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Question regarding "Crafted in Indonesia"
- Thread starter frankieC
- Start date
He appears to be stoned, smugly rambling back and forth with not much in the way of logic or substance. At the very end it emerges that yes, basically he took the old page about "ghost building" from Ed Roman's web site and is just riffing on it - for the best part of an hour. Some of it is true, none of it is news. Yet he seems to think it should be some kind of revelation that e.g. Hoshino doesn't operate an actual "Ibanez" factory per se, but subcontracts other facilities.
Well, I believe he's wrong about that. I was playing with a smooth jazz group at the Red Ranch in (IIRC...) Brielle, NJ. One of our fans worked at the factory, and asked if I'd like them to make a bass for me. I went there, and chose the body from several that were rough sanded, in raw wood. I remember seeing the spray booth, bins of parts, and an assembly area.
Heck--I don't know if they sourced some of the parts from someplace else, from what I saw. But it sure didn't look like they were buying completed instruments and just making minor adjustments before they shipped. And it didn't take but a week or two before my friend brought me the bass with my name under the clear coat, at the gig.
I dug it out of the closet and snapped a couple pix.
The article is here... It actually says Kramer NEVER built USA guitars..
[url]http://www.edroman.com/rants/ghost.htm[/URL]
[url]http://www.edroman.com/rants/ghost.htm[/URL]
That's not really and "article". It's some crap written by an unreliable source and notorious sleazoid. Ed Roman, to be exact.
I don't know. A lot of the stuff he says I know for a fact to be true:
-The Slash thing.
-Ed Roman/Steinberger
-PRS EG's being ghost built
-Ed Roman/BC Rich
I have no reason to believe he's lying.
Thanks. Guess they had one of the earliest PJ designs in production, too. The first I remember, anyway.
I know that there is "ghost building", and has been for a long time. It's just this guy. He makes sweeping generalizations, and seems not to think about what he's saying. Things like "Look at any hair band video. You're gonna see Kramer or you're gonna see Jackson". His statements about Kramer are incorrect. "There was never actually any US Kramers ever made". Guy's a nut.[/quote]
Roger that: I would have a hard time believing that there were no US-built Kramers; many retailers near where I used to live carried them and have seen them in vivo.
Another discredit, IMO, is that he, in his comment replies, totally slams Carvin.
I am agnostic about Carvins overall, though I like their products and what their company stands for. I reckon there is no panacea in the realm of modern stringed instruments is what I have surmised.
Roger that: I would have a hard time believing that there were no US-built Kramers; many retailers near where I used to live carried them and have seen them in vivo.
Another discredit, IMO, is that he, in his comment replies, totally slams Carvin.
I am agnostic about Carvins overall, though I like their products and what their company stands for. I reckon there is no panacea in the realm of modern stringed instruments is what I have surmised.
Well, I believe he's wrong about that. I was playing with a smooth jazz group at the Red Ranch in (IIRC...) Brielle, NJ. One of our fans worked at the factory, and asked if I'd like them to make a bass for me. I went there, and chose the body from several that were rough sanded, in raw wood. I remember seeing the spray booth, bins of parts, and an assembly area.
Heck--I don't know if they sourced some of the parts from someplace else, from what I saw. But it sure didn't look like they were buying completed instruments and just making minor adjustments before they shipped. And it didn't take but a week or two before my friend brought me the bass with my name under the clear coat, at the gig.
I dug it out of the closet and snapped a couple pix.
Too cool. Cool background story also.
Cort makes some excellent instruments. I was blown away by the fit n finish of schecter guitars and basses at half the price of US made instruments. Sick fretwork straight out of the factory.
Roger that: I would have a hard time believing that there were no US-built Kramers; many retailers near where I used to live carried them and have seen them in vivo.
Another discredit, IMO, is that he, in his comment replies, totally slams Carvin.
I am agnostic about Carvins overall, though I like their products and what their company stands for. I reckon there is no panacea in the realm of modern stringed instruments is what I have surmised.[/QUOTE]Most snarky, bitter retailers bash Carvin for one reason. They can't sell them new. If they could they could they would wax poetically how they bear Fenders yada yada yada.
