New Scams For
The New Century
Many respected
companies are hiding the fact that their products are not
made in USA.
Many respected companies are employing huge
cost-cutting methods
I have noticed in the last
several years that many of the companies I have trusted and
promoted over the past 35 years are now all starting to
slowly slip quality wise. I'm not talking about the
old guard, like Gibson. Most informed experienced people
already will agree that Gibson went down the toilet 25 years
ago and their pricing is far higher than it should be.
Many people still assume that Gibson guitars are all still
made in the USA. The
guitar magazines have never exposed them probably
because they don't want to lose a major advertising account.
You cannot trust most guitar magazines today. Their
Editorial departments should be
called Advertorial
departments. It's getting so bad
nowadays that I don't even like to read the magazines.
PRS was one such company that changed their original
superior designs back in the 90's, They still build a well
made high quality instrument. But nowadays they build them
on CNC Machines for
less and sell them for
more than they ever did.
They are charging
handmade prices for machine made guitars.
They use imported parts and actually import low end guitars
into the USA under their brand name. This has really
destroyed the value of the original PRS guitars. I
myself had a huge brand
loyalty to PRS for 15 years!
I started in this business in the 70's and
like it or not the quality companies of that era are all
doing imported guitars today. My theory is in every
case the original owner has either died or sold out the
company to a bunch of corporate suits.
Good companies back then like Alembic, Dean,
PRS, BC Rich & even Hamer are no longer building what they
used to. In fact they are turning into
corporate giants
themselves. Be Careful Of
Misdirected Brand Loyalty
In fact I have noticed
that some companies that still offer high end instruments
over $5,000.00 are not printing their prices anywhere. My
theory is that if the customers become aware there are more
expensive models they will realize that the standard priced
instruments for sale in most music stores are all imported
lower cost merchandise. BC Rich for example no longer
prints the pricing on their expensive guitars.
This can horribly
affect the unsuspecting consumer by causing them to not be
aware of the real high end models. Naturally
they would assume that the most expensive models on the
price list were the top of the line. When in fact they are
definitely not.
BE VERY CAREFUL
There are several spinoff companies from some
of the larger companies actually printing Made In USA on
their instruments even though they are just either assembled
or inspected in the USA.
I have actually been threatened by several of them if I
printed the details.
From The
SAD BUT TRUE Files
Every single day I take at
least several phone calls that go like this.
Usually It involves ESP, Jackson, Schecter, BC Rich, Hamer,
Dean etc etc
"Hi I'm Joey Flanagan from Jizzburp Kentucky,
I have a BC Rich Warlock that needs some work."
He will then launch
into his list of problems, "The frets are
uncomfortable they hurt my fingers, they stick out, I want
the finish removed from the back of the neck, the stock
Dimarzio pickups aren't cutting it, I want Seymour's or
EMG's!! I would also like you
to add your direct coupling kit and do a complete set up and
fix my tuning cuz it doesn't stay in tune very well. I
probably need you to replace the Floyd Rose because I don't
think mine works right."
Then he will stop!
Without even asking me he will actually expect me to give
him a concrete price to fix all the problems his guitar has.
The first thing I tell
him is " I need to see the guitar to give him a proper
estimate"
Whereupon he will then
ask for a ballpark price.
I reply.
"Usually it's anywhere from $650.00 to $775.00" I tell
him.
Then he drops the bomb
on me !!!! Shit, I only paid
$250.00 for the whole guitar on eBay !!!
I then try to explain to him that he doesn't have a BC Rich
at all, In fact he has a cheap imported guitar made by tsaka
kaka gen gakki in Asia someplace. He then proceeds to tell
me I'm full of shit because it says "BC Rich" right on the
headstock.
These people have absolutely no idea what they own, they
truly think because some company imports something in and/or
licenses out their name that the Guitar is of comparable
quality to the original.
Dream On !!!!!!!!!!!
Buy something decent to start
with and you won't have problems like above.
Buy something quality that will hold up well.
You won't be shopping for
another new guitar every year.
Never Compromise, Don't accept a guitar with the wrong
bridge, make sure the knobs are placed where you want them
to be.
Don't settle for a Maple fingerboard when you want an Ebony
one.
Don't accept a set neck when you want a neck thru body
guitar
You
will be happier In the end,
No
one was ever sorry they bought something good
Ed Roman