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Bass manufacturer ethics?

#5
Virtually every company has skeletons in their closets... It's just a matter of how many. As a wise man once told me... If you ran your business the way the bank, insurance company and government wanted you to... You wouldn't have a business.
 
#9
Xray66 said:
Virtually every company has skeletons in their closets... It's just a matter of how many. As a wise man once told me... If you ran your business the way the bank, insurance company and government wanted you to... You wouldn't have a business.
Click to expand...

If you ran your business the way our banks, insurance companies or governments ran theirs, it would be far from flawless.
 
#10
It is hard to say anything bad about Wal or Ritter. As far as workmanship goes, Ken Smith basses are as close to flawless as I have ever seen. I don't own one nor do I intend to buy one. I just like the quality they put into their instruments.

G
 
#13
Are you talking employee conditions or where the wood comes from and is it sustainable?

If it's the later I would reckon the only way to own a completely fair trade, ethical instrument is to do a Brian May and build your own from scratch. And I don't mean parts/kits either. There's no telling where some of the wood in those Warmoth kits comes from. Heck, to be 100% ethical you'd have to grow your own tree for the wood too.
 
#16
Don't worry so much about the individual brands. If it comes from Asia, the conditions are -not- what we'd generally want them to be. That's why the stuff is cheap. (I don't really get why labor makes such a huge difference in mass produced guitars, though... given the volume and automation).

Gibson was once voted worst place to work in America, I believe. I can't see Fender being much better. They're all typical rich, corporate jerks out for nothing but money. Any quality in their products is because it has to be there to sell. They don't care about the instruments. They don't care about the workers.

If it bothers you, buy from smaller luthiers (if you have the funds-- I don't, sadly) or buy used.

Buying used is great. Buy a used Squier VM and rub off the logo (trust me, it comes off easy). You then haven't given the manufacturer any money, and no new materials were used in the production of your new (to you) instrument.

I hate it, but it's the reality of the world we live in. Where our stuff comes from isn't pretty. Most people aren't willing to do anything to change anything, though. That's why it stays the same.
 

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