Holy crap!

[Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars]

Stieny Doubleneck

$300 Stieny

USA? Kramer

Esp Ec1000:

Kramer Custom

Looks like ESP makes the Kramers.

[westhemann]

i think the ltds and kramers and many others are made at the same plant

[Drak]

Do you prefer the (Florentine) sharp cutaway on those as compared to the normal LP slightly rounded cutaway?

Do you like the pearl binding look?

Those are sweeeeet!

That top one reminds me of rhoads56' GOTM winner finish.

[krazyderek]

so much for "to each their own" lol

[Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars]

ESP/LTD, Schecter, Kramer(?), and I think some of the cheap Ibanez are all made by the same people.

[Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars]

Do you prefer the (Florentine) sharp cutaway on those as compared to the normal LP slightly rounded cutaway?

Do you like the pearl binding look?

Those are sweeeeet!

That top one reminds me of rhoads56' GOTM winner finish.

I prefer the actual LP cutaway. Those also extend out from the body more too. I love the abalone binding!

[bluespresence]

I think we'd all be surprised to find out just how many different brands come out of the same factory made by the same people. Every manufacturing business I ever worked in made "stuff" and put 20 - 30 different labels on it. You find it at the store and some is cheap and some is expensive but they all are the same thing!

It's obviously different for guitars as the wood used and the quality of that wood affects price but I have a feeling many of the same people are assembling the different brands, at least the low end stuff.

[Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars]

Western Family doesnt make one damn thing. Their products are made by Nalley, S&W, and a whole onslaught of companies, if those companies even make their own stuff.

[GEdwardJones]

ESP/LTD, Schecter, Kramer(?), and I think some of the cheap Ibanez are all made by the same people.

<Useless knowledge>

If I recall correctly, Gibson's off brands (Epiphone, Kramer, etc.), LTD, Schecter and Squire (I think) are all made by Samick in Korea.

Cort makes Korean Ibanezes, PRS's, Mighty Mite parts and a bunch of others.

I read somewhere that 50% of all guitars sold in the US are made by one of these two.

ESPs are made in Japan. Ironically, at the height of their success, Kramer used ESP to make bodies and necks.

</Useless knowledge>

[Reaper]

I thought Kramer ended their US-based production years ago....

[Reaper]

ESP/LTD, Schecter, Kramer(?), and I think some of the cheap Ibanez are all made by the same people.

<Useless knowledge>

If I recall correctly, Gibson's off brands (Epiphone, Kramer, etc.), LTD, Schecter and Squire (I think) are all made by Samick in Korea.

Cort makes Korean Ibanezes, PRS's, Mighty Mite parts and a bunch of others.

I read somewhere that 50% of all guitars sold in the US are made by one of these two.

ESPs are made in Japan. Ironically, at the height of their success, Kramer used ESP to make bodies and necks.

</Useless knowledge>

I recently heard that Ibanez went back to the Samick factory...

but you're right. Cort and Samick crank out the vast majority of the Korean-made axes.

[Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars]

I know the schecters are made by ESP.

[JohnnyG]

my Kramer was made in korea. tbh i dont really care lol. it plays so nicelly it doesnt matter to me

[krazyderek]

on a side note,......

has anyone heard of IKEA furnature? they don't actually make their own furniture either, it's made by different factories around canada, i worked in one called "sweedwood" here in novascotia, and they made a couple lines of furniture for ikea.

The funny thing is there's no Ikea store in NS, so the stuff was shipped up to ontario. Then if someone used the mail order in NS to order a peice of furniture, it was shipped right back here to NS. lol... i just found that rather stupid....

[darren wilson]

One of the big Korean factories, either Cort or Samick, was bought by the Korean government and now operates as "World". They manufacture guitars for Ibanez, Yamaha, Jackson, etc. There's no doubt that the ESP/LTD models, some Schecters and the Jackson "USA" models are made in the same factory... i don't know if this is the World facility or not.

The "USA" Kramers are made in Korea. The only American parts on them are likely the pickups, which are made by Gibson (the current owner of the Kramer and Steinberger brands).

I'd love to see a 6/12 Steinberger doubleneck again. The 12-string Steinberger bridge was brilliant.

And Ikea, like just about any other company that deals with manufactured goods, outsources their production to wherever product can be made cheapest to their specifications. A lot of times the companies making product for Ikea don't even make furniture as their primary business. It's a really interesting business model. But Ikea really is in the business of selling a lifestyle and a brand. Their products are secondary, at best.

[GuitarMaestro]

But Ikea really is in the business of selling a lifestyle and a brand. Their products are secondary, at best.

Yes, but you won't find better furiture for that low prices anywhere else. And there are always people simply looking to buy the cheapest stuff in order to save money.

[darren wilson]

Yes, but you won't find better furiture for that low prices anywhere else. And there are always people simply looking to buy the cheapest stuff in order to save money.

Some stuff from Ikea is a good buy. But i've learned from experience that a lot of Ikea furniture isn't built to last they use cheap particle board and even cheaper hardware to put it together.

It doesn't save you much money when you have to keep replacing furniture every few years as it wears out or falls apart.

[westhemann]

speaking of hardware...be careful of those cheap screws available at ace and elsewhere...it doesn't say "useless junk" on the tag but that is what they are.i twisted off 2 in a row on a guitar recently....all that hard work to be undone by cheap screws.only stainless for me from now on.

and i was barely even turning them....by hand...in an already predrilled hole

[soapbarstrat]

" One of the big Korean factories, either Cort or Samick, was bought by the Korean government "

A.K.A prison labor.

Well, it's important that we buy from them, so they can keep working on nukes .

[westhemann]

" One of the big Korean factories, either Cort or Samick, was bought by the Korean government "

A.K.A prison labor.

yeah...that's why i stopped buying those things...plus a few bad axes which were supposed to be quality

[darren wilson]

Well, it's important that we buy from them, so they can keep working on nukes .

Wrong Korea.

[Elton]

Well, it's important that we buy from them, so they can keep working on nukes .

Wrong Korea.

wow dude, u do realize that NORTH KOREA is communist and SOUTH KOREA is democratic right? SOUTH korea is good, we're on your freckin side. think before you talk man

[soapbarstrat]

I was joking.

I think the US has nukes in S Korea.

Although if I think about it, "govenment owned company" is getting close to communism

Or, I could come to some kind of conclusion that S Korea having such booming business pisses north Korea off, thereby causing.....

Ok, back to guitars built for pocket change, so that Americans can't build them anymore ....................

[westhemann]

i assumed north korea because of the government owned company thing...i didn't think s. korea did that sort of thing.this is the wrong section for this sort of thing but i did once read an article backing up the slave labor thing...

btw what a boring world it would be if everyone were pollitically "correct" ALL THE TIME

[Drak]

btw what a boring world it would be if everyone were pollitically "correct" ALL THE TIME

Yes, these times are -awfully- PC.

Where are the anti-war protesters?

Where are the punks?

Where are the college sit-ins and protests?

Where are the streakers? (OK, forget the streakers)

Where is Frank Zappa?

All the anti-PC people have seemingly dissappeared it would seem...