Is made in america less important now?

When I beginning my love affair with the bass guitar, I always gravitated & wanted American made basses. As the main originals Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, Guild etc were all designed & made there and the copies and other styled basses were mostly made in Japan.
Even though now in hindsight the Tokai's & Squier's of the early 1980's, have proven to be well made instruments in their own right.
But now I would say it's all about the quality of how the instrument is made, and the cost of a quality "beginner/semi pro" instrument is light years away from some made in the 60's & 70's. And as there are enough quality spares available so you can upgrade any instrument to make it sound better.
Me personally after 33 years I still love & prefer American made bass guitars.

 

Place of origin is irrelevant with today’s manufacturing technology.

Any differences in build quality are by design and dictated almost entirely by economics and marketing strategy. Any country with modern plants and equipment (which is just about all of them these days) can manufacture world class products or junk. It only depends on how much you want to pay for it.

Works the exact same way here with American manufacturing businesses.

 

Yep, says my Squire CV P bass.

 

Advances in technology have really leveled the playing field internationally. There is nowhere this is more evident than manufacturing. I still try to by Made in USA products simply because of my own patriotism. (I'm not putting down any other country. And I hope you feel the same way about your country as I do mine.) But it gets harder every day... or at least a lot more expensive with fewer choices. (Try looking for a pair of boots made in America.)

Short version: You absolutely can find plenty of bass gear to choose from that is good quality made in other countries. Whether or not you want to is another story.

 

Made in the USA, Europe or UK is my preference. It's a personal decision that I can afford and I believe it's becoming more important to support home industries.

 

for myself i dont care about MIA as much as i care about Made in Japan. I would not worry about buying Ibanez or Yamaha from Indonesia, but I would never buy a Fender that was not MIA because thats a crap shoot on quality. Even the MIA Fenders are not as good as they once were.

I would never hesitate on a Japan made bass though. They really care about quality and making a flawless product.

 

“Made in the USA” is a brand and that’s basically it. You are paying for that label on your instrument and not for any real increase in quality or manufacturing standards.

So if that’s a brand you want to support, then by all means do so. In my experience, I haven’t really seen the value in it although collectors seem to really like it

 

It was never that important to me and it seems to be much more important to Americans. My first bass was an Ibanez Blazer, MIK IIRC. Next was an Alembic Distillate, then my basically only bass for the next nearly 20y, my Steinberger XL2. I didn't care that this was MIA (it's Newburgh though), I just loved what it was. Since then I've had hundreds of basses and the most consistent initially were the MIJ, mainly lawsuit basses I bought. Then a lot of manufacturing was shifted to S Korea, and they were great after a short while. The most recent instruments I've bought have been made in Indonesia, and they're excellent; that's 6 Ibanez basses, a Cort acoustic and a PRS guitar. I would not have paid $10 more for any of them, based solely on build and sound quality, if they were made in the US.

Of the 30 or so instruments I own, 5 are US made; 3 Peaveys, a Kramer and the XL2.. There's one from the UK (Status) and the rest are in order, Indonesian, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese made. If any of them were awful, I'd have already moved them on.

There's a very recent MII basses thread that might prove interesting reading for you.

 

Is made in america less important now?

High quality gear is made everywhere one can find it.

The economic realities of globalization have pushed American manufacturing back home for the last several years. It would be ideal if everyone played by the same rules, but they don’t.

 

That all depends on your perspective. What does “Made in the USA” mean to you? Is it a sign of perceived quality? Is it a patriotism thing? Is it brand loyalty? Why do you choose to buy American or to exalt American made basses over others?

CNC machines have made everything essentially equal. Let’s keep it 100 and just say that an alder/ash body, maple neck, bent bridge, single P pickup, 1 vol, 1 tone control bass is probably equivalent in just about every way whether or not it’s assembled by Indonesian hands, Chinese hands, Mexican hands, or American hands. Only you can decide if the difference you pay between a Chinese Affinity Squier P bass and a USA built Standard P bass is worth the extra cost. How about the Indonesian Squier VM, or the Mexican Standard P bass?

Are they? People can argue until the cows come home about their options but only the person shelling out the cash really matters. FMIC and others are counting on the fact they there is a perceived difference, hence the guy there is a price difference.

 

I recently purchased Lakland 55-94 Lined Fretless used on TB and sold my Lakland Skyline Lined Fretless 55-02
to finance the purchase. Tonally they sound alike. The 54-94 is lighter and prettier and plays easier. I could have never afforded that bass new. It’s becoming my favorite bass.

 

It’s not important to me.

 

I’ll guess: ‘probably,’ even though I have no real way of knowing what Fender’s actual product differentiation strategies are. But I can say I’d confidently put my Squier MIC Matt Freeman PB up against any of the Fender PBs I’ve owned over the years. And I’ve owned: MIAs, MIMs, and even an MIJ, which was probably the best of the rest btw. As of right now I have an MIM and my “Matt.” I may one day opt for a different Fender. But the Matt Freeman is here to stay.

So going purely on my own experiences with Fender, I can say that while I’ve found really nice PBs (and one magic one) over the years I’ve been playing (54 and counting in case you’re wondering) their quality and tone had little to do with where they were built.

I think with an instrument as elegantly and simply designed as a PB there’s very few places that couldn’t build a really good one - as the huge number of good sounding and playing FSOs by different makers clearly demonstrates.

 

I try to buy products made/grown locally, and made by people who are paid a living wage. Both require mindfulness and usually cost more than alternatives. Often only one is possible, and occasionally neither :-(

 

Like someone already said Us/China/Europe does not matter anymore, I have american/mexican/german/chinese/canadian/japanese made instruments and love them all, but considering my last purchase (Dingwall NG) it's made in China: quality is far better (fretwork, body/neck joint etc) than my american Made Fender Elite and price (at least here in Italy) is pretty much the same, so IMHO it depends by the people/company who build it, no matter it's on Earth on Mars

 

I no longer care where a bass is manufactured. I adore my Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray 5 HH and my Rickenbacker 4003, but USA made is no longer a goal. Most of my basses are Indonesian made... also have a Mexican Fender Player P and a Korean-made Ibanez Soundgear 6-string. I also have another Indo-made bass on order... Sire Marcus Miller V5 Fretless Jazz Bass. The quality of basses out of Indonesia, China, Korea, etc.. is off the charts good these days. No need to buy American... unless somebody really wants a USA Fender, EBMM or Rickenbacker. USA Fenders are no longer a "need." Squires, MIM Fenders, G&L Tributes, etc... are all gig-worthy, IMO.