I was recently in Guitar Center because Ive had an itch to play guitar again. Havent played in a long time, but was fairly active when I was younger. Couldnt solo to save my life, but I loved playing Thrash, Speed and Death Metal rhythm guitar. All the guitars and amps are gone except my first. in 96 my Mom and my Uncle bought me a Fender American Standard Stratocaster.
USA made guitars will always be the top shelf of any guitar player's desire. I remember when a Japanese guitar was a good mid-level option. Mexican and Korean made guitars were the norm but still good if you bought a name brand. Chinese made guitars are what you found in the starter packs with the shitty 15w amps, cheap gig bags and cable.
I walked into Guitar Center today and what I saw was sad... 95% of all guitars for new sale were made in China. Light weight, toneless slabs of wood. Frets felt like garbage, terrible hardware. Fender, Jackson, Epiphone, Dean.... all made in China. There were a handful of "nice" guitars, a few Gibson USA's but they were all on the top level and locked to their hanger.
Gone were the stacks of Marshals, Fenders and Mesa amps. Replaced by line 6, Mass produced Marshall models and Fenders of questionable quality. Hell, the Bass players pretty much only had Mark Bass amplifiers to choose from...
Did I miss something? Did the industry take a nosedive into cheep, lookalike versions of the name brands? Is guitar playing not as popular among the youth?
What the hell happened?
USA made guitars will always be the top shelf of any guitar player's desire. I remember when a Japanese guitar was a good mid-level option. Mexican and Korean made guitars were the norm but still good if you bought a name brand. Chinese made guitars are what you found in the starter packs with the shitty 15w amps, cheap gig bags and cable.
I walked into Guitar Center today and what I saw was sad... 95% of all guitars for new sale were made in China. Light weight, toneless slabs of wood. Frets felt like garbage, terrible hardware. Fender, Jackson, Epiphone, Dean.... all made in China. There were a handful of "nice" guitars, a few Gibson USA's but they were all on the top level and locked to their hanger.
Gone were the stacks of Marshals, Fenders and Mesa amps. Replaced by line 6, Mass produced Marshall models and Fenders of questionable quality. Hell, the Bass players pretty much only had Mark Bass amplifiers to choose from...
Did I miss something? Did the industry take a nosedive into cheep, lookalike versions of the name brands? Is guitar playing not as popular among the youth?
What the hell happened?