Why do you feel that American made guitars are the best?

[chitz]

I never said American made guitars were the best. They are simply my preferred.

Just as American made can openers, pretzels, screwdrivers, lumber, steel, dishes, paints, gasoline, textiles, chemicals, cars, trucks, buses, boats, airplanes, tools, candies, breads, foods consumables, peanut butter, jello and pudding pops are!

I support our products whenever possible.

[Warrenaines]

• Many of the best 'modern' guitar players are and we're American, certainly not all as there's incredible guitarists around the world. Most of my favorite guitarists living and dead are/we're American or from U.K. But that's purely based on Musial preferences and not limited to those regions.
• Exceptional guitarists not from the US that play American guitars speaks more to the quality of American guitars not against it. Similar to Americans that favor high end cars, wine, clothes etc from other countries notwithstanding great products available locally. It's one thing for a great American guitarist to play a Martin, Gibson Taylor etc when that's what they've grown up associating with a great guitar and had easiest access to, it's another thing when an excellent non-US guitarist chooses an American guitar over the great guitars made in their region
• Someone said 'modern music' it was in reference to music made with modern steel string guitars, simply distinguish from the style of guitars that are much older. Such modern guitars are still alive and well in many genres of current music. Guitars play a limited if any role in other styles of music ranging from Opera singing to Rap to EDM. Without getting into thoughts on such styles, they aren't relevant to this thread (if relevant to acoustic guitars at all)

• What's wrong with a hobby if it brings you enjoyment? Some amateur guitarists are great, many aren't, don't have to be great to appreciate a great guitar just like you a great motorcyclist to appreciate and enjoy an expensive motorcycle. Speaking of which, cost is relative. There's certainly less expensive hobbies; there's also substantially more expensive hobbies like motorcycles, cars, boats, hifi stereo etc. There's also people that will be -$3K+ on EDM gear whether by choice or not.

[Sonics]

Originally Posted by PiousDevil

Pretty sure he means the modern steel string guitar.

Thank you! The required pieces of 'Modern music' AND '20th century' presented enough data for the casual reader to fill-in the blanks. Or am I being 'obtuse'?

[ollaimh]

aw common canadain guitars are as good or better. there are dozens of realy great canadian acoustic guitar makers. there are now a few irish makers worth worshipping as well.

[Bax Burgess]

Not this zombie thread...

[billder99]

Not sure where you get these perceptions, but very few people (US citizens included) believe US made guitars are THE best. There are lots of outstanding boutique to mid-volume instrument makers all on an equal playing field in Canada, Germany, Ireland, England, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Spain (classical/flamenco), and many other countries.

The thing that Americans DO deliver on better than any other country is high volume, high end production guitars. Martin & Gibson have been and still are the pinnacle (and Taylor, though in a different way)... they are iconic for many reasons, not least of which is that modern steel string guitars primarily evolved in the US. They are the Original Real Deal, and still as good as you can get.

[Steadfastly]

Originally Posted by CASD57

I thought I asked this question..But I can't find it

Are there any reasonable priced American Made Acoustic's....$1000 and
under??

Godin, from Quebec, Canads makes several lines of acoustics and there are some very good ones under $1000.00.

Martin's X series are great sounding guitars made in North America. (Mexico)

Originally Posted by Diamond Dave

Yes--the device you made that post from was manufactured several different Asian countries.

What's that? America doesn't make a computer or smartphone? So don't use the internet. You like to support your own country, right?

The wood in most guitars is not American. Nor the tuners, or most of the other hardware.

It's a silly, flim-flam argument. Almost nothing is made entirely or even mostly in America, nor will it ever be again. We're too expensive.

I don't understand why so many find this difficult to understand.

[Shadowfox]

So I own a Martin, and for sure thought I was going to buy a Taylor. However, I was just really impressed with Furch. I got a custom for the price of a 700, and if I hadn't added a last few options, it would of been the price of a 400. So for me the sound and play ability were superior to Taylor, and I got an amazing deal! "Supporting my country" is a very vague term to me. Am I not supporting the US based guy's salary? But alas. I know I don't have money to blow like some ppl on here, so I want the best bang for my buck, and the Furch was that for me.

[Pitar]

It's a hold-over perception from when America was the premier maker of guitars. But, let's not forget that geography is a very insignificant aspect of the trade. Old man Martin himself was a German transplant. He learned his trade in Germany and brought it to America, as did all tradesmen, and it was their contribution to the new world that made it renown. Give a man his freedom to express himself and express it he will.

Wiki-snip -

"Stauffer and CF Martin

Martin 00 Stauffer 175th

The founder of Martin Guitars, Christian Frederick Martin, born in 1796 in Markneukirchen, Germany, first studied with his father, Johann Georg Martin, a Cabinet Maker. Markneukirchen was a centre for instrument making. At 15 years of age he went to Vienna to allegedly complete an apprenticeship with Stauffer, *albeit proof for this apprenticehip is still lacking. In 1825, Martin married Ottilie Kühle, the daughter [of] the Viennese harp maker Karl Kühle. His relationship apparently cooled with Stauffer, and Martin returned to work in his father's workshop.

Martin remained in Vienna until at least 1827,[9] after which he returned to his hometown and opened his own shop. After a long dispute with the Guild of luthiers, regarding the rights of Cabinet Makers to build guitars, he emigrated to the United States of America, where he introduced the mechanism developed by Stauffer. In 2008, the 175th anniversary of the Martin Company, the company released a tribute guitar: the "Martin 00 Stauffer 175th".

*Proof of CF Martin's apprenticeship with Stauffer is undocumented.

Anyway, America lead the world in all manner of undertaking at one point, whether real or perceived, and the label persists despite the shifting of credit where it's due.

[Mr Fingers]

Since we're mostly steel-string players, and the most popular forms of that instrument were developed in America, and quite a long time ago, before gradually spreading out around the world considerably later on, it should be no surprise at all the American makers have dominated in design and production. Can others duplicate or modify those designs and builds, anywhere in the world? Of course. The info is everywhere; the guitars themselves are everywhere. And now that we have moved from mostly hand building to robotic production (abroad and here) we are naturally seeing an "everyone can do it" situation. Auto makers experienced the same thing. The result is, of course, an explosion of choice, with amazing options from around the world at every price point. As to reasons for purchasing American or offshore production, that's a whole other issue that we all address with our wallets according to our own feelings. Personally, my guitars are mostly, but not entirely, American, and I expect that's the case for most.

[rmyAddison]

I don't presume any guitars are the best.....

I play them and see which make my ears smile, for me that's guitar from Nazareth. For somebody else that is their business and their reasons and preferences.

I wouldn't presume to tell a stranger they need to have my tastes, and don't even try to tell me what I should like. Live and let live, play more, less silly competition.

If a stranger can change someone's "opinions" on a forum...you have my sympathies............

[kydave]

Hmmm.... this thread is still going? I avoided it before, but - what the heck...

Why do you feel that American made guitars are the best?

Duh! Martin guitars - the well from which steel string guitars are drawn is American. Nothing more need be said.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by ollaimh

aw common canadain guitars are as good or better. there are dozens of realy great canadian acoustic guitar makers. there are now a few irish makers worth worshipping as well.

Godin nylon string, the Multiac series, certainly stand alone for price vs quality. I have a 6 string Multiac ACS SA and a 7 string Multiac Encore. I don't know of any else making guitars quite like these.

Tony

[stephenT]

I prefer American built guitars. I've owned a dozen imports over the years so I have nothing against import acoustics.

It's not a FEELING, it's a preference. I'm not going to bash anyone else's imported guitar.

[Garrison314]

Um...the American made guitars sold around here by US companies are the better ones and the inexpensive ones are imported from foreign knockoff factories like Cort and Samick...that's all.

I've never heard anyone say quality American guitars are superior to quality foreign guitars. I'm sure some Australian made guitars would do quite well here and the main drawback for any product is probably finding shelf space in a highly competitive market.