Guitar Nation of Origin

I think it's simply because the biggest names in the guitar world-Fender, Gibson, Martin, Taylor-are all based in US. The top models by these brands are made in the US while the "lower level" instruments are outsourced to foreign countries.

Living in the US myself I am unaware of many foreign brands except for VOX which is England based. I'm not even entirely sure Vox still makes guitars. Other than that, I can't even name a European brand. Maybe someone else could enlighten me.

You can find luthiers all over the world. Whether or not they turn into larger luthiers that people are familiar with obviously varies.

Tanglewood, I believe, is made in England. Very good guitars. And Lowden (and now their Avalon counterparts - again I believe) are made in Ireland.

Peace

I think I said previously. I would never buy a "Made in America" Spanish guitar. :wink:

I like very much the German brand Lakewood. But they are not sold here... yet.

I wonder, perhaps, if the fact that most of the wood used for guitars is grown in North America-Spruce, Mahogany, Koa, etc. are all North American woods. I guess that wouldn't make much sense because we do outsource guitar production and would have to export the wood to be used over there. Eh...

Just my opinion on the issue, not based on any exhaustive study. It is also not meant to be a rant on how great the U.S. is, just my observations...

Much of the popular music of the last 75 years had it start in the U.S. Styles such as country, blues, jazz, rock and roll, etc. They sort of grew out of each other and developed their own directions. English acts were also very important from the 60s on, but for the most part, they built on, added to, and developed new music based on the American music they loved (i.e., blues or early rock and roll).

Since the U.S. was the birthplace of these styles of music, obviously the first artists in these styles were American. And, those artists used guitars available in America, namely American made guitars. Artists who came later wanted to sound like their favorite preceeding artists, so they also used these American guitars. Add to it, that post WW2 America was lucky to have a good manufacturing base with skilled laborers with no damage to its manufacturing base due to the war. These factors allowed a company like Fender to be born, as well as allow more established & older companies like Gibson to continue building good quality instruments and do development to create innovations.

So, mostly American made guitars were making popular music until at least the 80s. But, American manufacturers got expensive and let quality slip. Manufacturers in Asia have caught up and in a lot of cases, passed American guitars. They make some really nice, affordable guitars. I think Sammick is by far the biggest guitar manufacturer in the world, and it is in Asia. And, U.S. manufacturers send much of their work to Asia or Mexico, first to keep costs down, but now also because these factories are producing very good work.

American guitar maker dominence is slipping. BUT, they still are the ones who can claim the HISTORY, which leads to the perception that they are the "best." For example, when you think about the Beatles guitars, what comes to mind? Epiphone and Rickenbacker. Jimmy Page's guitar of choice? Gibson Les Paul. Chuck Berry & BB King? Gibson. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Strat. And on and on and on...

Even today's artists primarily use name brand American guitars, with the big exception of shred or metal guitarists, many who like some of the Asian models from Ibanez, etc.

Tanglewood, I believe, is made in England. Very good guitars. Peace

Good guitars, yes; made in England? Nope. At least not their lower end models; my TW-115ST is definitely made in China.

I think CFB hit the nail right on the head. The heritage those companies can exploit is powerful stuff.
As far, as being 'the best'...people can (and do!) argue about that all day.
I'll have my 5th guitar shortly and none will have been made in USA. My Godin LG was assembled in New Hampshire; that's the closest I get!
:)

Totally can't believe I didn't even mention Canadian guitars! :wink: Sorry about that. Godin, Seagull and the whole cadre of LaSiDo, not to mention Larrivee (British Columbia, right?).

And sorry about the misinformation concerning Tanglewood...

Peace

Also not to be forgotten in high quality non-US guitars are some of the Japanese makes - ESP, Tokai, Greco, Burny, etc. Many of the best of these don't get imported to the US but only the lower end models (which are still very good guitars). Usually these companies have factories that make their lower end models in Korea and China while the higher end models are still made in Japan.

England: Burns (of London)
Germany: Hofner
Sweden: Hagstrom

Also not to be forgotten in high quality non-US guitars are some of the Japanese makes - ESP, Tokai, Greco, Burny, etc.

Very true. I think I'm going to get Japanese guitars only from now on.

OK. These are all fantastic answers, but I still scratch my head. Why buy Fender and Gibson if you can get something locally made for what I assume to be a lower price.

Nuno just bought a new strat so if he happens to stumble in here again, maybe he can shed some light here. Is it just name recognition?

Sorry to pick on you Nuno, you just happen to have a thread a little below mine!

People tend to associate certain brands of guitar with their heroes....

Strat - Jimi, SRV
Tele - Keef, Status Quo
LP - Page, Kossoff
SG - Angus, Tony Iommi (in my mind, Pete Townshend as well - I've a few video clips of him, over the years, using an SG)

Those, to me, are the "big four" of electrics - the Strat is my least favourite of those - probably because I'm not a big fan of Jimi or SRV, whereas I am of all the others. I was after a Squier Custom Tele - already had one, loved it. I'd tried a few guitars at the time and the Squier was the most suitable. Went to buy one, and fell in love with a white Telecaster - tried it, loved it. Didn't even bother looking at any other guitars for comparison.

Now my Tele's a MIM.....doesn't make a difference to me whether it's Mexican or American, although some people have said MIMs are slightly inferior to MIAs....the important thing is, it's FENDER, who have a rep for quality guitars. That rep - like Gibson's - has been built on years and years of selling great guitars, gradually improving a product that was pretty darn good to begin with.

People TRUST certain brand names - that name's associated with quality. Now I'm not very well up on acoustics - but if I was in the market for buying another one, you know what I'd be looking for? Well - a Martin's out of my price league, but one brand I've never heard a harsh word about is Takamine - and I know the Eagles use Takamines a lot, and I LOVE the Eagles' acoustic sound.

I'd be willing to bet 99.99% of people are influenced by their guitar heroes when it comes to trying out guitars - and as most guitarists are associated with Fender or Gibson, especially the "big four" I mentioned above, I reckon that's why most people will go for one of those - or a good copy (Squier, Epi) if they can't afford the real thing.

Funny - Rickenbackers are not a guitar I've ever dreamed of owning - yet two of my earliest favourite bands were the Beatles and the Byrds. Damned if I can figure that out!

I suppose style has something to do with it as well - the Strat, Tele, LP and SG are icons - and I'd have to say, there's nothing better looking than a white Strat......although MY white Telecaster is very beautiful......

:D :D :D

Vic

I'm here! :D

Why did I buy a Fender? Why did I buy a Martin too? Good questions.

I guess CFB answered both. Probably we tend to imitate our leaders. Usually we listen rock, pop, blues, jazz, also classical, and we want to produce the same sounds that we listen. Fender, Gibson, they are the reference brands. The Stratocaster is the model of guitar with more versions. You can find bad copies, very similar copies, perfect copies or even better copies than the original Fender. The same for the Les Paul.

CFB also points that shred or metal guitarists tend to buy Ibanez. What do Vai, Petrucci, Satriani play? Eric Johnson is a special case and also my favorite of all this group of players. Because he plays Stratocaster? Maybe.

Now, why did I buy a Fender? I have a Epi Les Paul. I didn't like how it sounds with a new amp which I bought recently, btw, a Fender tube amp. Vic bought a Fender Telecaster and he described how did it sound and why did he buy it. That did I considered a Fender "again" as a brand to check. I say "again" because when I bought the LP I check out several Strats but I didn't like how it felt. I liked the sound but it was "too many" light to me. I played a Spanish guitar at that moment.

So, Vic and also Clapton, Knopfler, Hendrix, Gilmour, Vaughan(s), Guy, Beck, Cray and a long list made I buy a Fender Stratocaster.

Summarizing, as I said previously, in my particular case, I would never buy a "Made in America" Spanish guitar. My Spanish guitar is Ramírez. I walk very near to the Ramírez store every weekend. But if I want an electric I have to consider Fender and Gibson. And if I want a steel string acoustic I have to consider Martin or Taylor. If you play classical or flamenco, I guess you must consider some Spanish brand. If you want to buy a car and you live in Europe, probably you could consider BMW, Mercedes, Audi or Citroën, Peugeot, Renault or FIAT, Alfa Romeo, Lancia or Rover, Aston Martin.

The final purchase will depend on if you can or want afford that purchase or not. For example, probably I would never buy a Gibson, so expensives.

Edit: I'm very slow when I write English. Vic made his post while I was writting. I completely agree with him. Basically we say the same idea.