"Made in Korea"

[circuitspore]

I've been wondering about this for a while. When you see "Made in Korea" on a bass, does that always denote democratic South Korea, or could it be either North or South depending on the manufacturer?

I know that Schecter guitars say something to the effect of "Proudly Made in the Republic of South Korea". I've also had email correspondence with Kurt at Rondo and confirmed that Brice basses are made in South Korea.

 

[Bassist4Life]

I don't know for sure. That's a good question. I'm guessing that anything imported from Korea is coming from S. Korea, but that's only a guess.

Joe

 

[BartmanPDX]

I'm 100% certain it means South Korea. The poor souls in the north are too busy trying to comply with the wishes of Dear Leader to make nuclear bombs and trying to scrape together ebough to eat to make basses. The situation in the North is worse than in the old Soviet Union. In some areas it seems more like the Middle Ages. Aside from the military programs, they're about as backwards as it comes, technologically speaking.

On top of that, I'm also pretty sure we have an embargo against anything from North Korea.

 

[fourstringbliss]

That would be South Korea. As far as I know it's against American foreign policy and the law to do any business with North Korea because of the dictatorship there.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

The USA has trade embargos and does not recognize North Korea. I seriously doubt if any instrument maker would manufacture there since the USA is such a large market.

 

[moro]

What everyone said. The US has no official diplomatic relationship with North Korea, on top of which their economy is a disaster. They're not exporting goods anywhere.

It's a very sad situation, especially when you compare it to South Korea, which is one of the most modern countries in the world.

 

[Bassplayer92]

Does anyone know if different companies have different factories in Korea? I have a friend who thinks that Samick makes most of the instruments (including my Spectors) coming out of Korea. I don't know for sure, so I've been just humoring him.

 

[circuitspore]

Thanks for the info guys. I knew we had some restrictions on North Korea, but wasn't aware of the full extent.

 

[steve21]

Does anyone know if different companies have different factories in Korea? I have a friend who thinks that Samick makes most of the instruments (including my Spectors) coming out of Korea. I don't know for sure, so I've been just humoring him.

It's not so much that Samick makes everything

It's that there's a couple of huge factories that make the majority of the stuff.

But they make it to each different company's specs.

 

[Jazz Ad]

Yes but Cort and Samick are by far the biggest.

 

[TeeMartin]

I'm not sure if guitars are even legal in North Korea.

 

[Poop-Loops]

Last I checked, you can't make an instrument out of poverty and tyranny.

 

[bongomania]

Visit Cuba sometime. It's amazing what they have done with so little. For example, they cannot get bass strings -not any- even the ones they could possibly get from China, they cannot afford. So they come up with ingenious ways of repairing broken strings, and they make the best music they can using old, dead, repaired strings.

 

[brothernewt]

...and I carry extra brand new strings around for when mine don't sound quite as nice as they used to. I'm so spoiled!

 

[Bass4LifeRS]

Visit Cuba sometime. It's amazing what they have done with so little. For example, they cannot get bass strings -not any- even the ones they could possibly get from China, they cannot afford. So they come up with ingenious ways of repairing broken strings, and they make the best music they can using old, dead, repaired strings.

We should start some kind of "Bassists without Borders" foundation and send some of the musicians there a set of strings each, a year, or something like that

 

[Philbiker]

Does anyone know if different companies have different factories in Korea? I have a friend who thinks that Samick makes most of the instruments (including my Spectors) coming out of Korea. I don't know for sure, so I've been just humoring him.

As I understand it, there are two gigantic manufacturers and a bunch of little ones in Korea. Samick and Cort are the biggies, and they OEM lots of other brands. Cort manufactures Dean and ESP, for example. I believe Samick may be the largest instrument maker in the world, or at least was at one time int he 90s. I think they OEM Korean Ibanezes among others. There are also many smaller manufacturers making stuff like Brice, some fo the better Rogue models, "Mr. Potato" (which I love), and others.

Korean guitars and basses are very damn good quality, by the way. Comparable to 80s Japanese guitars. That is to say, damn good!

 

[roger winkler]

My G&L L2000 Tribute says "MADE IN KOREA", and it looks and plays great. It's the "premium" model, which has the ash body and birdseye maple neck, in the cherryburst finish. She's a real beauty.

 

[bassman10096]

There's a lot of good musical gear coming out of Korea and has been for some time. Lakland Skylines, to name one no one has mentioned. Good is good. The Koreans have learned to do good. Not to imply that lower end stuff from Korea is any better than lower end stuff from here. It just costs less.

A marketing consultant I work with tells the story of how Samsung manufactured its first microwave years ago, turned it on and it blew up. GE (then the dominant microwave manufacturer) laughed. Samsung successfully fixed its manufacturing and quality problems and is now the largest manfacturer of microwave ovens in the world.

The Japanese did the same. I'm probably older than most folks here, and can remember when "Made in Japan" meant cheap, low quality junk. Then companies like Sony and Honda changed that. Lots of others followed. Now anyone who thinks the Japanese can't manage producing very high quality electronic and musical gear is in the minority.

 

[Razman]

I usually run from anything that says "Made in Korea." The Daewoo Lanos I owned wasn't too bad of a car, but every time I told someone what it was (especially auto stores) the response was always "Day-who??" But I digress... My last bass was an 80-ish Kramer Striker 700ST. It blew me away, especially for something that was made in Korea 20 years ago. The tuning machines were my only gripe—cheap stuff there—but the rest of the instrument was solid. With a set of DR tapered Long Necks it sounded awesome! I was also able to get the neck to intonate PERFECTLY up to the last (21st) fret!! Having said that, any instrument I play now that doesn’t intonate perfectly is not worth getting – if Korea did it 20 years ago, there’s absolutely no room for excuses today, period.

I currently play a Cirrus 4. My last “nice” bass was a Dingwall Voodoo. If the Kramer would have been a 35” scale it would have been a keeper, but I let it go. In general, I don’t have much interest in most current Korean or mass-produced basses…

 

[bassman10096]

I don’t have much interest in most current Korean or mass-produced basses…

By and large, the only problems I've had with Korean instruments have related to the fact that they are typically mass-produced. Among mass-producers, the Koreans have learned to do pretty well, though. But, like anything, you most often get what you pay for. Lakland Skylines are excellent quality, but they should be for their cost.