Made in the USA

[Hevy T]

I'm Canadian so nope not at all. In fact the only Canadian thing I own are my 2 guitar racks!

If it wasn't for Mexico and Indonesia I wouldn't own any bass gear

 

[bdplaid]

I buy American made when I can (It's generally better quality). But the one country of manufacture I will resist whenever possible is China. Theft of IP is the main reason, but there are so many others.

I recently played and liked a couple of interesting basses from Gretsch and Gibson, but put them right back when I saw the country of manufacture.

I kind of wish more cheap things were made in Mexico, like the Fender Standards, because the quality is good, the price is good, and it takes pressure off the immigration situation.

 

[jd56hawk]

My Toyota was made in Freemont, California!

And you own nothing made in Japan, China, Korea, Germany, Italy or any other country?

Not to go off topic but those Hondas have more USA parts than GM and those MIJ cars are made here by americans.

And what about your laptop, or cellphone, tv, etc?

Regardless, the Honda CR-V is produced in three locations for the American market. While the East Liberty, Ohio facility produces as many as 400 CR-Vs a day, due to its popularity, models built in El Salto, Jalisco, Mexico as well as Sayama, Saitama, Japan may be imported to meet demand.
The American market Hybrid models, such as the Civic Hybrid, Insight and FCX Clarity, are produced in Japan. All of these models as well as the Honda Fit line are produced at the Honda production facility in Suzuka, Mie, Japan with exception of the FCX Clarity, which is produced solely in Takanezawa, Japan.

As for Toyota, these models are made in Japan: the 4Runner, FJ Cruiser (U.S. sales ended in December 2014), Land Cruiser, Prius, and Yaris.

 

[Chris Doherty]

Which do you all think is better?

American company built in china/abroad (eg Apple),

Or foreign company but built in the US (eg the Toyota factory example)?

 

[bigboy_78]

If the buying MIA (or made in your home country) is considered an act of patriotism, would how you buy be almost as important as where it is made?

I’m not a student of economics, but it would be interesting to see the flow on jobs when purchasing from a local retailer vs online. (salesman, delivery drivers, etc)

Would more jobs be created buying a Chinese instrument from a “Mom & Pop” store or buying a US (or locally) produced bass online, delivered to your door?

 

[Daniel Piper]

Never. Not once. Not even close.

 

[Daniel Piper]

A typical instrument around here might break down for parts like this: USA/Israel/Turkey/Russia/UK/Germany/Japan/Canada

And a quick cursory look around my place at musical instruments brings a "Made In" count like this
USA - 16
China - 5
Taiwan - 3
Korea - 1
Mexico - 2
Vietnam - 4
Canada - 6
Germany - 1
France - 1

(thats not counting keyboards, studio gear, etc...)

A thread based on this sort of post would be fun and hugely informative.

 

[The13thFret]

Meanwhile in Australia...

Another master built bass goes through the final stages of quality control.

 

[JW56789]

I would prefer to play an American-made instrument, solely because it keeps our own people employed, and their families provided for.

However, at this point in my life, I can't afford them. Would if I could.

So, I don't feel any more 'guilt' playing my Indonesian Squiers than I'm quite sure FMIC feels for importing and selling them thru a dealer to me, and I'm glad there's something in my price range I can enjoy.

 

[Rallypoint_1]

Nope, not at all

 

[James Collins]

Doof, Australian for guitar and bass!

 

[cnltb]

Do you ever feel any pangs of guilt when you buy a bass (or amp) that was not made in the United States?

No.
I don't think I even own a single piece of equipment apart from the hardware on my bass and a GK combo, that was made there.
Why would one?
That said, I am not from the usa and tend to prefer buying european.

 

[NOVAX]

North American?

 

[GIBrat51]

Do you ever feel any pangs of guilt when you buy a bass (or amp) that was not made in the United States?

Since most "American" basses (or amps) aren't made in America any more? I probably feel as many pangs of guilt as those companies do...

 

[mikewalker]

A thread based on this sort of post would be fun and hugely informative.

Global-tar 2014
So, one day I decided that I needed a strat with a reverse tele headstock. Fender wasn't making these, for whatever reason. Anyway, I got things underway by obtaining a nice piece of Paulownia (aka "surfboard wood") from the USA, rough-carved in the shape of a strat body. Paulownia has the distinction of being not only the fastest-growing renewable tree on the planet, but the strongest wood around, relative to it's weight. Once I got the wood, I primed it with some acrylic latex, and then a coat of Acrylic which I had tinted to a "Wedgewood" hue. Once it was dried, I mailed the body to Moscow, with instructions to the artist (Elena Walker) to please create for me a 'psychedelic' of her own choosing. Then I started looking for a neck... I didn't like the birdseye that Warmoth was currently offering - so started looking around for something nicer. The birdseye maple neck I eventually chose was graciously supplied and carved to spec for me by Robert Gilmore, in Galilee. He sent it over fretted but unfinished, and I gave it a blue stain and several coats of clear acrylic (currently matte finish, but maybe someday I will polish it so you can actually see the heavy birdseye again). When the body came back from Russia, I gave it several coats of clear gloss UV-resistant finish to protect the artwork. The pickguard and back plate were clear plexiglass from the USA (I back-painted with the body color, and attached to the body before I sent it over to Russia for the artwork.) The knobs and trem tip came from Japan. The pickups are EMGs from USA - there is a battery clip mounted under the back trem spring plate. Trem springs came from England. The trem itself is from Turkey - the plate is steel, but the saddles and the trem block are CNC's out of solid Titanium. To complement the titanium bridge, I used satin machine heads (Hipshot, USA) and found a very rare set of satin straplocks from Schaller (Germany). The jackplate is a one-of-a-kind custom job, made in Canada.

So... Russia/USA/Israel/Turkey/UK/Germany/Japan/Canada on this one

 

[equill]

If it's the best I can afford of what I'm shopping for, I don't care what country it comes from.
To the extent that I do care about where my things are made, it's getting a kick out of the fact that the good stuff comes from all over the world. That all over the world, there are people doing great work and making some great stuff.

I really don't get this fetish for "made in <my country>."
Even the "buy local" thing - everywhere is local to somewhere. Why penalise people for the sin of not living closely enough to you?

Patriotism can be useful in small amounts, but mostly it comes down to "my country at the expense of all the others" - and that just doesn't work out well in the long term. We're all people, wherever we are - if we all play well with each other, we all win.

 

[matante]

Global-tar 2014
So, one day I decided that I needed a strat with a reverse tele headstock. Fender wasn't making these, for whatever reason. Anyway, I got things underway by obtaining a nice piece of Paulownia (aka "surfboard wood") from the USA, rough-carved in the shape of a strat body. Paulownia has the distinction of being not only the fastest-growing renewable tree on the planet, but the strongest wood around, relative to it's weight. Once I got the wood, I primed it with some acrylic latex, and then a coat of Acrylic which I had tinted to a "Wedgewood" hue. Once it was dried, I mailed the body to Moscow, with instructions to the artist (Elena Walker) to please create for me a 'psychedelic' of her own choosing. Then I started looking for a neck... I didn't like the birdseye that Warmoth was currently offering - so started looking around for something nicer. The birdseye maple neck I eventually chose was graciously supplied and carved to spec for me by Robert Gilmore, in Galilee. He sent it over fretted but unfinished, and I gave it a blue stain and several coats of clear acrylic (currently matte finish, but maybe someday I will polish it so you can actually see the heavy birdseye again). When the body came back from Russia, I gave it several coats of clear gloss UV-resistant finish to protect the artwork. The pickguard and back plate were clear plexiglass from the USA (I back-painted with the body color, and attached to the body before I sent it over to Russia for the artwork.) The knobs and trem tip came from Japan. The pickups are EMGs from USA - there is a battery clip mounted under the back trem spring plate. Trem springs came from England. The trem itself is from Turkey - the plate is steel, but the saddles and the trem block are CNC's out of solid Titanium. To complement the titanium bridge, I used satin machine heads (Hipshot, USA) and found a very rare set of satin straplocks from Schaller (Germany). The jackplate is a one-of-a-kind custom job, made in Canada.

So... Russia/USA/Israel/Turkey/UK/Germany/Japan/Canada on this one

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[BassmanM]

Patriotism can be useful in small amounts, but mostly it comes down to "my country at the expense of all the others" - and that just doesn't work out well in the long term. We're all people, wherever we are - if we all play well with each other, we all win.

I am glad someone posted a message like this.

The OP should not forget that although the majority of TB users probably comes from the US, it has become an international forum.

As already pointed out by others, I would be more worried about the conditions under which a lot of the other cheap stuff we use daily is manufactured or the ecological consequences caused getting these goods from Asia to the US or to Europe.

 

[glocke1]

Do you ever feel any pangs of guilt when you buy a bass (or amp) that was not made in the United States?

I general I try to give my money to items made in the U.S.

One reason is I like the idea of supporting the U.S. manufacturing bass.

Another reason is I have a very hard time justifying the prices of some foreign made basses.

I was looking at a 2k Dingwall recently. Nice bass...was expecting it to be made in the U.S. but flipped it over and nope...made overseas somewhere. Not paying that much for an asian made bass.

 

[equill]

I was looking at a 2k Dingwall recently. Nice bass...was expecting it to be made in the U.S. but flipped it over and nope...made overseas somewhere. Not paying that much for an asian made bass.

I'm genuinely curious. Why is the same thing worth a different amount to you according to where it's made?