Ok so heres a question. south korea guitars vs japan. Opinions?

[gunch]

A good setup probably means more than the country of origin.

Plaque this too

 

[Flappydoodle]

I'd choose Japan every single time if the budget isn't in consideration.

It's not that Korean, Indonesian, or even Chinese, people are inherently unable to make a great quality guitar. But when a company outsources their production to those places with low wages, they're doing it to save money and keep their margins while selling a cheaper product. QC, and sending things backwards in the production line adds a lot of cost to the process. By the very nature of producing a product on a budget, the quality is going to suffer because you simply can't dedicate the time to making things perfect.

Same goes for work in the same factory. Look at E-II vs ESP original. All my E-II guitar have some sort of minor flaws. Binding that isn't perfectly straight. Fretboard dye that spilled over a bit. But my ESP originals, made in the same room, are perfect. It's because they spend more time on those guitars, and they charge 2x the price for them.

 

[Dumple Stilzkin]

I’ve owned 2 Jackson professional series guitars (neck thru bound ebony FB with shark fins the early holy grail pro series) and currently have an ESP Horizon 1. The quality of all three of them are on par with the best USA makers. My two Korean LTD are very nice, but just not quite as good as my ESP or USA made PRS. My Indonesian PRS is every bit as good and solid as my Korean built. So obviously QC has an awful lot to do with it. People hating on Indonesian should know that off the shelf they CAN be every bit as good as a Korean. If I were to hand you my Indo PRS, and then one of the Korean LTD’s you couldn’t tell you which country of origin blind folded.

 

[/wrists]

I'd choose Japan every single time if the budget isn't in consideration.

It's not that Korean, Indonesian, or even Chinese, people are inherently unable to make a great quality guitar. But when a company outsources their production to those places with low wages, they're doing it to save money and keep their margins while selling a cheaper product. QC, and sending things backwards in the production line adds a lot of cost to the process. By the very nature of producing a product on a budget, the quality is going to suffer because you simply can't dedicate the time to making things perfect.

Same goes for work in the same factory. Look at E-II vs ESP original. All my E-II guitar have some sort of minor flaws. Binding that isn't perfectly straight. Fretboard dye that spilled over a bit. But my ESP originals, made in the same room, are perfect. It's because they spend more time on those guitars, and they charge 2x the price for them.

i can imagine the esp QA going "man you ruined this guitar, we cant sell this" and then the cc worker going ah it's Eii is ok

 

[StevenC]

But my ESP originals, made in the same room

Do you have a source on this, because I don't think this is necessarily true.

 

[mpexus]

Some months ago I bought a used Korean Made PRS SE Custom. Being honest... I cant fault it in any way. Outstanding fretwork that allows me super low action. No Finish flaw's anywhere and it feels Solid as my MIJ Ibanez from the early 90s.

 

[aesthyrian]

I dunno, but all I own are MIJ Ibanez's that are all 20+ years old, most with the original hardware and frets and they are just fantastic. Tight tolerances in the fit and finish, and clearly they have stood the test of time. The woods used must have been properly dried and selected since the necks are still straight, all single piece necks with scarf joints. The edge trems still hold tune and return to pitch. I even bought them all second hand, so they were already used/abused.

I think that track record can't be overlooked. MII and MIK guitars may still need another decade of consistent quality for us to truly compare. But once again, wtf do I know, all I know is MIJ and I'm happy with that.

 

[Emperoff]

I'm not acquainted with new korean guitars, but my experience with them as always been very positive (although not as good as japanese guitars). I went from Schecter (korea) to jackson (Japan) and the difference in fit and finish was more than enough for me.

I know this is a gross oversimplification, but in my experience this motto applies in most cases. YMMV
USA -> Japan -> Korea -> Indonesia -> China

Their pricetags usually also match.

 

[Matt08642]

The only South Korean guitar I own is a PRS SE and I love that thing. Easily stands with my Japanese RGs overall, and I think probably has the best factory fretwork (assuming the previous owner didn't have work done) on any guitar I own. Keep in mind this is from 2010ish, so the quality might have changed in the 12 years since it was made. It also has a Floyd, so I got to skip over the common MII/MIK complaints like poorly cut nuts and bad tuners.

 

[budda]

Wondering how many people here have played some Eastmans?

 

[Flappydoodle]

i can imagine the esp QA going "man you ruined this guitar, we cant sell this" and then the cc worker going ah it's Eii is ok

Well, perhaps not "ruined". E-II are still great quality guitars, but if you look closely you will find mistakes. Nothing I've seen is unfixable, but again it's down to the time investment they're willing to spend. Two of my E-II guitars have the black dye from the fretboard spilled over into the binding. One of them has slightly uneven scraping so the paint overlaps the binding a bit. Both fixable, but would require extra time to fix.

They absolutely DO have guitars that "fail" the ESP Original quality which then get labelled and sold as E-II. I can confirm that with almost 100% certainty because my friend is an ESP artist with a signature guitar and he told me this.

And FWIW, it works the other way too. Some artists supposedly playing E-II or LTD live are actually playing custom shop-built guitars with the E-II or LTD sticker.

Do you have a source on this, because I don't think this is necessarily true.

My friend is a Japanese ESP artist with a signature model. He's visited the factory lots of times and knows the managers etc. There is some shadiness over whether all of the E-II guitars are made in *exactly* the same location (there's another location a very short distance away which is also used), but at least some of the E-II models, including his signature E-II, definitely are made in the same room by the same people.

End of the day, most of this is business 101. Loads of industries work on this same principle. Hell, how many products ship where the actual hardware is identical but the premium features are simply software locked. There's zero extra production cost, but it's simply a matter of you being willing to pay for feature X or not.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Do you have a source on this, because I don't think this is necessarily true.

ESP has done a considerable amount of consolidation of it's Japanese manufacturing operations. At one point they had like five or six facilities, and I believe they're down to like two now.

 

[jaxadam]

I dunno, but all I own are MIJ Ibanez's that are all 20+ years old, most with the original hardware and frets and they are just fantastic. Tight tolerances in the fit and finish, and clearly they have stood the test of time.

This

 

[pahulkster]

I specifically ordered a Korean Black Metal Eclipse and a few things were a bit of a mess. Not what I expected at all at that level. I hate shipping things and can do the fixes myself so I kept it. A Japanese guitar or anything more expensive would have went back.

I have an older Korean made MH-400 that is incredible so like most things it just varies piece to piece.

 

[NoodleFace]

In my experience, every Japanese guitar I've received has been virtually flawless across a few brands. Ive never seen even the smallest of issues. I've had several Korean guitars and they've all had very minor cosmetic issues whether it be a finish imperfection or what have you. Indonesia I'll never buy from again, based on what experience I have.

Of course not every guitar that comes out of these places will mirror my results, but from what I've seen that's what I'm going with.

There was a time when Korean guitars sucked though, so they've made great strides there.

 

[seekfreed]

I personally prefer them North Korean guitars

 

[Riverview]

I got a high end bass made in China but QC'd in Canada ( sub $3000 ) dorecr from factory , never played that had minor issues that $400 Squiers didn't have .

After that , I don't really care too much anymore . There are extremely , extremely well done instruments being produced in Korea and Indonesia . I feel like it comes down to what day it was made on , and how much luck you have .

I will say I usually have higher expectations for USA made instruments , but that's due to the increased cost . Nothing to do with who makes it .

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Try an Eastman and you'll never be weird about country of origin again.

They easily compete with stuff in the $5k to $8k range in pretty much every category.

The day they start making Strats/Teles and metal guitars they'll rule the planet...or at least this website.

 

[neurosis]

I specifically ordered a Korean Black Metal Eclipse and a few things were a bit of a mess. Not what I expected at all at that level. I hate shipping things and can do the fixes myself so I kept it. A Japanese guitar or anything more expensive would have went back.

I have an older Korean made MH-400 that is incredible so like most things it just varies piece to piece.

Going only by my Horizon EII I would agree with some of your prior statements. It has a little spill over in the finish over the binding at the neck heel, one side dot is off and it was definitely oversprayed on the back. But I got it second hand and at a really good price this thing is a monster guitar so I live with it.

My Standard Eclipse and SV are older and have both yellowed over time. They are no longer Snow White. Fit and finish on those two is however impeccable. So while EII are not like LTDs I think there's definitely a little variation in QC compared to the older Standard series.