Made in USA, China

[srgntschultz]

Your correct,Gretsch would make me a guitar in the usa for 20 grand. But like i said, gretsch will charge 20 grand and gibson makes them here in the usa for a lot less than that everyday. And Gibson's prices are way out of hand? Really!

[Eddie Estes]

Yeah for a factory made guitar Gibson does charge too much compared to Gretsch.

They were asking 4000+ for a Gibson CG and the quality was inconsistent. I have picked up some really crappy
Gibson CGs. In fact I know first hand. In 1987 I ordered one and waited 6 months for it and it arrived and would
not play in tune. The neck was twisted. Gibson said if I returned sent it back it would be 5 months till I got it back.
I had the guitar repaired at my expense and vowed to NEVER purchase another Gibson.

I got my Gretch CGP in 2008 took it out of the case and tuned it and have not had any issues.

So I don't cry any tears about Gibson and their mostly overpriced guitars.

The Gretsch custom shop guitars are overpriced but this was about Gretsch and other makers having guitars made by Terada and other companies like them in Japan.

[srgntschultz]

So, i guess if you want to support the japenese makers buy an overpriced gretsch,thats a great thing to do? But i will still buy from the Usa makers,of which i have and will do and play both of my kirk sand guitars and gibsons and so on and hopefully help keep the USA guitar builders around.

[BillB]

Some of my stuff is made in the U.S.A., and some of it is made elsewhere. I buy American if I can find what I want, and if I can afford it on a teacher's salary. My main acoustic guitar was made in Australia. My house was made in the USA, but my '93 Ford Ranger has a Mazda engine. I don't like any of the Gibsons, but I'd love to have a Kirk Sand if I could fit it into the budget. Maybe one day it will happen. For now, I have to stretch the dollars in order to live a little better. So, I buy some USA and some other, depending on the circumstances.

Bill B.

[rhirvine]

Myself I want to get my hands on a guitar that I'm thinking of buying and also playing it to hear how it sounds. For most of us I think the sound and durability of an instrument means more than the looks, especially if you only see an image.

Rich Irvine

[Eddie Estes]

For your info I have a Kirk Sand. Have had one since 1996.

I will not purchase guitars from a company that will not stand behind their stuff better than
Gibson. They treated Chet's endorsement lightly which is a reason his name is back with Gretsch.

Gretsch guitars are not overpriced. I have played at least 5 6122-1959s and they were all perfect.
I will not buy an American made guitar simply because it is made here. Gibson needs to up their game.
When Gibson gets their act together regarding customer service and gets more consistent and gets the price
more realistic I will consider them again.

I will stack my Gretsch CGP up against any Gibson CG that was sold in stores that you can find in the level of workmanship value and price.

[Norm]

Believe it or not, I actually spoke to Fred Gretsch on the phone yesterday looking for his take on Paul. As the conversation went he mentioned that getting the name and rights from the Baldwin Piano company was no easy task. By then Baldwin was out of the guitar making business anyway. There were two fires at the Boonesville plant and it is likely that critical machine tools were either sold or lost in those fires. When Baldwin moved to Arkansas the long time skilled workforce in Brooklyn stayed up east and moved on to other jobs.

Rebuilding the factory stateside from scratch would very likely have been prohibitive. Then you would need to find workers. A guitar can be made by any competent factory worker in the furniture making trade.
Except for the fretwork and the critical neck setting phase.
For that you need specialists and they might be hard to find.

To his credit he did select one of the better guitar builders, Terada, in Japan. Sure, it would be nice if they were still made stateside but I have a feeling the Terada guitars are better built even than the old Brooklyn guitars. And those aren't coming back anyway...

[Eddie Estes]

Hey Schultz if you want to buy a poorly made Gibson just because it is made here go for it.
I went down the Gibson road onevtime and ended up getting burned.
Not again.

[srgntschultz]

I actually have 2 gibson country gents one red and one orange. Both play and sound great with no problems at all. One has a pair of ray butts humbuckers and one with the original gibsons. I have a studio cec thats great gibson also and a traveling songwriter from gibson also no problems at all. And a lot more guitars fron the usa and no problems at all with any. Kirks guitars are my favorite 2 without a doubt. No gretschs at my house,they look nice but so do jap cars and i dont have any of them either! Being an american i like to buy american when i can if thats not a good thing you need to get your act straightened out,i dont get paychecks from japan but maybe you do? Tommy plays a maton from his home country with pride and i think if i can play an american guitar i can play it with pride also,until i get a job from japan it will stay that way! I think that my kirk sand guitars are the very best there is,and a lot of people would agree,and his are made in the USA!

[Eddie Estes]

First thing.
I get my paycheck from the Virginia Dept of Transportation. If you must know.

Second:
comparing Kirk's guitars and factory built guitars from anyone is comparing apples to oranges.

If Gretsch was good enough for Paul Yandell they are good enough for me.

Gibson took having Chet's name for granted and lost it.

Fred Gretsch thought enough of Paul and Chet to go the distance in recreating Chet's guitars.
He actually participates in the CAAS convention. So spare me the buy American crap.

When American companies put forth the extra effort I am happy to give them my money.
My Nissan Altima is twice the car my Ford Tempo was. Well made and easy to work on.
I don't imagine if Maton made crap and didn't stand behind their stuff Tommy would use them.

I needed a pickguard for my Gibson CG and Gibson actually told me to go to allparts. They actually would not even sell me a replacement and they were making them at the time. That is poor customer service for someone who spent almost 2 grand for a guitar.