Is it worth to give 1000$+ for an Indonisian or MIM guitar ? Remember the past !!

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narcsoul

Member
So... i am thinking a lot of this question....

Once upon a time ( not so many years back ) you could have an MIJ jackson for 700$ ( brand new ) or an Ibanez mij prestige for 1000$ + hard case!!! .....

....and now what??? Asking for indonesian and mexican guitars 1000$+ ?? sometimes even used!! without even a hard case...

I REMEMBER......i had a Jackson USA sl1 for 1400$ ( used ) ... now they sell them... for 2.500-3000$ ...and an ESP M-II which i bought for 1800$ and i sold for 1000$ and now they ask 1600$ for the used one (near brand new price once upon a time again )

What happened guys....and HOW DO YOU FEEL.... When you pay so much money for a NON Japan or USA instrument compared to what you remember from the past ?

I would like your opinion...

Thank you
 
I would pay a grand for an import piece of gear that is spec'd exactly the way I wanted.
If Dean made an import MLF with one pickup,a single volume and a kill switch like one of my USA customs....
....in a color/finish/unique top I don't already have, I would buy it.
They have an import slime at a decent price I would love to have just to have a slime to beat up.
I am too heavy handed to play my minty Washburn USA slime, and am certainly not going to touch it while drinking.
I really want to do up an import Washburn like this. Had it done by an amateur who fucked it up badly.
Have looked into getting a pro like Mike Learn to redo it but can never get an estimate because the amateur jacked it up so bad.
I wanted to buy a new Dean import slime and get it done like this Washburn, but have not because I am not buying gear right now.
 

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They pimp these Indonesian guitars with too much expensive hardware nowadays. Sometimes you see one with Fishman pickups, Evertune bridge and locking tuners. That's $500 worth of hardware on an otherwise cheap guitar which definitely drives the price up a lot.
 
This issue is not exclusively related to guitars. Everything in general will always fall to inflation over time.

Having said that, origin of manufacture does not bother me. Quality of the finished good does. I had zero issue paying $1k for a brand new PRS SE.

The last 2 years are not good representations of true pricing, though.
 
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I balked at getting a strandberg I thought was cool because it was $2400 for an Indonesian build. Conversely the headless kiesel I just got for xmas was under $2k and MIA.

I don't think I'd have a problem spending over $1k on an import but it would have to be something specific that I want, and there aren't any right now. The only import that has really piqued my interest at any point recently was the esp mosrite/jazzmaster thing I saw brent hinds playing with mastodon on Kimmel and that's not even on the market...
 
1) Inflation is a thing.

2) Machining practices are far above what they used to be. You can automate the whole process and keep the same skill level in your labor and get a much more precise product these days. Even the fretwork is done to perfection by CNC now. The skill is now just a setup and quality control. Otherwise it's the exact same thing.
 
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I would struggle paying more for Indonesian.
Let say this though.
I inherited an Indonesian pink Vai legacy.
I must say it plays great and sounds good.
Now they are only 500 I'd say well worth it.
I also inherited a mim 2010 strat deluxe.
It is sweet !
It plays even better and feels very good , has a lot of MOJO.
I have priced used ones and they are at the very least 800 and most 1 grand or more.
I would say the strat is better quality then the Ibanez.
 

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All those are my latest batch of inherited guitars.
I will say the Indonesian vai plays way better then the American made firebird .
 
narcsoul said:
So... i am thinking a lot of this question....

Once upon a time ( not so many years back ) you could have an MIJ jackson for 700$ ( brand new ) or an Ibanez mij prestige for 1000$ + hard case!!! .....

....and now what??? Asking for indonesian and mexican guitars 1000$+ ?? sometimes even used!! without even a hard case...

I REMEMBER......i had a Jackson USA sl1 for 1400$ ( used ) ... now they sell them... for 2.500-3000$ ...and an ESP M-II which i bought for 1800$ and i sold for 1000$ and now they ask 1600$ for the used one (near brand new price once upon a time again )

What happened guys....and HOW DO YOU FEEL.... When you pay so much money for a NON Japan or USA instrument compared to what you remember from the past ?

I would like your opinion...

Thank you
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I posted a similar thread regarding inflated used prices recently. A lot of it is yes, inflation. Shipping and availability delays is another factor. A lot of it is also unrealistic ambition. Two years ago I bought three used made in Japan Ibanez prestige guitars all for under a grand. Same guitars today are being listed anywhere from $1200– $1600. The used market has always been cyclic and will continue to do so. Right now unfortunately everything is way up before it eventually comes back down. If you can afford it, and justify spending $1000 on a made in Mexico instrument, more power to you. Personally myself I think that’s way over priced and price gouging is out of hand.
 
As long as there are good parts and quality workmanship the place of origin doesn't matter. It takes some time for a place to get in their groove to produce good work. Once they hit that point the guitar becomes more attractive and prices go up. It's happened many times over.

A little before my time, but MIJ used to be complete crap, you only bought MIUSA
Then at some point Japan got it's act together with production and they were in the top producers.
I came in right at the time MIK was hitting it's stride getting close to MIJ quality workmanship but prices were still low and MIM was just coming on the scene. You were good to get MIK but if you were any kind of serious MIM was no more than beginner firewood.
Now MIM has joined the ranks of being pretty good quality and MII looks like it's starting to creep into that category too.
Give it a little more time & people will be talking about how great MII is completely forgetting all the early ones with sloppy frets and pot metal hardware.

That's at least the general flow, but current prices are a bit over inflated to say the least. The time we're in with worker and supply shortages is obviously a factor. But you can't forget bans on certain woods that used to be readily available play a key factor also.
 
Agreed on the price hike, seems a bit too expensive to me to pay 1k to 2k (strandberg for example) for Indonesian made guitars compared to where they used to be sold at. However as said above, I am pretty sure that the quality on these today have improved a lot compared to 5 - 10 years ago so in terms of value, considering inflation, it's hard to say prices are unfairly high
 
I've played and own some charvels that are mim and quite a few play and feel better than US models. Not all but alot.
 
I bought 2 import Sadowsky basses, other than a minor preamp upgrade, they were perfect to me. paid in the same price range ($800/$900), and would gladly pay it again.

Alot of the imports have grown in quality over the last few years, QC is the only issue I've found that still needs work, but it's getting better, and things like the MIM & Squier stuff has gotten pretty damned good.
 
Ibanez SZ series is a great example of a "cheaper" guitar that plays great. I'm pretty sure they were made in Korea.

I had three SZ720s and none of them disappointed.
 
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