New Lap Steel from china (maybe)

Solid Body Steels, Reso, Weissenborn...
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texashorseman
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Joined: Fri May 10, 2013 9:56 pm

New Lap Steel from china (maybe)

Post by texashorseman »

I have been working with a manuf. in china with some designs. I am trying to get one designed kind of like the Recording King (I like the guitar look). P90 pickups, Ash, Basswood or Mahogany body. Mainly Natural finishes because I like that also. Probably will get some that have different finishes also. 6 string for now. The difference is they will have the knobs at the back, plug in at the back with a neck strap type of jack (which I think is cool just so you can stand up and play it if you want to cause my butt gets tired of sitting 4 hours at a time) and the nut will be either steel or bone with screws holding it in so that they can be unscrewed, turned around and you can make it left handed with out having to special order a left handed model. My main concern is QUALITY, QUALITY, QUALITY !!! If and when I get the sample in and I am satisfied, then will post a little more. I am pretty sure these are coming with a hard case and will be out for around 120-130 depending + shipping. Any suggestions (other than stay away from china or build it yourself)?

Thanks
Johnny
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Steve Smith
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Location: Isle of Wight, England

Re: New Lap Steel from china (maybe)

Post by Steve Smith »

Nothing wrong with Chinese manufacture but you do get what you pay for.

Chinese manufacturing gets a bad reputation because all we see is the very cheap end of the range. Guess why we import the cheap stuff... That's right, because it's cheap!

It doesn't matter where something is made. How it's made and what materials it's made from are much more important and if you are specifying that then you have control.


Steve.
richard37066
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Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:44 am
Location: Gallatin, Tennessee, USA

Re: New Lap Steel from china (maybe)

Post by richard37066 »

Johnny -

Steve Smith is, of course, correct. I have a somewhat high-minded (high-brow?) approach to this question of Chinese imports.

Simple economics dictates that, in the quest for inexpensive, mass-produced items, the quality must, inevitably, suffer.

Consider only a handful of names: - D'Angelico, Benedetto, Stradivarius, Amati, Guinari, Hauser, D'Aquisto, Ramirez et al. Should I include the likes of Bent Romnes and Dave Wheelhouse from this forum? All of the above brought to bear superb craftsmanship to the building of their respective instruments. Their attention to detail approached being obsessive.

I remain unconvinced that an assembly-line approach can produce the premium examples of hand-crafted instruments wrought by the above - and many more too numerous to mention. I can envision a Chinese version of the "Guitar Plaza" in Mexico where hundreds of so-so instruments are cranked out before lunch and a siesta.

Looks can, and are, deceiving. Anyone can fabricate a gleaming facade which may hide a multitude of sins.

Were I in the market for a lap-steel, I'd gladly fork over my limited pennies to an acknowledged master builder - and never be concerned as to the quality inherent in the build. As Will Shakespeare once said - "Ay, there's the rub". As Steve Smith alluded to - people will get what they pay for - and most opt for the "cheap". Not me, thank you.

My critical stance should not be construed as a direct affront to you, personally. It is only my personal assessment of that which I look for when considering the purchase of an instrument. No offense, please.

Richard
texashorseman
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Joined: Fri May 10, 2013 9:56 pm

Re: New Lap Steel from china (maybe)

Post by texashorseman »

I agree with both of you guys. I am not offended by anything anyone is posting. That is the reason that I put all this out there. I want folks to be honest about it. The one thing I am trying to do is put an inexpensive piece out there that is pretty good quality that they can start playing but the quality will have to be there or I will scrap the whole thing. Wife calls me a perfectionist sometimes if that tells you anything. Truth is, I have never played one in my life. Have played a guitar for about 50 years though so maybe the learning curve wont be to bad. Was going to try the pedal steel but I am getting to old for that. Hands, feet, legs and fingers wont all work at the same time like they used to so I figured that if I just had to work hands and fingers that would cut the thinking in half and maybe could at least make it sound somewhat acceptable. I have already sent the layout over there and was very specific in what I wanted. Hopefully I will have one here in about a month or so and will be learning to play as well as passing it over to some of my buddy's that play for a living and let them critic it and then go from there. I was going to build them myself but do not have the equipment or finances to buy all that stuff needed to do it. I really wanted to do one or two out of cedar since a buddy of mine has a mill and I have access to all the cedar I could ever want. May do one of those anyway and see how it turns out. Thanks for all the input and no I am in no way offended by what is posted. Hope you guys keep posting and also tell me what you think makes a good lap (body material, bridges, pickups etc etc...). All that will do is raise the bar a little bit higher and make me want to do it better. Again, thanks for the input !!!

Johnny
richard37066
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Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:44 am
Location: Gallatin, Tennessee, USA

Re: New Lap Steel from china (maybe)

Post by richard37066 »

Johnny -

I think that maybe you should cut yourself some slack. I, too, am an old goat - 77 years - played guitar for 55 years but didn't attempt playing the steel until I was 72. Am I going to blow Buddy Emmons, Paul Franklin or Buck Reid off of the bandstand? Not hardly - but the joy of wringing just a few pretty things from a pedal steel makes it all worth the while.

Is a little rethinking in order? I think so.

Give it a shot. Ain't no harm in tryin'.

Richard
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Jif
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Location: Scotland

Re: New Lap Steel from china (maybe)

Post by Jif »

Hi,

I recently bought a Weissenborn guitar from a company based in the South of England, this one,

http://www.anderwoodguitars.com/product ... enborn.php

If you look at their site, the impression is that these are made by their own Luthiers. In fact they are made in China by this company,

http://www.aiersiguitar.com/Products/Ha ... 3/676.html

Maybe I'm just a bit naive but I didn't discover this until after I'd bought the instrument and felt a bit ripped off. However, the guitar has a great tone and sustain, especially since I put on Newtone Aloha strings, the built in electrics are decent and I'm very happy that I bought it. Overall good value for money and to get any better I would need to spend over £1000, or build one myself, (long term plan!).

A few years ago I bought a classical guitar from quite a well known English luthier. He had taken his templates out to China, with the idea of producing quality guitars from his designs and he would ensure quality control. The guitar I bought was a second as the top had obviously been a bit small and they had inserted a couple of small extra pieces to fill the spaces, it cost me £30! (about $50).You don't really notice the flaws unless you look closely, he was selling off quite a few guitars with these type of "flaws", so looks like the quality control kind of went out the window as soon as he returned to the UK. He closed the operation down, so I guess he thought that he couldn't control the manufacture quality to his satisfaction. He did have a bit of a reputation as a "quality" luthier, so maybe didn't want to jeopardise it.

The guitar sounds great BTW and is very well finished despite the small flaws.

Not sure exactly what my point is, I guess it is agreeing that just because it's made in China doesn't mean it's crap, however I reckon you have to be very careful setting up deals like this. On the Weissenborn, if I'd known that it was made in China before I bought it, I would have definitely thought twice about it, which is probably why Anderwood effectively hide/disguise that fact on their website. I guess there is the fact that they can control quality as they could reject any substandard pieces before selling them on to Joe Public.

But I'm glad now that I bought it as I just love playing it :D

I took up pedal steel about 5 years ago but had a couple of years off, last year I spent a lot of time learning it and I'm far from being an expert but can knock out a decent tune occasionally. It can be a right pain in the ass but when you hit it right there's no sound sweeter. But then I'm just a young pup @ 57 :twisted:
texashorseman
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri May 10, 2013 9:56 pm

Re: New Lap Steel from china (maybe)

Post by texashorseman »

Glad to see everyone posting all the comments. Here is what I have learned so far. Got two quotes and will kind of give you an idea of what has happened. Got two hits from Alibaba when I posted to them what I was looking for. First one was $58. This was their stock lap steel. Got the second one but no price. So I contacted the first one with the $58 quote, sent them a picture of the changes I wanted and my specs. Took about two weeks of emailing back and forth with questions and changes to get the final price which I thought was very reasonable. Was not the original $58 but I knew that was out the window because of the body material, pickups, nut changes, and relocating the T&V knobs, but still very reasonable. At this point, I had just about decided to just get one of the cheap ones and see what it looked like. I said that I would just order one of the $58 ones and check to see about the quality and go from there. Got an email back that said that price was from 2011. Spent days back and forth with copies of the quote they had sent with the dates showing it was a recent quote within the last two weeks. They came back and said the only reason for the $58 dollar quote was just to establish communications and get my email address so they could work with me. No $58 guitar available but they could make my custom model with no problem. Next story.
I had also gotten a response from the second one and requested a quote. It was like pulling teeth to get a quote from them. I had sent them my specs with pictures twice and still nothing. Only thing I could get was pics of their own lap's without a quote. Finally go an email yesterday from a girl and said send would me a quote for THEIR lap and explained that I had been asking for one about 6 or 7 times with each email from them and nothing. She said not to worry she would get me one shortly. Sent the model number I was looking at. She emails back and says she cannot find that model would I send a link. Did that. She said not to worry she would get me one shortly. Low and behold, within 20 minutes I had a quote. $320.00 !! (Aiersi guitars) I explained I had a quote for one for a lot less than that. Got an email back. Just buy one of the other ones and one of theirs and compare them and let her know how they compare and we would go from there. This is turning out to be crazy. Not sure what I should do now. May just buy one of the less expensive ones (my design and changes) and check it out and go from there. Maybe I will get it figured out or maybe just build my own. Really wanted to get started distributing them but with all the hoopla, not sure if I want to mess with them or not. To much BS going on and not sure I want to take a chance.

Johnny
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