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  #91  
Old 01-12-2018, 12:50 AM
Steel and wood Steel and wood is offline
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The gap in quality between American made Fender, Gibson, Martin, etc. guitars and their overseas copies/equivalents has shrunk dramatically over the years.

I own a Samick Greg Bennett Royale RL2 semi made in Indonesia and you wouldn't believe the build quality and even the pickups (Duncan designed) compared to a much higher priced instrument like a Gibson.
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  #92  
Old 01-12-2018, 08:09 AM
imwjl imwjl is offline
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Originally Posted by Steel and wood View Post
The gap in quality between American made Fender, Gibson, Martin, etc. guitars and their overseas copies/equivalents has shrunk dramatically over the years.



I own a Samick Greg Bennett Royale RL2 semi made in Indonesia and you wouldn't believe the build quality and even the pickups (Duncan designed) compared to a much higher priced instrument like a Gibson.


This is true or at least my observation. Having as a similar SE and USA PRS at same time I totally saw that you get something but have diminished returns as you spend. My Squire Strat after some work was pretty darn good. An associate’s branded as Samick electric did not have a specific vibe or personality like handling a Telecaster or Les Paul but it had good intonation.

What might not make it obvious is the particular overseas copy/equivalent as you put it. I’m a mile from a remodeled showcase sort of Guitar Center so better than average inventory. They will have lots of Epiphone and that seems to need setup or attention the PRS SE doesn’t need. The cheapest level Squire I’ll see there or at COSTCO is not in that league of pretty nice imported stuff.

This is all a bit like bicycles that I love. Really good stuff is available at decent prices. At the high end you have diminishing returns but marvelous stuff. Some amazement if only looking and touching it.
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  #93  
Old 01-13-2018, 10:54 AM
s2y s2y is offline
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Originally Posted by imwjl View Post
This is all a bit like bicycles that I love. Really good stuff is available at decent prices. At the high end you have diminishing returns but marvelous stuff. Some amazement if only looking and touching it.



Ain't no diminishing returns here. Put the good stuff against the clock and they hold up.
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  #94  
Old 01-13-2018, 12:41 PM
moon moon is offline
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I suppose with high-end guitars a lot of the work/cost goes into cosmetics such as expensive woods with nice grain and beautiful finishes. None of that affects the musical capabilities of the instrument.
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  #95  
Old 01-13-2018, 01:25 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Originally Posted by moon View Post
I suppose with high-end guitars a lot of the work/cost goes into cosmetics such as expensive woods with nice grain and beautiful finishes. None of that affects the musical capabilities of the instrument.
I agree. It's very expensive to put a nice finish on a Gibson Les Paul. Lots of coats and it's manual labour. That's one of the reasons whey their Faded series are less expensive and can still be tone monsters.
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  #96  
Old 01-13-2018, 01:26 PM
imwjl imwjl is offline
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Default High end electric? Help me understand.

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Originally Posted by moon View Post
I suppose with high-end guitars a lot of the work/cost goes into cosmetics such as expensive woods with nice grain and beautiful finishes. None of that affects the musical capabilities of the instrument.


Check out Collings’ electrics for a perfect picture of that.

To start, one of their solid bodies can or do have same hardware, pickups and build quality of the semi-hollow or hollow bodies. Then you can see similar models with different trim and similar models that have laminate and solid wood.

On the laminated wood, there are articles around when Bill Collings started it that said he even pursued making the plywood to achieve what the best vintage instruments did. Look at a laminate Collings closely and then a USA custom or Memphis Gibson and you’ll see that’s another area where the high end builder work is done at a higher level.

The wood and subtle differences with the Collings made more difference than I thought. I never thought plywood would make a difference but I had the neat experience to try and repeatedly listen to an associate’s vintage ES-335 against modern in his shop as well as same or similar Collings models with the different wood and body size.

Popular, blues, jazz and rock music taught us to love plywood - ES-175, ES-335 as examples.

PRS also models that demonstrate the difference between simple or basic and nothing spared but Collings are truly some of the greatest examples of electric guitar craftsmanship that are quite readily available.
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Last edited by imwjl; 01-13-2018 at 05:05 PM.
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  #97  
Old 01-13-2018, 03:42 PM
LouieAtienza LouieAtienza is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moon View Post
I suppose with high-end guitars a lot of the work/cost goes into cosmetics such as expensive woods with nice grain and beautiful finishes. None of that affects the musical capabilities of the instrument.
Even with electrics, one can select woods that just have that special "ring" to them when tapped. Even more so with the fancier figured woods, the multi-stage process of dyeing and staining is very labor-intensive. Quilted maple right now is ridiculously expensive, somewhere in the neighborhood of $125/bf up to over $300/bf, if you can get what you want, as one example. While it does not necessarily affect playability, from an ownership standpoint it is likely to retain value due to its scarcity, and the demand.
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  #98  
Old 01-13-2018, 04:51 PM
s2y s2y is offline
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Originally Posted by moon View Post
I suppose with high-end guitars a lot of the work/cost goes into cosmetics such as expensive woods with nice grain and beautiful finishes. None of that affects the musical capabilities of the instrument.
Did anyone make this claim? No. Fantastic fret work is often the cornerstone of custom instruments. Many custom companies got their start in the 1970's and their fret work was what set them apart from F&G instruments. Build a neck perfectly suited to the player's preferences plus impeccable fret work and the musical capabilities are indeed enhanced.
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