If I were to take the moral high ground 100% of the time, I'd be walking around naked and hungry. However, got me thinking. Looking at some G&Ls over the last few weeks and the price difference between an American and Asian made model are massive, for obvious reasons.
I picked up a Squier Bullet Mustang recently, and surely someone is getting screwed along the way during the build for a guitar that cheap?
How much are the workers earning and are their conditions good? It's convenient for me in Europe to spend very little, but at what expense?
It got me thinking about the G&L tributes v American again, as an example. I'm sure workers in America are being exploited as well, not necessarily with G&L, but I can guess they are getting paid a fair enough wage, hence the prices.
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that someone is in the factory not in the headquarters most likely...
There can be no ethical consumption under capitalism. There's always gonna be someone getting shafted.
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We all want workers paid a good wage, actually, some people don't think they deserve it in some places!
We all want cheap guitars.
We (well some people do) all go nuts seeing a £1000 PRS that is made in China.
We (well some people do) all look down Far East made instruments.
In this day and age, material cost is pretty even across the board so the majority of savings is made through labour, you got to ask yourself if you care really. My GS Mini has a perfect fret job, clean as anything, as good a finish as a Core PRS. Location doesn't buy you a better guitar, it all comes down to how they are trained and the way the factory is set up.
Someone, somewhere is being exploited in any mass produced guitars, even a custom shop level guitar some little guy up the supply chain is probably not getting a great wage.
There are two ridiculous things about that argument. (1) The USA pays lower wages than many other countries, such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and probably the whole of Western Europe. (2) Like for like, the guitars made in most of those places are cheaper than US-made ones. I'm not sure about UK and EU ones, and I don't think NZ or Taiwan make many, but made-in-Japan and made-in-Australia guitars absolutely cream the US majors for value, and the Koreans and the Canadians go better again. (Not sure if those last two make any Martin or US Guild quality though, they are more focussed on the mid-range.)
If the answer is “worse off” then by refusing to buy a guitar on moral grounds you’re not showing solidarity with the workers you’re virtue signalling at their expense. If the price of the guitar makes you feel guilty you could send a cheque to a local charity.
I think Cort owns the major factory in Indonesia that makes guitars for G&L, Squier, etc.
So if the conditions in Korea aren't great, I can't imagine they would be fantastic in Indonesia.
I read somewhere workers in Eastman are paid well, which is one of the reasons their instruments are more expensive.
It's like with clothes and sweat shops I guess?
You can compare and contrast factory tours of Epiphone in China and Gibson USA, bearing in mind that neither of them are warts-and-all tours. Shop floor conditions are pretty similar; dare I say it, the Chinese factory looks a bit better.
https://youtu.be/LRczd_ZEf4E
https://youtu.be/uVU86GGV07A
From experience, Chinese factories are extremely regimented - head down and concentrate on your work. It’s not uncommon for workers to come from other regions in China and be housed in a dormitory block adjacent to the factory. Wages will be much lower than western countries, but so will the cost of living.
I don't know the answer, I'm just posing the question.
But I don't have to answer it, because before I even get to that question is the more important question of where and how the timbers are being sourced. Are we talking unsustainable clearfelling? Illegal logging of the little remaining Orangutan habitat? Slavery and child labor in those same parts of Africa where the conflict diamonds come from? Yet more clearing of the Amazon rainforests?
If I can't answer those questions to my satisfaction - and I don't personally know of a single company in China or Indonesia which has documented its timber sources and practices satisfactorily - I look elsewhere. One or two of the American majors have unsavory form in this department too. Happy not to buy another Gibson. Happy to put Taylor and Yamaha and Cole Clark and Maton and Seagull/Godin - all companies genuinely trying to do the right thing - up near the top of my list. I'd be pleased to add others to that "list of good companies".
Is that still the case now that Henry J has departed?
Lots of US employees of course will be in high-wage jobs but lots more will be on minimum wage.
Its not about exploitation. Wages (and other infrastructure - including H&S legislation/environmental concerns) are just lower in that part of the world, therefore the cost of manufacturing is lower. But it won't be for much longer - we've already seen Japan go from being cheap manufacture to premium, Korea is not far behind... and when that happens, to satisfy demand for stuff that is in real terms cheaper than its ever been another 'emerging market' will become the guitar manufacturer of choice for the bottom end of the market. However, those workers are being paid *well* in that country and have a good job compared to digging a ditch etc... Its a good quality of life for that part of the world.
The other thing to mention is wood stocks and raw materials - most of these are in the East. Like it or not, thats where stuff is ending up because thats where the majority is made. Therefore to buy the "premium" wood Fender and Gibson (and PRS etc) have to compete with the huge buying power of the contract manufacturers in the East. Ironically, that same stock is then sold back to them later on when they buy their far eastern made stuff... ask me how I know.
As I've said before, I've seen guitars made in China that are genuinely better made than anything I've seen from America using exquisite woods. There are some fantastic luthiers (both Eastern and Western) based over there right now but most of the stuff exported for our consumption has been made to a pricepoint decided *OVER HERE*.
But hey, get right on and say its about exploitation if you like - and boycott cheap brands if it makes you happy. It won't change a single thing...