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plaidbeer wrote:Those American Specials are still $200 more than a Melody Maker.

they're also a real full featured guitar, not a one pick-up "entry axe"

btw, that's less than $250 adjusted for inflation.

And the professional level J-45? About $550 in today's money.

Being made in America doesn't make it a good guitar.

I'd choose a good Squier over a low end Gibson any time I was offered the choice. It would take less time to think about than it took me to write this post.

James wrote:Being made in America doesn't make it a good guitar.

Very true. I've played some American St. Blues, for example, that were no where near Squier CV standards. And I played a new Ric 330 a couple years ago that was damn near unplayable and sounded like ass.

OT--but I've read a couple of comments about Rics not being all that comfortable to play and then I saw your comment, Will. Is there something that's due to their shape, build quality, etc.?

plaidbeer wrote:OT--but I've read a couple of comments about Rics not being all that comfortable to play and then I saw your comment, Will. Is there something that's due to their shape, build quality, etc.?

Well, the one I played (tagged $2200) had a really high action, a bowed neck, and I'm 90% sure the neck was twisted as well. The fit and finish was poor, but not a killer. Don't know what was wrong with the sound, but it had no clarity. Not like the tone was rolled off or anything, but like something was wrong in the PUPs. I used to have a 330 that was rife with finish flaws, but fine. They are fairly heavy and big, but not any more than a ES-335 or 125.

I think Ric has just been getting lazy in trying to catch up with the 2 year wait list.

Agreed, Ric's quality control has unfortunately went downhill. My brand new out of the box 330 from Musicians friend last year needed a few slots filled and reslotted....might have needed a truss rod adjustment as well, can't remember. I still love the thing though.

I had no idea. I thought Rics were considered to be super high quality guitars (I know little about guitar companies). It's hard to believe they're that expensive and arrive with issues. And that they have a backorder list that long. I don't know anything about that company, but it sounds dysfunctional.

They decided some time ago that they would not raise production beyond a certain threshold, hence the wait list. Their current production is still arguably beyond their capacities, though. And they eliminated all custom orders last year.

I know with certain guitars, like the 325v58, they purposefully leave in some tooling marks to reflect what the guitar would have looked like in '58. No excuse for it on the regular guitars, though. And nut/fret/neck issues are always inexcusable. I think part of the problem is stores not being able to reject defective stock for fear of it not being replaced. Good small stores sort through guitar shipments and return the lemons, but with a 2-year wait list that's impossible.

What you're paying for with a high-dollar factory guitar is the little details - good wiring, frets, fit, finish. It's the last 5% of labor-intensive detail work. Otherwise, it's all the same pieces of wood cut on identical CNC machines. It's just what continent the CNC is on.

This is part of why I like '50s Danelectros so much. You can tell they were made by hand. The dimensions always vary depending on how worn out the templates were, but the fit and fretwork is always perfect. And the finish is simple enough that nobody could screw it up - one coat each of white, color, and clear. All out of a spray can with no polishing, just whatever gloss the clear had. Budget companies now are often all polish and no workmanship; Danelectro was the exact opposite.

Gibson makes/made alot of Made in The USA guitars for around the $1000 price range new or like new condition. Way more hits over the last few years than Fender in that price range for USA made guitars.

Es-135
ES-339
SG Classic with p90s.
The DC Faded
Various different versions of guitars labeled Melody Maker, Junior, etc.

All these were good/great guitars for not a lot of money.

Danelectro guitars were good because Nat Daniels had an amazing manufacturing process.

Sloan wrote:Fender also has the new American Special series. forgot about thems

Indeed. My son bought a Tele.