Whoa... let us clarify what u.s. brands you are talking about. Nothing made right NOW in China can rival or even be close to the u.s.a guitars I have both in quality workmanship, tone, vibe and magic. My Suhr Strat is sure modular but nothing from China can touch it. Wait a minute, my suhr strat ain't mass produced and it shows. What brand equity are you talking about? I have tried USA Custom Shop Fenders that are cheaper than my Suhr that are bad sounding. Though I agree with you that majority of consumers today still buy with aesthetics and emotions. In this case, I bought the guitar without seeing it in person or even hearing it. What colonial mentality are we talking about? I used to think that MIJ guitars whipped the ass of MIA guitars until I got to try the super high end USA made guitars that deliver.
agree: china made guitars has yet to whup a US made (or even Japan made) axe to date.
disagree: there are a lot of japan made guitars that can whup (or an on par, at least) high quality made guitars in the US. granted this is a subjective point but i think japan and the US have equally able luthiers that put out amazing guitars. case in point, caparison and the ESP custom shop. i've got pieces from both places in japan which give me a lot of playing pleasure and has been quite successful in preventing further GAS. you can include the Ibanez Custom Shop team as well. thing is, why should I get another guitar if the one's i've got now play just as well than, say, a Suhr, Detemple or even a Melancon. note, i didn't say 'better than" because i don't think i've come to that point yet except in the field of acoustic guitars.
firemodel is right. the colonial mentality card can't be played here, in fact, i think it is misplaced and all too often an easy reference to bring out. why do folks always bring that sh*t up anyway? it boggles me, especially when we are talking about guitars. what matter is who made the guitar and what skills they have to offer in the manufacture of a product. QC is the bottom line and lets face it, China ain't exactly known for their stringent QC. if someone from the PI has the skills and ingenuity to stand up to Suhr's highest offering, i for one, would be excited to see what the newcomer has to offer! it ain't about the place where you do your work, it is what you do with the materials to make a great instrument. the colonial mentality thing shouldn't apply...hell, the luthier can be from Afghanistan or Uganda and work with stone tools for all i care! if the dude makes great work, he gets my props!
being from cebu, a place which puts out a lot of acoustic instruments, someone once asked me if the guitars from my island were world class. i asked the guy to define world class because my definition has radically changed since i left home. fact of the matter is, i lived on cebu for most of my life and thought the guitars were "teh sh*t" (a good thing in leet-speak)......until i moved overseas and played stuff from Beauregard, Greenfield, Mustapick, Beneteau, Sugita Kenji, Stonebridge and Petros. the stuff from these guys are in a totally different league. now, mind you, it isn't that they have exclusive use of any materials. they buy the same tools and wood that is available to
any luthier from
any country. the difference? the things they can do with raw pieces of wood is amazing. again, if someone pulls out the colonial mentality card on this one, is say: pick someone from the PI that can produce a guitar that will command just as much acclaim and respect as a greenfield g4 and you won't see a prouder guy than me to see a local bisdak contribute his skills on a global scale.
