I was browsing the OLF this morning and read the phrase "cheap Chinese copy" and it got me thinking....
A couple of days ago one of the jobs that I did was a $500 Recording King from China. Of course the name "Recording King" is now just a name and had nothing to do with it's heritage of once being produced by G*bson....
The reason why this brand new instrument came to us was that the 4th fret had been loose and as such was proud of the rest of the fret plane. The current steward (owner...) of this pretty nice guitar had attempted some shade tree Lutherie (STL) and filed the proud and spongy fret down in an effort to get it to keep from buzzing.
Although his approach was off the mark in that the fret remained loose and spongy I give him credit for trying and even more credit for knowing when to quit and seek assistance....
The fix was/is easy, remove the 4th, pitch it, install a very slightly higher new fret, glue the new fret AND all existing frets down since fret retention on this one was already the issue. This followed by a precision fret dress, set-up, and Bob's this guy's uncle.
All went well, the client was thrilled and also had lots of questions about the care and feeding of his new ax.
What's notable about this cheap Chinese copy is that depending on one's perspective it is not all that cheap. Nor is it by any means a bad guitar. Once set-up it sounds pretty good and played like a dream. This model came with a bone nut and saddle and although the f*ctory was not keen to remove every scratch and polish the nut and saddle or cut the nut slots down low enough the basics were there in terms of value.
For $500 this guitar plays and sounds IMO as good as some of the $1,500 guitars from US manufacturers....
Of course the f*ctory used AMG (Asian mystery glue) which is not serviceable and usually or often the problem with repairing some of these "disposable" instruments. I say disposable because of the dowelled neck joint, unserviceable glue, etc.
As someone who works on a lot of guitars in a single week I have to tell you that the Recording King was impressive.... It reminded me of my decades of being an audiophile in which it was often the case that twice the investment in equipment may, if you are lucky, get you a 10% improvement in the perceived tone, performance, etc. Speakers are the best example of this....
So my friends for $500 one can purchase a guitar that is pretty well built sands the neck joint and glue choice, sounds pretty good, had pretty good fret work except for the uppty one, and also has upgrades such as bone nut and saddle.
You know it would not take much for the f*ctory to be introduced to HHG and not all that difficult either to swap the dowelled joint for a bolt-on or a dovetail.
If these two remaining things were done US f*ctories may need to up their games and or lower their prices at some point because these cheap, Chinese copies are beginning to provide real value in their own rite. Blueridge is a good example of this value as well.
Nothing ever stands still in my experience and the efforts that we all may have gone to in the past to up our games to remain competitive with our value proposition may need more attention as the cheap, Chinese copies (C3's....) get better and better.
It's also notable that in the case of Blueridge and now Recording King these offerings are also commanding higher prices with some Blueridge models being over $1K...
Since ultimately guitars are tools for musicians to many folks the differentiation seems in my view to be narrowing with only a very few things needed for some of these C3's to gain even more respect and ultimately more market segment....
Better watch our backs guys.... the C3's are getting better, more affordable, offering what folks seem to want in terms of looks, sizes, value, etc....
Thoughts?
, but none the less for some one wanting to play just off the street or heck even a well seasoned touring musician these guitars are perfectly fine.
I bought my first acoustic in '69, a brand new Martin 0-16NY, for $214.11. I still remember cause my mom convinced the music store owner to let me make payments. Took a lot of yard work. A great guitar, still got it too.
