MexiStrat in the top photo, American-made Gibson SG Special Faded in the bottom photo
Like all American-made companies, a large number of guitar manufacturers have moved production overseas. For example, Gibson manufactures the Epiphone brand in China and Fender manufactures the Squier brand in China as well as some Fender branded products. Fender also has a plant in Ensenada, Mexico where they build a lower-end Stratocaster just about a three-hour drive from the American plant in Corona, California. (I play a MexiStrat.)
When my son started playing and I got back into playing guitar we were looking at entry-level guitars. Buying American for a beginner guitar is out of the question in today’s world; however, on the flip side the quality of these foreign made guitars is hit and miss. My son’s first guitar was a $99 Epiphone Les Paul Jr. and it was a bear for my son to play. Without getting technical for the non-guitar players out there, let’s just say that playing guitar on some of these cheap imported guitars is like trying to compose an email without using the letter "E": It can be done, and people will figure out what you wrote, but it won’t be pretty.
After my son stuck with guitar for a year, his mom and I had scraped up enough money to get him a better quality instrument. A used Epiphone Les Paul Standard, still made in China, and at $450 it is probably a little out of the price range for someone just picking up a guitar. The craftsmanship of this guitar is in another world compared to his first guitar. He started picking up songs much quicker and everything sounded much smoother. The downside of this guitar was that some of the electronics and hardware were sub-par (The questionable parts have since been replaced, after multiple failures, with American-made parts.)
More about American-made guitars below the fold.
This year, two years later, my son wanted to buy his own guitar. He took the money he had earned mowing lawns over the summer as well as money given to him for birthdays and Christmas and went guitar shopping (me and his mom have now been to every single guitar store in our area). Out of all the brands he tried out he realized that the ones that were made in America were of a higher quality, had better hardware, better electronics, and just played better. The problem—every single American made guitar was well over $1,200. Just a bit more than a teenager can earn mowing lawns over two summers.
We searched for another month for an American made guitar. Finally at a local used guitar shop in town, and just before he was going to settle for a beautiful (I mean that—it was Ash with a clear coat finish, it was gorgeous) Fender MexiStrat, he spied a red Gibson SG hanging on the wall. It still had the plastic on the pickguard. The salesman pulled it down from the wall. My son plugged it in and started playing “Dust in the Wind.” It sounded beautiful. While he was playing I looked at the tag. It was in his price range, and would leave him enough to pick up a new practice amp. For $650, my son was able to purchase an American-made 2011 Gibson SG Special Faded. One of the nicest guitars I have ever played and this guitar has taken my son's playing to new heights—as he said a month after getting the guitar, "This has the fastest neck I have ever played."
American made Gibson SG Special Faded on the left, Mexican made Fender Stratocaster (MexiStrat) on the right.
There are guitars that are still made in America (some companies listed below also manufacture in China), see the
list below (this is not an all inclusive list as there are many custom shops and luthiers around the country) the problem is that no one, that I am aware of, is making a quality guitar in a price range for beginners in the United States:
- Carvin Guitars (San Diego, CA)
- Collings Guitars (Austin, TX)
- Fender Musical Instruments (Corona, CA with lower end guitars manufactured in Ensenada, Mexico)
- G&L Guitars (Fullerton, CA)
- Gadow Guitars (Durham, NC)
- Gibson (Nashville, TN): electric guitars made in Nashville and Memphis, TN; acoustic guitars made in Bozeman, MT. ("Songmaker" series are made in Canada.)
- Heritage Guitar Inc. (Kalamazoo, MI): beautiful guitars made by many of the craftsmen that made Gibson guitars.
- C.F. Martin & Co. (Nazareth, PA)
- Rickenbacker Guitars (Santa Ana, CA)
- Rose Instruments (Neenah, WI)
- Taylor Guitars (El Cajon, CA (Note: in addition to the main factory in El Cajon, some Taylor guitars are now made in Mexico at the company's facility in Tecate, Mexico)
- Weber Fine Acoustic Instruments (Logan, MT)
- Kurt Wilson Guitars: electric guitars handcrafted in Illinois from beautiful hardwoods.
- Jon Kammerer Guitars (Keokuk, IA)
There is also the argument that you should buy used for beginners. The problem is that American-made instruments are just about as pricy used as they are new. Then they hit a certain age and become vintage, which causes the price to go up even more, leaving the beginner or casual guitar player with little or no choice but to purchase a Chinese import, that below a certain price point, will be more difficult to play (granted you could purchase a nice four string cigar box guitar for around $400; however, that is not a guitar you would want to start with as a beginner).
American manufacturers, not just manufacturers of musical insturments, need to step up their game and start making quality products here at home. Not only make these products here but also pay their employees enough so that if they wanted to—they could purchase the product they are making.