Eastman on ABC news last night

[Jeff A]

I'm surprised none of you Eastman guys have brought this up. It was an interesting piece on the significant increase in quality of Pac Rim products with most of the focus on the Eastman factory. Looked very busy and organized. The founder looked and sounded more like a country club type CEO, ready to buy a new Mercedes, than a peasant saving for a new bike but he seemed genuinely concerned about quality of his product and that is always a good thing.

[Keith Erickson]

Jeff,

I have to admit that I watch next to no TV. #However I would have definitely turned on the tube for that.

For some of us a pac-rim is the most affordable way to enjoy a good instrument until we can afford to upgrade.

I have to say that I enjoy playing my MK A+. #Oh yeah, there is never a shortage of compliments on its sound.

I wonder if you can see this story online.

Jeff Thank you for sharing with us #

[mr51]

Jeff, thanks for the info. As an Eastman fan I would like to have seen it, but rarely watch network news.

It is available on-line at abcnews.com, but its one of those deals where you have to subscribe to their on-line news service for $4.95 a month to see it. So, I think I'll pass. Why should I pay, I can come here and get the real details about how inferior they are for free.

[Landgrass]

Jeff.....I rarely watch the news, but I did happen to see this segment. I came away with the same impressions as you. I was going to start this thread but you beat me to it. I play an A9 but was interested in the fact that quality was the main focus of the piece. I'll have to try and find an Eastman to test drive.

[bjc]

I did not see the piece either...figures....still good to know that quality is important to them...my two are quality axes (as far as I'm concerned)

[Greenmando]

I wish I had seen the news bit. But I already have a 804 and I am impressed. I wonder if the story was featuring Gordon Eastman or the owner of the plant.

[EastmanGordon]

I'm afraid they were a little worried that putting my face on TV would be too scary in this age of high definition so they settled on using Qian (pronounced chen), my boss, simply because he is not as ugly as me.

I will have a clip of the piece in a couple of hours, ABC won't let us post it on our website but we have been given permission to send it out in an email. If you are interested in seeing it drop me a line at groberts@eastmanstrings.com and I'll send out to you in an email.

They certainly were very nice to us. Here is a copy of the script that they sent to me. It is just as it went out over the airwaves last night.
Gordon
------------------------------------------
BC-ABCN1:WNTChinaInc



SUPERS:

Qian Ni/Founder, Eastman Strings

MARK LITKE, ABC NEWS, BEIJING CHINA.



INTRO:

On a day when China's President went to the White House, we are going to

take a Closer Look at what makes China such a formidable economic rival for

the United States. Americans bought 243 billion dollars in Chinese goods

last year. We are all familiar with the low priced clothes and electronics

pouring into this country, helping to fuel China's 202 billion dollar trade

surplus. But there's been quite an effort by Chinese companies recently to

conquer the markets for many high end products as well. From Beijing, ABC's

Mark Litke takes a Closer Look.



SCRIPT:



YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD OF THE FENDER AND THE GIBSON. WELL, MEET THE EASTMAN.



THE HOTTEST-SELLING NEW GUITAR IN AMERICA.



SOT SALESMAN

THEY'RE JUST BLOWIN' AWAY THE COMPETITION RIGHT NOW.



BUT AS AMERICAN AS IT LOOKS AND SOUNDS, IT'S NOT.



MEET QIAN NI, THE MAN FROM THE EAST THAT FOUNDED EASTMAN IN THE '90s, IN

BEIJING. TODAY, HIS MASS-PRODUCED GUITARS, VIOLINS, MANDOLINS AND CELLOS

ARE CONSIDERED THE WORLD'S BEST. SELLING FOR ONE-THIRD THE PRICE OF U.S. OR

EUROPEAN MODELS. BUT THEY'RE NOT SHODY AND CHEAP.



SOT QIAN NI/FOUNDER, EASTMAN STRINGS

EVERYBODY LOOKS AT THE CHINESE, CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP, LIKE IT DOESN'T HAVE

QUALITY.



WELL, QUALITY IS FAST BECOMING THE NORM WITH CHINESE PRODUCTS, FROM HIGH

FASHION TO HIGH-TECH. AND EASTMAN IS NO EXCEPTION.



MOST OF EASTMAN'S WORKERS ARE PEASANTS FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE. YET, THEY'RE

WELL-TRAINED AND VERY DEDICATED.



JIN YOUMEI SWEATS OVER EVERY, FINE DETAIL. WITH PRIDE, SHE'LL TELL YOU "WE

HAVE TO MAKE THEM AS BEAUTIFUL AS POSSIBLE."



STANDUP

THE FACT IS, CHINA IS CHURNING OUT A RANGE OF QUALITY INSTRUMENTS.

PERCUSSION, BRASS, WOODWINDS, KEYBOARDS. ALL SRTING TO HOLD THEIR OWN

ON THE WORLD STAGE.



THE CHINESE ALREADY MAKE MORE PIANOS THAN ANY OTHER NATION. XINGHAI PIANO

PRODUCES MORE THAN FORTY THOUSAND A YEAR, WITH ANNUAL SALES OF 60 MILLION

DOLLARS.



AND AT THIS YEAR'S INTERNATIONAL TRADE SHOW IN THE CHINESE CAPITAL, THERE

WERE MORE THAN 400 EXHIBITORS.



ALL BUT A HANDFUL, HANDLING CHINESE INSTRUMENTS.



ML: IS THIS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A CHINESE INDUSTRY STARTING TO TAKE OVER THE

WORLD?

QIAN: IT'S NOT LIKE WE TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD. IT'S TRY TO DO OUR BEST.



WELL, WITH A NUMBER OF FANS IT NOW HAS IN THE WEST, EASTMAN APPEARS TO BE

HITTING ALL THE RIGHT NOTES. MARK LITKE, ABC NEWS, BEIJING.

[gschmidt]

Thanks Gordon. Very nice little piece.

[SurebetVA]

scary

[JEStanek]

Jim, what do you mean? I thought the transcript read like a confident entrepreneur who wants to make the best product possible.

"ML: IS THIS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A CHINESE INDUSTRY STARTING TO TAKE OVER THE

WORLD?

QIAN: IT'S NOT LIKE WE TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD. IT'S TRY TO DO OUR BEST."

Or did I miss something.

Jamie

[SurebetVA]

The current Chineese Monetary Currency Policy gives them a 40% prices advantage over almost everyone else. #It is called unfair Trade vs Fair trade. #It is not scary that Eastman does good work. #It is scary that Gibson, Weber and Capek have to compete againts someone who has an unfair trade advantage. #It is scary that most of our trade and our manufacturing jobs are moving to China. #We are building the next super power and political rival every time we buy something made in China. #How do you think their economy is growing at 40% a year while ours is growing at 2%? #How long do you think it will be before their economy (and military) is stronger than the US or Europe? most think about another 5 years.

Greedy American and European businessmen saw they could take advantage of the Pegged currency and import chineese made products cheap and make a bigger profit. #Then greedy consumers buy the cheaper goods bragging about what a good deal they got. #Outcome= China growing very powerful and American and European Economies loose the manufacturing base and become almost total service economies which are more fragile and dependent on Chineese loaning us money back to prop them up.
It would have made more sense to build our mandolins and other goods in Mexico and slow down the tide of illegal immigrants, but Mexico cannot compete in this unfair trade scenario even if they could build goood mandolins.

I have actually heard people stand in line at Wal-mart (back when I actually went to Wal-mart) and complain about the local factory shutting down and the jobs moving to China while their shopping cart was full to over flowing with 80% chineese made goods.

Go buy your chineese made mandolin, just don't sing me a folk song about Americans loosing their jobs on it.

OK, so much for mandolin discussion...sorry Scott.

[EastmanGordon]

Greedy American and European businessmen saw they could take advantage of the Pegged currency and import chineese made products cheap and make a bigger profit. Then greedy consumers buy the cheaper goods bragging about what a good deal they got. [QUOTE]

I am a little insulted to say the least by your very simplistic reading of global economics and by your summing up of what I do as being greedy etc. I think that it's borderline actionable and I would like an apology. I am proud of what we do and I will be happy to defend it in any public forum, I will not however be insulted in this manner and allow it to go unanswered. Eastman is an american company owned by an american citizen operating within the lawful parameters of the global marketplace.

A very angry,
Gordon

[Frank Russell]

You know what I find scary? Misspelled rants about "Chineese" and ill-informed comments about Mexico, a country that has many excellent luthiers, as well as one famous town that builds superb mandolins and guitars. Let's keep the half-cocked rhetoric down to a minimum, shall we? Or at the least, invest in a spell-check program. Thanks, Frank

[swampstomper]

I have no problem at all with global competition if it's fair. I own two Czech mandolins -- but their currency floats against the Euro, $ and Pound, so any advantage they have is with workmanship and quality for the money. Many (most) economists say that the Yuan is grossly undervalued given the current state of the Chinese economy. It is being kept artificially low at the expense of the Chinese consumer, because it is still a one-party country and still (barely) under the thumb of that party. So I am happy to have Mr Eastman build in China -- but only if the products cost what they should. It is ironic that the USA promotes free trade with Mexico and Canada (NAFTA) but does not seem to have the muscle to force China to revalue its currency. Read any serious analysis in The Economist, Forbes, WSJ etc. So it's nothing to do with the mandolins, but with their prices.

[Onesound]

OK, here is another point of view - no way could I ever afford (or justify, based upon my income and interest level) to buy an American made (factory or custom) Scroll mandolin - they are all priced waaaay higher than my restricted budget (and my wife) allow. #So, I had a choice - either buy an American A, but not have the style that I really want, or buy a PacRim Scroll. After years of playing mando, I wanted a Scroll F this time around so I opted for an Eastman.

I know the arguments about a better quality A sounding as good or better than a low end F, and I believe that's true. #But I bet most of the players who put forth this argument are well off enough to own domestic Fs anyway, and probably have an A sitting in the corner as their spare.

I lost my job due to off shore manufacturing so I am really sensitive to this issue, and it's a downward spiraling effect. #As my income decreases I can less afford expensive American products and am forced to buy cheaper foreign made goods. #What we really need is a government that supports "Fair Trade" and not "Free Trade". #Other countries must think out economic policies are stupid - but they're loving the advantage and access it gives them to our marketplace. #Our trade deficit has been grossly imbalanced for decades, yet "we" still burry our heads in the sand.

Does it really cost Gibson $4000 to build a decent mandolin?

[pickinNgrinnin]

[QUOTE]The current Chineese Monetary Currency Policy gives them a 40% prices advantage over almost everyone else. It is called unfair Trade vs Fair trade. It is not scary that Eastman does good work. It is scary that Gibson, Weber and Capek have to compete againts someone who has an unfair trade advantage. It is scary that most of our trade and our manufacturing jobs are moving to China. We are building the next super power and political rival every time we buy something made in China. How do you think their economy is growing at 40% a year while ours is growing at 2%? How long do you think it will be before their economy (and military) is stronger than the US or Europe? most think about another 5 years.

I don't see much to argue with in the above statement. Nothing to be offended by here. For some time now, American critics have linked the massive US trade deficit with China, (that hit $201 billion in 2005) to the Yuan.

The Yuan has been made artificially weak by Beijing to give Chinese exporters an unfair competitive advantage. Chinese officials are slow to make any adjustments. Many will say that the Yuan is undervalued by 40%. I don't think SurebetVA is making up the above comments.

It appears to be a chain reaction. The undervalued Yuan increases the trade deficit and the increased trade deficit has translated to lost U.S. jobs.

Greedy? I don't know. Opportunistic? Certainly.

[QUOTE]Does it really cost Gibson $4000 to build a decent mandolin?

I suppose it does if they want to pay their workers a liveable wage and benefits. Of course there is quite a contrast between a liveable wage in the US and one in China.

[chuck.naill]

Seems that people have the idea that a free market means a fair market. Ask anyone involved in a competitive market and see if there is anything fair about it. Is China doing something illegal? Do you guys have any concept of corporate regulations within the US?

I have lost a job before and decided to go return to school. I do not intend to let something set me back if I can do something about it. The US is becoming a service vs a manufacturing nation, you need to persue those professions if at all possible. Gibson is a fine company with exceptional products, a wonderful rich history that I have enjoyed over the years. However, it is not a God given right to be able to own a Gibson product. Believe me, the people buying great instruments are not "lucky", they have worked hard to gather the funds to buy them with.

Eastman Gordan: You and Eastman are producing exceptional instruments. I met with my violin teacher last week and he was visibiliy blown away with how well my VL200 sounded vs his $10,000 antique. My MD 504 is as fine of a style A that I have ever, 20 years experiance, played. Eastman has an American presence in Maryland which means that they pay taxes and employee people who spend money and pay taxes.

Regards,

Chuck

[EastmanGordon]

Thanks Chuck and everyone that emailed me with their assurances that I'm not really a bad person. I shouldn't have posted but I guess I woke up a little grumpy yesterday and that email rather set me off. Next time I'll let it go and just go kick the dog or something (no that won't work because Max will hate me then too and I'll finally have no friends left. Gosh, being a robber baron is so hard sometimes).
:&gt
Gordon
ps. Sorry for venting yesterday.