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The official "Show your basses" thread part 19!
- Thread starter smperry
- Start date
It's just my office TV - that will be moving to my cigar lounge - when I build the lounge that is.Must be a 3D TV then, huh?
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I see the "penis" inlays as cartoon bombs (and either way don't like) but happen to like the colour. (taste is subjective) Otherwise I'm sure it's crap. MIC after all correct?
I don’t think talking “taste” about diarrhea milkshake is a convo most care to have. Any crap tasting experts care to chime in?
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- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,621
- 222,162
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I don’t think talking “taste” about diarrhea milkshake is a convo most care to have. Any crap tasting experts care to chime in?
Clearly referencing colour - I have no control over where one takes that. Specifically "crap" references MIC.
The belief that MIC instruments are crap is simply incorrect.
I have 2 Peavey basses that were made in China and they are absolutely outstanding instruments. As good as any of my Japanese or Korean basses and guitars, or my USA Gibsons for that matter.
Neck thru body construction, the same pickups and electronics as their USA Cirrus basses, flawless fit and finish, fast low action, I was absolutely blown away by these basses (the Void and Tragic). They only made them for a couple of years. But in all seriousness, they feel like $1000 basses.
My OLP MM is Chinese, and we all know how great those are.
I just got a Dean John Lawhon Hillsboro also MIC, Its a fine bass. Not quite as amazing as the Peaveys but certainly not "crap".
These Chinese factories make the Instruments that the American companies contract them to make, and much of the time they specify cheap components. But when they are allowed to build a quality guitar, much of the time the product is really quite good. I've played many Chinese guitars as good as anything World Music is making in Korea.
I wont even get into how effing good my 70s and 80s Japanese basses are........I have 3 Neck thru body BC Rich Mockingbird basses from the early 80s that I have not had to adjust the neck on in about 15 or 20 yrs.....
Not to mention the stuff coming out of Indonesia these days that is really quite good quality.
Nothing wrong with basses made overseas at all. Maybe we'd still make some here if American workers had any pride in their work and didn't want 50 dollars an hour and 15 breaks a day to turn in mediocre work.
I used to hire for my old job and couldn't find hardly anybody who actually wanted to work for their paycheck instead of goofing off and missing work constantly.
My MIC Squier paranormal is a really good bass. Can't paint MIC with a wide brush, though often MIC and poor quality run along side each other.
Any manufacturer can have a MIC product made in any quality that they choose to spec. China can make any quality, but a few companies decide to make an offshore brand AND want every corner cut. That is not the fault of the craftsman, it's the fault of the originating company.
Very good observation! Same can be said for a lot of the big OEM manufacturers (and even the smaller ones). Take Mirr Music for example, they build Fret King, Reverend, Deusenberg, Ashdown basses, and others. I reviewed the Fret King Esprit I and even though the build quality was top notch, the design and electronics were lacking. Absolutely the fault of Fret King. Having played Reverends and now the Ashdown Low Rider out of the same shop, it's clear that quality design/engineering and quality building both play a part in making a great instrument and lacking in one (design/engineering for fret king) can impact an otherwise quality instrument.
So in short, "blame" should go to the name stamped on the instrument since they are the ones selling it? Makes sense. It's their responsibility to ensure that the product is QA'd to spec, or at least responsible for ensuring the QA is done to a spec in the factory.
Hey everyone! Today we're taking a quick look at my Epiphone Jack Casady Signature in limited edition Silverburst! Enjoy 
My favorite brand has a line made in China. They are a top quality production instrument. It’s too bad they are made in China however as that is the primary economy I choose to minimize support for.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,621
- 222,162
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I have painted China with a broad brush and I probably shouldn't have. And having not included any other countries in my assessment, I have respect for MIJ and MIK products because they are of high quality and in Japans case have been for decades. To extrapolate, China has the capacity to produce good quality products and does. But it also floods the market with low quality products, and a lot of them. These products are produced by essentially slave labor, but I will say no more because we need to stay clear of politics here.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,621
- 222,162
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Yup, basically exactly what I said!
If you think about it, when someone has complaints about an import guitar, 95% of the time it's the hardware.........crappy tuners, cheap scratchy pots, microphonic pickups, cheap pot metal bridge.........but the actual woodwork, neck dimensions, fit and finish, etc is usually damn good even in a $150 guitar! The hardware is simply what the contracting company designates they use. And it's not the factories fault that the company they are building for doesn't want to pay someone to dress the frets!
There are companies putting together neck thru body guitars for 4-500 dollars! That's nuts!
True story.......a few years back I was shopping at GC with my guitar player who really wanted a Gibson Les Paul. We pulled guitar after guitar off of the wall with sloppy fret work, headstock corners that the finish was buffed through, binding with paint all over it, buzzing like crazy.........
I started pulling Epiphone Les Pauls down that basically had none of these issues, perfect binding, nice smooth fret ends, gorgeous finishes available in more colors.
Personally I would buy the Epiphone, hands down, over the Gibsons that they had there.
They were gorgeous and played and sounded fantastically.
Hopefully Gibson has upped their QC game since new ownership has taken over.
crappy fret work is not why I don't give monies to China , as pointed out we can get that right here at home .
It only lets me "like" this once.Yes but their crappy fretwork is so much cheaper than OUR crappy fretwork!!!
