Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Fender

August 22nd, 2008 – I’ve always thought of myself as someone who is not blinded by brand names or fanboy-ism. I am willing to try out anything regardless of the prestige of a company’s brand; you’ll never know what you’re missing if you don’t try it all. I know plenty of people who won’t touch certain brands because of their perceived “low-class” status. For guitars, brands like Epiphone and Squier don’t exactly get a tonne of support in elite circles.

Lately, I’ve heard that Squier is making a great sounding bass for under $300. Epiphone has always had a reputation for good hollow body electric guitars. It’s a shame that consumers who can afford a better brand, usually discount the less expensive brands completely. In some cases, the less expensive brands may be better than the “real thing”.

In the 1980′s Fender wanted to begin manufacturing guitars in Japan. They manufactured a guitar that used old Fender designs and some of the original old stock of parts. This meant that the Japanese guitars had vintage parts and, coupled with much improved quality control, better workmanship than American and Mexican made Fenders. Even the Squiers of Japan had these features, and fearing that these high quality, low cost guitars would cannibalize sales in the US for US made guitars, Japanese guitars were not sold outside of Japan (except for a couple years before Fender USA realized this was bad for their US facilities). This policy continues to today and Japanese Squiers, from the brief period when they were available in North America, are highly sought.

Are brand names a factor in your search for new instruments or music gear? Are you loyal to a specific brand?