Mark7
Well-known member
Or are you just a horrible bunch of snobs? 
Fenderville
New member
I think it is mostly a snob thing...
punkin
Univalve & Avatar Speaks
I'm confident that I have excellent wood. 
sile2001
_|_
It seems the women around here certainly think so... The certainly seem to like it when we're up on stage swinging that piece of wood around 
mshilarious
Banned
Well, the French and Eastern Europeans have better oak for wine barrels. Koa is Hawaiian, which is in America but not the Americas 
Not sure about the rest
Not sure about the rest
Mark7
Well-known member
Not THAT kind of wood.
The kind guitars are made from
The kind guitars are made from
Hard2Hear
New member
brazil has the rosewood....but you can't harvest it anymore
honduras has the mahogany.....but its getting scarse too.
H2H
honduras has the mahogany.....but its getting scarse too.
H2H
guido #2
New member
I LOVE my old Harmony Silhouette. It's made outta Chicago Plywood!
capnkid
Optimus Prime
None is as good as it was 50-100 years ago, polution? How do you spell polution?
I
invisiblenemies
Active member
capnkid said:
With 2 l's.
Chris Shaeffer
Peavey ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think South America is just one of the few places that has any large amount of instrument woods. Africa does, as well, but they (whoever "they" are) are just getting around to marketing their less traditional woods to the market. I have a bubinga, wenge and maple bass- fantastic & beautiful!
I'm not sure its just a matter of good woods, but goad and CHEAP.
Spruce for acoustic guitars grows like a weed up in the Pacific Norhtwest- Washington & Oregon, but I'm not sure if those varieties are actually used in guitar making.
I think that the market would fairly easily shift to new woods as long as they demonstrated good sound. Till then, the market runs on habit. A Les Paul simply isn't a Les Paul unless its mahogany.
Its both a snob thing and a "well, we know this sells so we're not going to take any risks" thing. Believe me, I was nevervous buying a bass made of "exotic" African woods- till I read all the reviews and saw the number of instruments that were made with similar woods.
Chris
I'm not sure its just a matter of good woods, but goad and CHEAP.
Spruce for acoustic guitars grows like a weed up in the Pacific Norhtwest- Washington & Oregon, but I'm not sure if those varieties are actually used in guitar making.
I think that the market would fairly easily shift to new woods as long as they demonstrated good sound. Till then, the market runs on habit. A Les Paul simply isn't a Les Paul unless its mahogany.
Its both a snob thing and a "well, we know this sells so we're not going to take any risks" thing. Believe me, I was nevervous buying a bass made of "exotic" African woods- till I read all the reviews and saw the number of instruments that were made with similar woods.
Chris
capnkid
Optimus Prime
Austraila has Lacewood that is used in some solibody guitars.
Mark7
Well-known member
Okay, moving on, what about the idea that only Americans, and people under American supervision,can build guitars? That's just plain old snobbery, right?
Hard2Hear
New member
I think the point most people actually make is skilled luthiers and small shops versus low paid factory workers and large unskilled factories.
Mark7
Well-known member
What about reasonably paid factory workers in large skilled factories?
Mark7
Well-known member
Or just small to medium sized ones.
sile2001
_|_
Those exist??? OHHH!!! You're talking about Taylor then...Mark7 said:
Taylor is a testament to the ability of a hybrid assembly-line/handmade to produce some very excellent guitars at relatively reasonable prices. All the pieces of the guitar are laser-cut by machinery, but then inspected and assembled by the workers, who actually know the difference between a good guitar and a bad one.
People bitch about the "NT Neck" and how, while Taylor says it is an improvement, it is actually just a way for them to cut costs. Say whatever you want, but the NT neck saved my guitar. It got knocked off its stand by a kid and fell forward, impacting the tile stage right at the nut. Most guitars would have had the headstock snap off, but thanks to Taylor's finger joint, it held. However, the neck had been slightly displaced and the intonation was way off. If it had been the highly lauded "set neck", I would have been screwed and would have been looking at a very costly repair job. Because of the NT neck joint, the repair tech was able to just shift the neck right back over and lock it down again.
People say that fully hand-made guitars have their own character. Sure they do...as a result of all the small inconsistencies and minor measurement errors made by a luthier. I'm glad your fully hand-made guitar has such a nice, unique character. Good luck ever finding another one like it if it ever gets smashed or stolen or whatever. If my 614ce ever croaks, I know I can go to the local music store, try out maybe 2 or 3 614ce's, and one of them will most likely be so much like my old one that I couldn't even tell the difference.
Hooray for consistency!
Mark7
Well-known member
Consistency rules. I'd sooner buy a nice mass produced guitar made in Europe, The US, Mexico, Japan or Korea than some handmade effort any day
foo
Active member
Mark7 said:
Sure is.
Although my guitars are all American-built (with the exception of the Ramirez), I have played some great non-US made guitars.
There's a Brit who makes really nice acoustics - played by Martin Simpson - called Sobell. I'm sure there are others. Didn't Zemaitis come from London?
Hard2Hear
New member
Lowden - very nice Irish built guitars. VERY nice. I almost had a deal with them a few years ago.
H2H
H2H
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