Factory origins, preference

[Gilby]

Hi all. Newbie to SGs and on a budget. I've been nosing around and I've found a couple local to me on eBay. One's from the unsung (?) plant, one is Samick.
Now not knowing much about the epihone history, is there a preferred manufacturer. I know of samick having a good reputation, is the other plant as good ? Am I just being a bit geeky ?
Cheers in advance.

 

[Barcham]

You can find gems and dogs from any factory. It's always best to play a guitar before buying it whenever possible. My Qingdao, China Standard is just as nice as my Saein, Korea Vintage G-400 and my Unsung, Korea made Ultra II.

 

[Gilby]

To be honest, I thought that'll be the answer. Hate the idea of buying a guitar "blind" via eBay (don't mind selling them !) but there's little option in the area I live if I'm buying used.
Cheers for the swift reply though.

 

[happy_tom]

You can find gems and dogs from any factory.

This.

But generally Samick, Unsung and Quingdao have good reputation. Also, most of them come from Qingdao nowadays.

I have an EB-3 that was made in DaeWon. Has finish flaws, was very dirty with plastic shavings from pickguard, which was poorly cut etc.

But has incredibly levelled & nicely polished frets, nicer than all my other guitars; and was set up perfectly...

So it's a hit& miss with all of them. With the insane quantities of instruments they make daily, there's bound to be a bad one here and there; but generally QC is good with all of them.

 

[dbb]

You can find gems and dogs from any factory. It's always best to play a guitar before buying it whenever possible. My Qingdao, China Standard is just as nice as my Saein, Korea Vintage G-400 and my Unsung, Korea made Ultra II.

True - the QC can vary a bit, on of the things the Chinese are working on!

Here's how it was explained to me about Asian makers.:

When Japan became a "major maker" the cheaper labor was Korea - as Korea became a market force, China was the up-and-comer....Singapore...Indonesia.

Much does depend on the buyer/contractor, who determines price point and as such limits build quality. Most of these factories now can make a great guitar.

Honestly, the Chinese violin makers paved the way in learning how to make string instruments.

I even saw some Indian made guitars, other than a few specialty items like lap steels and electric "banjos", they weren't so hot.

 

[Barcham]

Final QC and setup, no matter where the guitar is sourced from, is done at the distribution point in the US for the North American market. So any QC problems can be blamed on them, not the factory. :)

 

[Wookiee]

Most of my guitars come from China, and I wouldn't trade them.

 

[Biddlin]

One of my now three G-400s is from China, of the other two: one is from Saein the other from Unsung . None of them has the same dimensions . The Unsung is the lighest by a few grams over the Saein and perhaps thirty grams lighter than the Chinese, which has a Maestro Tremolo . They are all very good instruments, but I prefer the fit and finish of the two Korean by a tiny margin . Same for the electonics . One area where the Chinese excels is the fretboard, or more precisely the frets ! Perfect finish and hard as heck . Good hunting !
Biddlin ;>)/

 

[Krosis]

My Chinese made G-400 is awesome.

 

[dbb]

Final QC and setup, no matter where the guitar is sourced from, is done at the distribution point in the US for the North American market. So any QC problems can be blamed on them, not the factory. :)

Yup, the jobber/importer would have the capacity to reject any guitar below QC standard, whatever that is, before wholesaling them, and to tweak anything if desired.

However, the first step is the factory, which is what the OP was asking about.

 

[CTN]

When I got my G400, I tested out all the other G400s the music store had in stock. A couple other chinese ones and a couple of Korean ones.

Was not impressed by the Korean ones at all, they sounded dull, lifeless, and muffled. The Chinese ones by comparison had a liveliness and projection (even unplugged) that the Korean ones couldn't touch. I walked away with the most balanced sounding Chinese one (the others sounded too bright/harsh for my tastes).

 

[PeteR]

As long as we can't tell where a guitar was made - if it wasn't written on it
we should not care about the country of manufacture, IMO

it's just the guitar - not the country

I've Epis made at Unsung-Korea, Samick-Indonesia, Samick-Korea
and an Acoustic from an unknown Chinese factory
they are all great guitars...otherwise I hadn't bought them

 

[Biddlin]

I must correct my error in Miss Lizzie'a counrty of origin, she is also Korean, from the Saein plant !

 

[vonserke]

As long as we can't tell where a guitar was made - if it wasn't written on it
we should not care about the country of manufacture

True!!!!!!

 

[dbb]

You can peel off those little "Made in China" stickers.

 

[Alex_SG]

Mine's from Quingdao, China.

 

[chilipeppermaniac]

How do you all know what town/factory made which guitar? I just know mine were Chinese or Korean or Indonesian.

 

[Barcham]

Copied from the excellent Epiphone Les Paul FAQ thread over on My Les Paul:

SI = Samick - Origin - Indonesia
S = Samick - Origin - Korea
SJ = Saejun - Origin - China
SM = Samil - Origin - Samil,Korea
U = Unsung - Origin - Korea
UC = Unsung - Origin - China
Z = Zaozhuang saehan - Origin - China
J = T Terada - Origin - Japan
O = Choice - Origin - Korea
P/R = Peerless - Origin - Korea
FN/N = Fine Guitars - Origin - Korea
I = Saein - Origin - Korea
K = Korea Ins - Origin - Korea
F = Fujigen - Origin - Japan
EE = Qingdao - Origin - China
EA = Qingdao - Origin - China
MC = Muse - Origin - China
DW = Daewon Origin - China
B = Bohemia Musico - Origin - Czech Republic

These are the factory codes for serial numbers that start with numbers instant of letters
11 = MIC sticker on a '08 Masterbuilt 500
12 = DeaWon or Unsung (China -- uncertainty remains as to which factory)
15 = Qingdao (China) -- electric
16 = Qingdao (China) -- acoustic
17 = China, unknown factory
20 = DaeWon or Unsung (China -- uncertainty remains as to which factory)
21 = Unsung, Korea
22 = Korea, Unknown Factory
23 = Indonesia, Unknown Factory

 

[Biddlin]

To some degree,I think this is a case of "The other dude's grass is always stonier !"
Biddlin ;>)/

 

[chilipeppermaniac]

thanks barcham