucked into the linings that held them in place.

[J.F. Custom]

In fact it was all the back braces were not glued to the back, it was just the fact that they were tucked into the linings that held them in place.

Erm, minor oversight ???

Jeremy.

[kiwigeo]

In fact it was all the back braces were not glued to the back, it was just the fact that they were tucked into the linings that held them in place.

Erm, minor oversight ???

Jeremy.

If you want glued braces then youll have to shell out for the Limited Edition model.

[P Bill]

Maybe it's a fake. I found a Gibson Les Paul gold top, barnd new last month for $399.00. " Why so cheap? " I asked the pawn shop guy, " It's a fake " sez he. I spent the rest of the day searching fake Gibson, Fender, Guild etc., solidbodys and acoustics. Mandolins as well. It's a big problem for all the majors.

They go from low end fakes to real guitars upgraded for the collectors. Slash had two '57-'59 ( I forget the exact year ) Gibson Les Pauls made for himself.

[sam]

I put a 'new' set of D'Addario strings on a friend's Taylor cutaway and they sounded dead as...

I wrote the company and they requested photographs of all the packaging. I even included a
close-up of the serial number on the plastic inner lining. According to their records it's a fake.

They were bought from a vendor at a well-known US guitar festival, so I am surprised, esp
with the detail of the packaging.

There is a search engine on their web site that will check out serial numbers for authenticity. I suppose with a clever phone you could do it before purchasing.

D'Addario offered to replace the set, which is a great gesture, considering it wasn't their
product or fault in the first place.

S

[simso]

Not a fake, just a change in current quality control or materials, the price was not marked down to the retailer either

[J.F. Custom]

Wow strings??! Seriously?

I should not be surprised but I had not heard of, nor come across fake strings before...

What a pain in the proverbial.

Jeremy.

[charangohabsburg]

There is a search engine on their web site that will check out serial numbers for authenticity.

That search engine is here.

D'Addario offered to replace the set, which is a great gesture, considering it wasn't their
product or fault in the first place.

Yes, that's what they do (to be read here). A clever strategy to keep people reporting about fake D'Addario strings.

[Taffy Evans]

I've seen it many times, mainly from the same good customer of mine. Over recent years I must have worked on 12 of this customers guitars of varied makes for various reasons, in the last year he has brought 4-5 of these Chinese knock offs to me.
All look the real deal but do not feel right or play right.

Some of the jobs have been: correct fret work, all needed setting up [whats new?] one I fitted with two new necks to get it to play [no adjustment in the originals] another I fitted new pickups. The last one I did for him was a "Gibson" 335 style 12 string. It cost him close to $200 for me to get playable. This guitar had a very narrow 6 string fingerboard with frets beveled excessively so that the playing area was even less.

I had to make a new bone nut to widen the spacing of the strings then level the frets to get more playing area on the tops by moving the bevel out a bit. In the photo below you can see a fret laying on the fingerboard, why?... it just popped out and that where it landed. I couldn't believe it and took the photo. He also bought a heap of strings that were well known branded but crap, yep he bought those cheep also.

I told the customer he may have to capo the 3rd fret so he can finger the strings. What do I thing of Chinese instruments .

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2-DSCF6121.JPG (97.79 KiB) Viewed 16195 times

[simso]

If its never been refretted, lack of the fret side nubs is the first give away

[kiwigeo]

The best Chinese frets come from the Tang Dynasty......the frets on this guitar are obviously from the Tangless Dynasty