“The country a guitar is made in does not matter much”: Paul Reed Smith thinks people should stop obsessing about guitars being made in America
In guitar making, a great deal of emphasis is placed on the location in which instruments are made. Guitars made in the US tend to command higher prices than those made in Japan, Indonesia or South Korea, for example. But is there really as much of a difference as we think?
Guitar gear aficionados have debated this for years, and now, Paul Reed Smith – one of the world’s top guitar makers and head honcho at PRS – has given fuel to the side that believes no, it doesn’t really matter where a guitar is made.
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In a column in the new issue of Premier Guitar, Paul Reed Smith explains: “I’ve always believed that it’s not about the country that an instrument is made in. It’s always been about the skill level of the guitar makers.
“When we first started travelling to overseas guitar manufacturing facilities, we found that almost all their training over the decades had been to go fast, while our teaching about how to make instruments was about how to go well.
“Once they knew how to go well, they didn’t know how to slow down. And the guitars they produce are of the same calibre as what we make here.”
He adds: “What I’ve been deeply concerned about is that we teach our overseas partners how we want instruments to be, using our techniques. So, as a definitive statement, the country a guitar is made in does not matter much. The skill and care of the instrument makers does matter.”
He explains that his position was cemented when he was asked by Carlos Santana to produce a more affordable PRS model for his students who wanted the same guitar as him.
“I said, ‘Sure, I’ll get you a prototype for your approval.’ When we brought him the prototype, he was impressed, and his comment was, ‘This was made in America, right?’ And I said, ‘No. This was made overseas.’ The contract for his approval was on the table, and he leaned over and signed it as fast as he could.”
Offering advice to guitar buyers, he concludes: “If you’re looking for an instrument, you should evaluate it the same way, regardless of country of manufacture: How does it look, how does it feel in your hands, how does it sound acoustically, how does it sound electrically, and most important, will it do the job you want it to do?
“A guitar is a tool to make music and should be evaluated as such no matter its country of origin. Very often, a country will have a reputation for being better at making some kinds of products than others, but that changes over time.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
