Purchasing From China Suppliers

[curtisa]

Heya,

Anyone had any experience purchasing supplies from Hong Kong/China Ebay stores?

I wanted to get a few builds-worth of bits at once, and it seems silly to pay full price from the big name suppliers for the minor stuff, especially from down here in Oz. It occurs to me that for some of the more basic supplies for guitar building (neck screws, neck ferrules, strap buttons, string-thru ferrules, knobs etc) it would sensible to take advantage of some of the really cheap prices on some of these stores, and save the big bucks for the more critical parts (tuners, fretwire, bridges, nuts, pickups etc).

I'm also curious about some of these Allparts-style trussrods from the same kind of stores - anyone have any experience with using these Chinese-made trussrods, or have a recommendation for a supplier?

Cheers.

Edited April 29, 2012 by curtisa

[westhemann]

I have bought many supplies from other countries,China being one of them,and China is always suspect in quality.From screws that don't quite fit the screw driver so they strip out or so weak they snap off in alder under very little pressure to switches and potentiometers that just don't work right out of the package or make scratching noises when they do work,it just isn't worth it to save a few bucks.

Quality goes up some when the Chinese supplier ships to a place with a more rigorous inspection and quality control like GFS or Epiphone,but China seems to have zero intrinsic pride in product quality.

I know it is tough to generalize about an entire country,but since America is just up to our ears in Chinese merchandise it really has become obvious to those of us that pay attention that the low price for Chinese merchandise is still a rip off in a lot of cases.

Korea and Vietnam have greatly improved in quality merchandise lately,and their prices are pretty good.But custom guitars are no place to skimp on quality.If you want that you ca just choose from the many $100 guitars on Musician's Friend

[brian d]

I've generally had good experience getting some of the smaller parts from China and Hong Kong to Oz, and one huge PITA which is currently a PayPal claim. It's a bit of a gamble, but I'm sure that some Chinese e-bay stores are good and others are not. I've had nice products from a store called "skull_music". The cost of some items with brand names here in Australia is ludicrous, and I'm sure a lot of them are made in China anyway.

Haven't tried the rods you've posted...I just ordered another 6 of these korean truss rods via Canada, but I'd be interested to hear how those are if you end up getting them.

[Workingman]

I ordered an under-saddle transducer once. It took a while to get here but the quality was good and the price was very cheap. When it didn't arrive in the time frame they said I e-mailed them and got good support.

[pauliemc]

To be honest. you should shop for mid priced componants as your low grade parts. The cheaper you go the more you sacrifice in materials & workmanship quality. Unless you are making a batch of about 100 low budget-entry level guitars for a distributer or for a few stores, stay away from realy cheap parts.

Screws can be gotten by the box of 100-500 in an engineering or tool suppliers. They wont be cheap crappy screws either, & will cost next to nothing for the quantity.

A local fabricator could make a batch of truss rods for you at reanonable prices.

Or just buy lenghts of stainless rod & make them yourself. Single action rods end up costing me about €4.00 to make. Double action about €6.00. But I make them in batches of 50-60.

As to ferrules, those are a direct link from the string to the timber. So they can have an effect on tone. If you put in crap grade cast zinc as oppsed to milled aliminium or brass to save $6.00 or less for a build - your priorities are a little out of whack.

Strap buttons & vol knobs, OK. buy cheap if you must. But even these only save $5.00 or so on a build. I see no point.

If you want to save money then buy in bulk. & buy medium to high quality parts. Or even make them yourself if you can.

Buy your timber an large boards - unfinished. for bodies, tops, fret boards. Same goes for fret wire.

Get your horn, bone, hoof from a slaughter house & shell from the beach or a seafood farm (oyster, clam, abalone farm)

But realy. Saving are only realy viable over a number of builds, Say 20 or more.

& ask yourself. If you commosioned a custom guitar & the builder used budget grade parts instead of the very best your budget allowed, would you be happy ? Would you ever send a friend to that builder ?

I know its a rant. But seriously man. For a saving of maby $50.00 its just not worth all the hassle

[Tim37]

Im gonna agree ya wont save enough to make a huge diffence if you building one off customs or just building for yourself. if you are building large quanities then i would talk to some of the suppliers you could get a decent discount on good stuff buying in bulk.

i have got a few things out of china from ebay make sure to use paypal that way if there is a problem theres also a chance of getting a refund. i dont like to buy from other countries just because i know how much of a pita international shipping can be.

[curtisa]

Thanks for all the input.

Screws can be gotten by the box of 100-500 in an engineering or tool suppliers. They wont be cheap crappy screws either, & will cost next to nothing for the quantity.

A local fabricator could make a batch of truss rods for you at reanonable prices.

Or just buy lenghts of stainless rod & make them yourself. Single action rods end up costing me about €4.00 to make. Double action about €6.00. But I make them in batches of 50-60.

As to ferrules, those are a direct link from the string to the timber. So they can have an effect on tone. If you put in crap grade cast zinc as oppsed to milled aliminium or brass to save $6.00 or less for a build - your priorities are a little out of whack.

Strap buttons & vol knobs, OK. buy cheap if you must. But even these only save $5.00 or so on a build. I see no point.

I understand completely, and recently I have paid a visit to the specialist nuts 'n bolts supplier just to get a handfull of screws suitable for a trussrod cover rather than go through one of the big name suppliers, but even the specialist store couldn't give me black screws and I had to settle for stainless steel. To get black versions I'd have to go through something like Stewmac and pay the higher price and the ludicrous shipping. In this case, as a hobbyist builder the cost vs quality difference in a dozen non-critical components doesn't hold compared to some of the Chinese suppliers, which in all likelihood are probably the same people that feeds Allparts, Stewmac and others. The threaded blocks on my last Allparts trussrod from the Australian reseller was welded lop-sided to the flat bar section - even the supposed standard brands can be hit and miss.

i have got a few things out of china from ebay make sure to use paypal that way if there is a problem theres also a chance of getting a refund. i dont like to buy from other countries just because i know how much of a pita international shipping can be

The unfortunate thing for me is that I simply have no other choice. If I want a Hipshot bridge it's international ordering or nothing. Switchcraft jacks, CTS pots, Graphtech nut blanks and the like can be bought within Australia, but at a premium price plus whatever shipping the vendor deems suitable (usually more than the cost of the parts for a one-off). Shelling out larger amounts of cash on bulk-discount quantities of the better brands for one or two builds per year doesn't make economic sense in my case, hence my query regarding the quality and service of ebay suppliers of less-critical parts.

ask yourself. If you commosioned a custom guitar & the builder used budget grade parts instead of the very best your budget allowed, would you be happy ? Would you ever send a friend to that builder ? I know its a rant. But seriously man. For a saving of maby $50.00 its just not worth all the hassle

If I were undertaking a commissioned build I would be using the best quality parts the client's budget would stretch to. At this stage I am still building for me. I can justify $100 for a set of locking Grover tuners, but I can't see a reason to pay $5 plus $10 shipping for 8 black pickup screws.

Bah! Grumpy Monday-itis mode off

Haven't tried the rods you've posted...I just ordered another 6 of these korean truss rods via Canada, but I'd be interested to hear how those are if you end up getting them

I did see that store when I was browsing last night. You've been happy with those ones?

[demonx]

Nearly everything I've bought from ebay/china I end out regretting. It's simply not worth stooging a few dollars when it ends out reducing the quality of your end product. Just my 2c.

[guitar2005]

There's one eBay China guy that has decent pickguards. ALL pickguards come from China anyways. I bought a few and they worked out fine.

[brian d]

If I were undertaking a commissioned build I would be using the best quality parts the client's budget would stretch to. At this stage I am still building for me. I can justify $100 for a set of locking Grover tuners, but I can't see a reason to pay $5 plus $10 shipping for 8 black pickup screws.

I'm totally with you on that.

I did see that store when I was browsing last night. You've been happy with those ones?

I've installed a few of them, but the builds aren't finished yet. The welding was smoother than the LMI rods I have used previously (I had to file/sand the welding on those to get them to fit the channel), and the action was smooth. They seem to good rods, but time will tell. I was told that the width was 1/4", but measuring them, they are actually 6mm. Lucky I did a test channel with the 1/4" bit and tried the rod in before ripping into the lovingly constructed neck blank.

[KeithHowell]

I am very suspicious of Chinese supplied parts for anything. If I can't see it, feel it and test it before buying I pass. Our part of the world (South Africa) is also flooded with cheap Chinese knock offs.

A colleague of mines company was commissioned to install some Chinese built Variable Frequency Drives in a production plant. He spent many hours fiddling with the electronics to get them up to spec and then many more hours with the horrible documentation to get them to run properly all of which the client ended up paying for.

The next set of drives they bought they went for a more expensive British built model and he had them up and running with no problems. The end result was the full cost of the British drives came to less than the cost of the Chinese stuff!

Keith

[MarkHenry]

As per my opinion it will be ok to purchase the goods from the china supplpiers.

[Tim37]

specialist store couldn't give me black screws and I had to settle for stainless steel. To get black versions I'd have to go through something like Stewmac

well if you wanted to you could just blue the stainless steel parts.

http://www.shootersolutions.com/ssgunblue.html

a cool advantage to that would be if you marred up the finish during assymbley just dab some solution on with a q-tip and your back in buisness

it sounds like you have your heart set on this and i guess thats ok if thats what you want or feel you need but beware of things like a trus rod thats a hard to replace item if it goes south.

Edited May 3, 2012 by Tim37

[curtisa]

well if you wanted to you could just blue the stainless steel parts.

http://www.shooterso.../ssgunblue.html

Interesting idea. Has anyone tried this on small items? The quick scout around Google suggests that it's meant to be rubbed out otherwise it turns a burnt red colour rather than blue-black.

it sounds like you have your heart set on this and i guess thats ok if thats what you want or feel you need but beware of things like a trus rod thats a hard to replace item if it goes south.

Not at all, merely finding out others' opinions on cheaper suppliers, and lamenting the prices I have to pay for the same things my American/European colleagues are able to purchase for their builds.

Edited May 3, 2012 by curtisa

[The_Patriot]

everything I have ordered from Tom Top has been exactly what they claimed it would be

http://www.ebay.com/sch/tomtop_deals/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

I got pickguard blank from suntekstore.com that was excellent quality.