Hey guys, I have a friend with a 2k budget. He wants to buy a good acoustic guitar, but wonders if he should get one from Woh Fatt or from places like The Guitar Store, Guitar Collection, etc. Reason why he's considering Woh Fatt is because their guitars are generally cheaper, and he's concerned that the other places add extra charges to their guitars and that he may pay extra for a guitar with enhances he doesn't need.

I'm just wondering whether there are really good guitars at that price for China branded guitars (at Woh Fatt). Or 2k guitars at Woh Fatt and Guitar Store don't have that much difference in sound? I'm also concerned that the quality of China branded guitars are a bit lower, where they cut cost by using cheap materials, so they can't last for long-terms. But I'm not very knowledgeable about them, so I could be wrong. And totally no offence intended.

Sorry for throwing out so many thoughts. What do you think?

rm2k go get a taylor GS mini.
end of story.

With a budget of RM2K, your friend has a wider range of choices of mid-range guitars. Takamine and Taylor are good brands that have guitars that lie within your friend's budget.

What kind of guitar does your friend actually want? A pure acoustic guitar or a semi-acoustic guitar? Depending on his choice, the price differs as well and a built-in pickup would add rm300 - 400 more to the price.

why someone with ur budget want to consider china brand guitar?....

I will not buy anything China brand...except maybe smartphones and LENOVO laptops.

Thank you for the replies! May I know why not China brands? Gotta have a reason so my friend can get convinced, haha. Like say, some non-China brands have their guitars made in China too, so why would China brands be "inferior" to these guitars that are made in the same country? Are we paying more for guitars just because they have a Western brand or there's something else?

Oh yes, sorry, forgot to add. I believe the term is "acoustic-electric guitar"? He wants an acoustic with a pickup. Preferably one that already has it attached.

This post has been edited by kotobuki: Mar 12 2015, 09:19 PM

"made in China" & "China brands" are two different things...

you dont buy cherry or great wall cars and treat them the same as you do a china made toyota right? likewise, while we have some chinese food around; one doesnt go on a culinary road side hawker trip in china.

why are china brands bad? same reason as everything china, there might be one or 2 great ones but the risks far outweighs its benefits. considering you have the cash to spend, why put your neck out for it?

there are other reasons to them too, bad resale value and tendency to put the shittest electronics around, do make for some concerns.

the thing about guitars in general is workmanship plays a huge role, its not functional like computers, so you are not really paying for a western "brand" only.

That's weird, because it's a different story altogether for violins, something which I would argue requires much more workmanship than acoustic guitars. Chinese violins nowadays are very reputable even by advance players. They cost a fraction of the price of German or French made ones, and sometimes you can always find better sounding Chinese violins out there.

So no, I don't believe everything China is bad.

THIS.

China Brand=ABC China company hentam you a product based on copied design. QC? Apa tu?

Made in China=International Company outsource project to china companies requiring them to meet stringent quality criterias and checking on the products. If the company don't deliver the goods in the specs and quality agreed, not gonna get paid.

See the difference?

Not everything...but most things...

to be fair, i do agree with you given the right context but we are talking 2k guitars from woh fatt here.

Yeah I wouldn't wanna buy anything from woh fatt unless its spare parts. But what about China made guitars like Farida from TGS, Custom Acoustic from CK, L Luthier?

Sorry I'm not that knowledgeable in acoustic guitars, more towards classical guitars. Because I tried that China made Alma (solid top back and sides) classical guitar which goes for 2.8k and I swear that it its way nicer than a 7k made in Spain Manuel Rodriguez I've tried at Bentley.

i would say they work, but its not that simple or cheap. an entry good farida is around 1k, anything more and you are going to hit 2k. so the difference between the entry farida and an entry taylor is quite small, a takamine even smaller. this is excluding the super value for money brand out there Norman guitars.

the other issue with china makes is they dont sound that great, 10k++ farida with BRW back and sides? top tier everything? it sounds quite timid compared to even cheaper european variants (lakewood). they have some great gems out there but you would have to run the racks and pick one out, rigours testing, with luck you might just get one thats amazing.

then theres the problem of "the sound", part of the reason why martins can command such high prices is because its not easy to replicate the martin experience.

that being said, i think classicals are an odd one out, esp when you put names like Rodriguez. if I'm not mistaken most of them are not even made by the family but OEM, if you want the family to make one for you its a whopping 30k or more. they are part of the "classical" family hence their prices are super high.

but for electrics? hell 2.8k can get you a gibson dy

nothing wrong with farida or custom acoustic.
but those can get below rm1k, while TS said rm2k budget so must as well go for something better.

the usual argument for china made stuff is that they are 'value for money'.
would one pay the price of a french violin for a china one? as it seems the 'reputable' players out there say its good quality?

but actually, maybe one day violins will probably reach that phase.
see guitars already, ppl paying rm2/3/4k++ for china and even indonesia made ones...
but then again they're all being held ransom by both the company and their own mind...as that particular design only has that model.

the day i buy a china made guitar at that price...someone shoot me

This post has been edited by Everdying: Mar 13 2015, 11:37 AM

interestingly enough i have a friend who said the same thing that chinese violins are good, then he showed me cort.

not that i would diss cort, but hell in the guitar world most of us here wont even touch it with a 20 ft pole

Well said, thanks for explaining.

Yeah the orchestra pros won't really go for china made ones, I guess when you are gonna perform in front of millions, you would go for a bit more class. But for us small time folks, there a problem with budget. But yeah, I have to admit I do dream of owning a German made in the future.

well, someone here bought an almost rm3k cort signature model
actually cort, i dont mind the earth mini acoustic...but thats only rm500-600 anyway, ie. "value for money"

coz of the signature model ma, the real thing have to pay huge amounts of cash.

but the average cort? spear, sx. AXL.........

i think the spear club here also died liao