How do they do it?

Dom Franco

Dom Franco

New member
I know you're all gonna say "slave labor" or "sweat shops"....

But I just purchased a $39.00 (closeout) Rogue Dreadnaught guitar from Musicians Friend. And it sounds amazing. I lowered the action just a tad by filing down the saddle plastic insert, and put on new phosphor bronze strings and It's awesome!

I play it side by side with my high dollar guitars and It's every bit as good. The finish is excellent, looks like a Solid spruce top, the tuners are just ok,
(I will probably replace them.) Iv'e had everyone that comes into my studio, play it while I play one of my other accoustics and we are blown away.

HOW DO THEY DO IT? I can't even purchase the small parts for $40 bucks, let alone the neck and body. Those Chinese workers have nearly perfected the guitar making craft! And where do they get the wood!

:confused: DOM :eek:
 
The wood is leftover from the pulp they make the diapers out of that the workers must wear throughout their 12-14 hour shift.
 
Hey I resemble that remark!

I work a 12 1/2 hour shift at Intel in a Clean room. Sometimes I have to "hold it" for 5 hours. At times I wish I had a diaper on.

Dom :D
(Making computer chips so that all you home recorders can surf the web and turn music into "0's and 1's") :o
 
Dom Franco said:
I play it side by side with my high dollar guitars
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Would you mind elaborating on what they are? A BigMac value meal is a 4 star dinner to a homeless guy.
 
Guild, Martin, Fender,Takamine and Alvarez all between $500-1,500 guitars.
(I realize all things are relative and I have played some Vintage Martin's and some newer Taylors that are incredible, but I was just making the point that this guitar is a great value compared to Guitars costing hundreds more.)

You generally get what you pay for, but sometimes a real bargain comes along.

Dom ;)
 
Dom, i hear ya. i can't speak to the guitars, but i got a rogue f-style mandolin about a year ago as a birthday present, and it's a FINE playing and sounding instrument. especially for the price ($199 with *nice* case). it easily compares with the "lower end" instuments that i've played by gibson, washburn, kentucky, fender, etc. it doesn't compare to a $2000 F5 reissue, but then again, why would i expect it to?

there are certainly a couple places where the finish could be better and one place at the top of the 3rd fret where i shaved off a piece of the fret wire (and within an hour of getting it, no less). the tuners were cheap and slipped easily--it held tune for about a song. the intonation was off. yes, it was cheaply made....but no more so than the countless other "low end" (or beginner) instruments i've played.

easy enough--i treated it like i do my other instruments.....i replaced the tuners ($20), filed down the wire and buffed out the couple places where the finish needed it. i replaced the shitty factory strings and tweaked the intonation. as a result, i've got a pretty damn good playing and sounding mandolin that's wonderfully intonated and holds tune very well.......oh and it records quite nicely too--i've had good success with both my studio projects B1 and BLUE dragonfly on it. everyone who's heard or played it has been very surprised at the playability and tone emanating from it. the usual response has been "you got that for HOW MUCH?!?"

anyway, i buy american (and local) where i can.....i drive a dodge dakota and supported the local economy by building a house. but like it or not, this *is* a global economy (i work for a pharma CRO that has offices in 13 countries, so i see it first-hand on a daily basis when dealing with coworkers in Wales, Germany, Australia and Russia), and to me it's silly to rule out a chinese-made instrument simply b/c it's chinese.......especially when it's easily on par with something twice its price.

YMMV

cheers,
wade
 
I bought a Rogue Hofner Violin Bass Copy from musiciansfriend.com a few months ago for $199! I put a new set of flatwounds and this bass has become my #1 recording bass. I A/B-ed it with my American Fender P-bass and I like the Rogue sound better. It plays great too.
 
UPDATE:Rogue Dreadnaught ($39.00)

I put new strings on it, New Gold tuning machines, solid brass string pegs, Gold strap button, a Seymor Duncan "maverick" pickup and I'm still under $100 dollars.
I lowered the action, and the thing looks and plays like a million bucks. Been playing it several hours all week. The Tuners weren't too bad, But I wanted Gold hardware.

I'm happy :D

Dom
 
?

bongolation said:
One word: Dumping.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by dumping? Making a lot of cheap guitars and selling them at very low prices? Isn't this what mass production is all about? I don't know how much of their assembly is automated, but high volume manufacturing keeps costs down and quality can actually improve as the process matures and little corrections are made along the assembly line.

Dom :D
 
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