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Can anyone comment on instruments made in Indonesia?

#104
Lowness said:
Country matters is the same way the name on the headstock matters.
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Yes, but the headstock brand is what people looks at. We, the conscienti, the bass nerds, makes a differ of a Fender US, MIM, MIJ or Indonesia, and or Squier of the same. So to us only, it's definitely not enough to say "Fender" without the following attachment: MIJ, MIM, US, MII, MIC ? Made in Japan, Mexico, US, Indonesia, or China. Those origins are as important - say you say - as the Fender logo. But countries of origin has no trademark logo. ;)
 
#105
I've played both extremely high and extremely low quality basses made in Indonesia. I have an Indonesian Sire V7 that is amazing, while some of the Indonesia Squiers I've played have been trash. In general I'd say instruments made in Indonesia tend to be of the second highest quality of Asian manufactures, with #1 being Japan of course.
 
#106
I own 2 Indonesian Ibanezes. The build, electronics, and finish work are all quite good. I replaced the tuners with Gotohs, but I do that with all my basses that don't come with them. Both basses needed a setup, but I don't consider that a strike against the manufacturer because I bought them used.
 
#107
I had an ibanez BTB 6 that had excellent build quality and sound.
I had a Yamaha BB1025x that was of nice build quality but I hated the character/tone of the PU's. since they are proprietary, couldn't really be changed.
both were Indonesian.
the skylines are great too.
 
#109
MarkoYYZ said:
With all due respect to our Indonesian board member, just being "from somewhere" doesn't mean you know the inside details of every industry that operates there - especially one that likes to keep information away from prying eyes due to the kind of multi-brand contract manufacturing that goes on. When he states "there is no Giant Instrument factory in Indonesia" he's just plain wrong, and then goes on to compare Fender/Squier, Ibanez and Cort as if they are different factories (rather than different brands who source from the same factories).

The Samick factory, for example, spans something like 4 million square feet over a dozen buildings, has over 3000 employees and builds over 500,000 guitars (they also do 15,000 pianos). It certainly qualifies as a mega-plant, yes? Cort is pretty much the same with its multi building campus, 2,000 employees and reported 1,000,000 guitars per year capacity (no pianos here).

There are other factories of course, like Yamaha (who is actually the #1 largest musical instrument company in the world), but they don't do as much OEM manufacturing for 3rd party brands and wouldn't fall into the "make guitars for everyone" conversation that is being asked about.

There are other factories as well, since there is such a large and music-experienced labor force, but they're not on the same scale.
.
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Dang, well there you are. Another informative post. I'd consider this as more appealing since it suggests a validation of my original thoughts on the 'Indo-Mega-Plant' theory.
 
#110
chris_b said:
"Foreign" does not describe a badly made bass.

Factories in any country will make the bass that the commissioning company pays them to make. If it is a bad bass then blame the commissioning company. The finished product is the responsibility of their QC policies.
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After having read through much of this now, I will stand by my gut. Not in every instance, but most likely I do not want my instrument from the Indo Mega Plant. I have many reasons. Perhaps I believe that my Guild B401-A is the antithesis of the Mega Plant thing.
 
#112
Lowness said:
This works if you have time to got through every brand and model, which we don't.


Country or origin is akin to a brand - MIJ or MIA is simply a quality filter for those people (most people) who haven't time to trawl through all basses.

Country matters is the same way the name on the headstock matters.
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It matters. With eyes closed you are offered a Bass from China, UK, Korea, or the US.
Outside of maybe one US made bass I can think of, your chances of getting a better instrument just
by knowing what country it is made...has some merit. A lot of folks want to defend their ownership. I've owned the Indo-Mega-Plant stuff too. I picked out Okay stuff but have developed an overall opinion. Now in my original proposition, if Germany was in the mix, I'd give it some extra thought. It just seems like everything music gear related I get from Germany just blows me away in regard to quality and function. It may also blow me away in regard to price. But the general (not specific) idea still stands true with me. Boil it down to two if you want, Germany or China?
 
#114
alienstarguest said:
My impression has always been there is one single gigantic factory in Indonesia that produces all or nearly most guitars and basses which sport the "Made in Indonesia" moniker.
True or False?

Another impression is that a dozen companies or more have some series made there. I see it also as a place/factory where entirely new brand names are setup for a few runs, then rarely seen again. Presumably with some bigger corporation behind the 'project'.
Anyone know for sure?

For me the "Made in Indonesia" stamp on an instrument foretells of the world's possibly lowest quality. This is a generalization, and I'm sure is not universally applicable to every single thing made there, yet IMO, there is some truth to it. Even surpassing China as a kind of "be careful of what you are getting" type of warning.

Just in case anyone might be thinking that I'm personally ragging on Indonesia or its populous, don't.
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What would be a better bass in your opinion? One made in Vietnam or Indonesia?
 
#116
Sindhu Partomo said:
As an Indonesian, I believe that you shouldn't worry. Two reasons:

1. Quality

I used to own an L2K Tribute, and it was hard to pinpoint the gap of its build quality compared to the MIA. Again, that was me.


2. Working Condition

For the last 10 years, there have been many worker unions, academics, and university students piling up enormous pressure on various factories to create better working environment (including better terms in contract). And it works. When I was 9 years old, my mom took me to different factories (she was in the garment industry) and I witnessed the best and worst possible conditions of Indonesian factory workers. Long story short, I never wear Nike apparels. Until now.

The condition is greatly improving. Even the lowest paid workers here (minimum wage about $250/month) get full health insurance coverage, enough paid leave, et cetera. Of course there are several companies who are still getting away with violations, but people are hunting them down, and we hunt them hard. And MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS BUSINESSES ARE NOT ONE OF THEM. Rest assured.
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Thank you for your post. And yes, not to worry, but there is still some things even in your post, that give notice to possibly look elsewhere if your country of build is at all important to you.
 
#117
There are no one single Mega-Plant. There are several....

Here's for you OP to read: About one single manufacturer in Japan, that branched out, and confused and mixed up with another name. Although it's old, and that company is out of business today, you'll bet that it's the same today with all those Indonesian manufacturers and so called mega-plants. It's a thorough read. Read about how many were machine made and still hand made, and CNC machines. Read about the re-assesment of their instruments later on:

Matsumoku - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I mean, no one can know how many shares/stocks the Samick company owns in any of the other brands, regardless of that they're made in Indonesia, or elsewhere. But still, not one single mega-plant.

Samick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


In 1992, Samick built its P.T. Samick factory in Cileungsi, near Invalid Link Removed, Indonesia. This factory produces the majority of instruments that Samick makes. Of considerable notice is the following aqcuisition or percentage owning, but rather irrelevant to bass and this thread, but to overall quality by and large:

"In late 2009, Samick acquired a 16.5% share of Steinway Musical Instruments. By November 2010, Samick's share in Steinway Musical Instruments increased to 32%"

No one knows if this ownership has increased! We can't tell. Once they own above 50 % then it's a cultural decline.... ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samick
 
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#118
Robert Sperling said:
Pffffft, try a G&L L2000 Tribute and see if they suck.... Do I like my USA G&L's more? You betcha, but if I was on a tight budget and didn't want
to spend an extra $1k on any American bass I'd surely go with a tribute, or even a Squier for that matter if I want a more traditional jazz
or Pbass. Like anything else, you gotta play each one because some will be lemons, some decent and there's always a few that are stellar.
Lately the old adage "you get what you pay for" doesn't always ring true! This is a great time to be a musician, there are many high quality
instruments these days, even at the "entry" level price range.
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I have not been looking at the thread I started for about a half day now, not certain, but I don't think anyone used the term 'suck' in relation to the quality of indo instruments. I am just saying, perhaps after reading the thread and doing the research, that Yamaha is the only maker that 'build country' doesn't mean much. A lot of what I am saying is just MO. It has some backing that I am comfortable with tho.
 
#119
tzohn said:
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I have generally had darn good luck with Cort. If I'm not mistaken I think there is a collaboration with Markbass that has me moderately interested now after many years. One of my problems is that I will wind up buying 4 or 5 low or midprice basses when I should have waited and blown it all on one special instrument. Trying to hold back on the Cort/markbass given that I just reminded myself of that.
 
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