Yamaha actually sent one of their Japanese Q/A heads to China, because they're making some *high end* stuff in China (Including Genos1 & 2)
So yeah, a lot of customers don't want a 'made in China' guitar, thinking they weren't good... and frankly, 20 years ago the Chinese Squiers had really low gear ratio tuners (so they'd keep slipping out of tune as you played), iffy itonation (when you played an open chord guitar as in tune, once you play a barre chord, it's not, and vice versa!) and really noisy pickups.
But that was 20 years ago; about a dozen years ago, with the launch of the Classic Vibe Squiers? All of a sudden they were really good... good intonation, stay in tune, etc etc
But I think most people meant made in China, even from big brands. Knockoff guitars are a complete crapshoot: I can tell you there are ones from the actual factory where the originals were made (with even the original headstock painted over, but still visible from the indentation of the original stencil... and yeah, people were fired in that case), but more often than not, it's a cobbled together frankenstein of parts; think Temu. My wife ordered a racket on Temu, they used pictures of the actual brand name pickelball racket. What arrived was *clearly* a knockoff, and they refunded her money (she figured it was probably too good to be true, and it was)
Mark
So yeah, a lot of customers don't want a 'made in China' guitar, thinking they weren't good... and frankly, 20 years ago the Chinese Squiers had really low gear ratio tuners (so they'd keep slipping out of tune as you played), iffy itonation (when you played an open chord guitar as in tune, once you play a barre chord, it's not, and vice versa!) and really noisy pickups.
But that was 20 years ago; about a dozen years ago, with the launch of the Classic Vibe Squiers? All of a sudden they were really good... good intonation, stay in tune, etc etc
But I think most people meant made in China, even from big brands. Knockoff guitars are a complete crapshoot: I can tell you there are ones from the actual factory where the originals were made (with even the original headstock painted over, but still visible from the indentation of the original stencil... and yeah, people were fired in that case), but more often than not, it's a cobbled together frankenstein of parts; think Temu. My wife ordered a racket on Temu, they used pictures of the actual brand name pickelball racket. What arrived was *clearly* a knockoff, and they refunded her money (she figured it was probably too good to be true, and it was)
Mark
Statistics: Posted by amwilburn — Fri Jan 10, 2025 10:54 pm