We seem to forget something that i've mentioned over & over on here. Going back before the existence of the US & also a large part of the rest of the world was even conceived,the Chinese were producing works of art that still astound us today. Their skill & craftsmanship was 'the best'.They were producing fine Porcelain in 200 AD & it was 100's of years later that the west was able to produce something similar,though not as good - that took even longer.Their jade & wood carvings dating back to BC times were also un-matched by anything that Europe could produce until after many 100's of years. Why then are we surprised that given good materials to begin with,the Chinese luthiers can produce excellent instruments ?. Personally,i think it has more to do with the actual instrument - ie. why are the Chinese making mandolins,when mandolins aren't part of their culture ?. It has to do with '
tapping into a resource' - the huge skill of the Chinese in making things by hand.
As Jeff Mando mentions - the early Japanese Yamaha guitars were some of the best around going back to the late 1960's. I bought an FG-140, complete with a laminated top (NOT Plywood) & it was as good as any i'd heard. Going back about 11 years,i bought a Gold Star 're-issue' banjo which,tonally,buried the 2
'very well known' brand of banjos in the store. It sounded so good,that i never changed the set up in the 3 years i had it. I only sold it because i got into mandolin playing shortly after & almost quit playing banjo at all. So the answer to the question - Chinese vs American is (IMHO), make your choice regardless of the country of origin according to whether you like it / can afford it,
Ivan
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