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Your thoughts on Korean Basses

#21
having had several Skyline Laklands I can say the Korean plants are CAPABLE of very high quality instruments...BUT like NEV375 says, the quality coming out of any one plant can vary DRAMATICALLY based upon the specs of the parent company.

play it and see if you like it....if you do, buy it!

Don't let a country of origin make you concerned...
 
#22
I have owned two Indonesian basses and the quality was again fantastic. top notch really
and I have seen American made basses that were below par.
it doesn`t matter much anymore.
 
#25
Metaldood. .....I got my TUNE 6 on Ebay for about $475.00 shipped. Korean TUNEs tend to run pretty cheap. I think this is mainly because of the perception that they are cheaply made. This view is spread by the original Japanese company for reasons of their own. While TUNE Japan makes some of the most awesome basses in the world, the Korean basses are an excellent value. I've never seen a left handed one though.
 
#26
I have two Korean basses, a Squier Protone V and my Line 6 Variax 5 string. The Squier, made for Fender by Cort, is incredible. The Mighty Mite pickups are nothing special and the pickguard could use another ply, but the body, and neck are as good as any Fender I've ever had.

The Line 6 is a mid level Korean bass with Line 6 electronics. The tuners are not that good, it had horrible fret sprout when I got it, but once I dressed the frets, it's a very, very good instrument, The neck has been very consistent and it holds tuning well. I love it. It's my favorite bass since I started playing in 1969.

Some very fine guitars and basses have come out of Korea.
 
#27
I did see a list from what was considered worst to best
on bass builds earlier in this thread. Have to say one
post had European and Japanese made bass guitar
builds ranging above American made. While I am sure
this can be the case I have run into some present day
American builds that put to shame any I have seen
over the ponds ...

just my 2 cents...
 
#29
Nev375 said:
The same factory can produce many degrees of quality.
Click to expand...

All these -- and virtually every other Korean guitar or bass, irrespective of notional "brand" -- are coming from Cor-Tek.

If it's Korean and from the past ten or eleven years, it's a sucker bet that Cor-Tek made it.

Many/most of these instruments are also designed by Cor-Tek, not the contractor.

Cor-Tek's production routines are fairly fixed across all price points, though the detailing, materials grading and hardware vary.

Cor-Tek's quality has greatly improved over the past ten years, and the output from their Indonesian plant is generally excellent as well.
 
#30
I paid $60 on eBay for a Korean Squier PBass a couple of years ago. It was actually a pretty decent bass. Don't really know why I got rid of it. I guess I just moved on to higher end gear.
 
#36
While it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Asian made basses can be pretty good, I still try to by domestically made products wherever possible. I'd never buy a car actually built in another country. Were fast becoming a nation of $8.00 an hour service providers, and we need high paying production jobs here.
 
#37
zortation said:
It's pronounced Kolean..
Click to expand...

Nice cultural stereotyping, eh? :rollno:

4StringsEnough said:
+ IMO the hierarchy (again generalising) is, from 'least good' to best (and this will upset the Americans among you...):

Note that I have prefaced everything here with IMO: in my opinion/experience. I have mine, you have yours. We don't need to agree! :-p
Click to expand...

..and we don't... :D My Indonesian and Korean Laklands were head and shoulders above my US Fender, but my US Carvins are way above those Skylines and a Sadowsky Metro I once had. My Euro Spector was somewhere in the middle, along with a Japanese bass I had. My Mexican Strat is still going strong after 20 years. But none of that is because of where it was built, but rather how it was built and to whose construction tolerances.

Marktime said:
I did see a list from what was considered worst to best
on bass builds earlier in this thread.
Click to expand...

That list is one person's 100% subjective opinion. It's no more accurate than ranking bass quality by color. As others have said, all countries are capable of putting out good and bad basses. There's always that modifier of 'for the money'. I have had $1,000 basses that felt like $300 basses, and $300 basses felt like $1,000 basses.
 
#38
Aceonbass said:
While it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Asian made basses can be pretty good, I still try to by domestically made products wherever possible. I'd never buy a car actually built in another country. Were fast becoming a nation of $8.00 an hour service providers, and we need high paying production jobs here.
Click to expand...

Auto industry doesn't work at all like guitar making, especially in North America. Parts for a Japanese car come from Mexico, engines come from the US and then the car is assembled in Canada. The idea of a car being 100% US built is just a fantasy.
 

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