Re: Horror stories from people for whom you built pedals

Posted by Muadzin on Dec 09, 2017; 12:38am
URL: http://guitar-fx-layouts.238.s1.nabble.com/Horror-stories-from-people-for-whom-you-built-pedals-tp40786p40877.html

rocket88 wrote

There's truth in what you mention, but the thing is in reality it's not the same when it comes to a product. For instance, I can get a fender or gibson guitar for $800usd or I can get a cheap knockoff. Inevitably there's a significant difference in quality and care in its construction which is the reason for the price difference. The same can be had for different model lines from the same company like fender American, Mexican, Chinese, and squire.

Well, are American made Fender or Gibsons actually better qualitatively then their Asian and Mexican counterparts? In the case of Gibson the answer is probably a resounding no, as they seem to be churning out overpriced firewood more then actual good guitars, right now Epiphone builds better guitars then Gibson. As for Fender, best Strat I've owned is a made in Korea Lite Ash. And why should non-American guitars be worse? Both companies invested a lot of money and training to bring their Asian subsidiaries up to speed. While the Asian and Mexican factories have lots of room for easy improvement, the same cannot be said for the American factories. And more and more parts of the production process are mechanized, requiring less and less actual hand work. Robots and CNC machines deliver the same quality, whether they are in China, Mexico or the US. So it boils down to is American hand work really that much better then Asian or Mexican handwork? Or are we just paying more because wages in the US are simply higher?

The issue is that everyone is hurting due to the down economy and looking for things cheap. The same can be ahd for anything you buy. I know people that will buy a cheap car like Kia or Hyundai and say look all the stuff I get, it I'll cost me more to get that in say Chevrolet. But then complain that the screens aren't as good or it has to go to the shop 3x in the first 2 months of owning it. The thing is that you get what you pay for.

Yeah, but higher price because its made in the US,  or EU for that matter, does not automatically translate into higher quality. Like I said, robots and CNC machines deliver the same quality regardless of geography, and a well trained Asian worker delivers the same quality as a well trained Western worker. Free trade means we are now ALL competing globally. And the days we could comfortably lean back and say 'yeah, but we make it better then those Chinese' are over. Western workers are not automatically better and we can debate if they are more motivated as well. And people just do not have the extra spendable cash any more to pay extra to support local businesses. Money is tight, that's why I got into DIY in the first place.