33% of all electric guitars - 2 million - now made in one place

[Navdeep_Singh]

33% of all electric guitars produced in the world today, around 2 million guitars, are made in one county, Changle County, in Shandong Province, China. One local company now has three factories, ramping up exports, starting in 2016. The company’s president, Mr. Zhang, “I don’t play the instrument myself, but I know the industry inside and out”.


It’s all mushroomed quite recently, strongly aided by local government support and financial help. The locals all started out learning from South Korean guitar manufacturing. They added innovations such as dual truss rods, to prevent necks from warping. Soon, manufacturing matched international standards. Another company, lead by Mr. Zhao, only started exporting guitars in 2020. Today, they ship to 130 countries, through attention to quality, technical upgrades, feedback from musicians.

A bit of history: No one really knows about this, but a now retired, master jazz and classical guitarist from Chicago, Jack Cecchini, had an instrumental role in the internalization of guitar manufacturing. As a master jazz and classical guitarist, Jack himself only played the finest instruments: Spanish guitars and carved jazz boxes plugged into clean amps. He was also employed by Yamaha in the 1970s and 1980s as a consultant, when Japanese companies like Yamaha and Ibanez were themselves reverse engineering American and Spanish guitars. Who remembers the era of the Ibanez “Lawsuit” guitars that looked just like Gibson models?

One of the people Jack worked with at Yamaha was another fellow American named Bill Schultz, who became Jack’s best friend. Using all the connections and contacts that he had, Jack helped Mr. Schultz purchase Fender guitars from CBS. It was fender through Mr. Schultz’s ideas, that internationalized factory solid body guitar construction practices,first in places like Japan and Mexico. Jack said that Fender could knock out one of their slabs in about 3.5 hours. No kidding.


Today, there are 108 enterprises involved in the Changle guitar supply chain, producing 2 million guitars a year, with sales of over 1 billion RMB, to over 130 countries and regions. Through strict quality control, they strive to ship guitars without defects. Once a client places an order, the final guitar can be ready to ship in ten (10) days.


The Chinese electric guitar industry blew up in the shortest amount of time, due to craftsmanship, a complete supply chain and innovation. The number of guitar factory workers blew up from 20 to 5,000. Average pay increased 8 to ten fold, from 10,000 RMB to 100,000 RMB per worker.

From a recent article:


“Beyond infrastructure upgrades, the town has also stepped up its innovation and brand-building efforts, and is currently home to more than 40 local brands and holds 35 patents.Thanks to these joint efforts, the electric guitars made in Tangwu are gaining popularity around the world, with products sold to more than 130 countries and regions.Sang Haiqiang, county head of Changle, said that after more than 50 years of development, Tangwu now boasts advanced production technologies and a high number of skilled workers, and it has established a complete musical instrument industrial supply chain.“

No one really knows about this, but a now retired, master jazz and classical guitarist from Chicago, Jack Cecchini, had an instrumental role in the internalization of guitar manufacturing. As a master jazz and classical guitarist, Jack himself only played the finest instruments: Spanish guitars and carved jazz boxes plugged into clean amps. He was also employed by Yamaha in the 1970s and 1980s as a consultant, when Japanese companies like Yamaha and Ibanez were themselves reverse engineering American and Spanish guitars. Who remembers the era of the Ibanez “Lawsuit” guitars that looked just like Gibson models?


One of the people Jack worked with at Yamaha was another fellow American named Bill Schultz, who became Jack’s best friend. Using all the connections and contacts that he had, Jack helped Mr. Schultz purchase Fender guitars from CBS. It was fender through Mr. Schultz’s ideas, that internationalized factory solid body guitar construction practices,first in places like Japan and Mexico. Jack said that Fender could knock out one of their slabs in about 3.5 hours. No kidding.

[Cunamara]

Probably where the Trump guitars were made.

[Alter]

So any of these two million any good?

[ThatRhythmMan]

So any of these two million any good?

I’m assuming that the MIC Hagstrom solid body I have was likely made there and it’s a phenomenal guitar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dconeill]

So any of these two million any good?

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "any good", but in my 17832 years of life I am continually surprised at the astonishingly high quality of guitars that are available at fairly low prices right now. They're not all to my taste, obviously, and only a few have the requisite snob factor, but as guitars, they're really good.

[caue amaral]

Being frank and without passions...with a budget...let's say...of 2 thousand dollars for an American company and a Chinese company, to build the best guitar possible with that budget...I would bet a thousand times on the Chinese one...without looking back!

[SoftwareGuy]

Does the consumption of guitars in China support such an output? I guess the question is: are the guitars primarily for export or local consumption?

Also, general acceptance of new guitar brands is a slow. Often people (not us sophisticated jazz musicians) look to iconic performers on which guitar to buy. If this is true, Chinese companies would need to first enlist some prominent players.

I think a reason that guitar brands and models have longevity is that Wes Montgomery has stuck with an L5 and Jimi Hendrix with a Stratocaster for decades
and that is not likely to change anytime soon.

(To use my favorite Donald Trump quote)
We will have to see what happens.

[Herbie]

Does the consumption of guitars in China support such an output? I guess the question is: are the guitars primarily for export or local consumption?

Also, general acceptance of new guitar brands is a slow. Often people (not us sophisticated jazz musicians) look to iconic performers on which guitar to buy. If this is true, Chinese companies would need to first enlist some prominent players.

I think a reason that guitar brands and models have longevity is that Wes Montgomery has stuck with an L5 and Jimi Hendrix with a Stratocaster for decades
and that is not likely to change anytime soon.

(To use my favorite Donald Trump quote)
We will have to see what happens.

Op:

”(…) producing 2 million guitars a year, with sales of over 1 billion RMB, to over 130 countries and regions.(…)”

So not only Chinese market.

But how long will the global market need 2 million guitars a year?!

[Gitterbug]

USA is about half of the global market. Did I hear somebody mention tariffs?

[SoftwareGuy]

USA is about half of the global market. Did I hear somebody mention tariffs?

Excellent point

[dconeill]

... I think a reason that guitar brands and models have longevity is that Wes Montgomery has stuck with an L5 and Jimi Hendrix with a Stratocaster for decades and that is not likely to change anytime soon. ...

I suppose that's a true statement. Dead people don't change gear all that much.

[Spook410]

If you are American or European it's possible to see China through the lens of a global competitor. In that sense, it's a good thing they have taken over electric guitar manufacturing. I believe that, as a market, it will decline over coming years and better their economy deals with that than ours. On the other hand, maybe the demand in Asia and Africa will absorb their exports in spite of diminishing guitar playing in the west.

As for personal preference, don't care. Very much like all my guitars regardless of point of origin. It's a question of how it's made and how it works. And my Chinese archtops (though not built in these factories) are all good guitars. And I would still like one of the Eastman Les Paul copies. Though with tariffs that won't be happening now.

[Hammertone]

There a lovely story about the smartest marketing person in the world. He was hired by a consumer packaged goods company to help increase their sales of shampoo. After studying all aspects of the marketplace, consumers, packaging, formulations and more, he reviewed the copy on the side panel of the shampoo package, which read: "wet hair, apply shampoo, lather, rinse." His recommendation to the client was simple: add one word to the instructions - "repeat." Doubled their sales.

[Cunamara]

Guitars are much like other enthusiast consumer goods: the people who buy them tend to buy multiples. Of all the gigging guitarists and most of the non-gigging guitarists that I know, all of them have five or more guitars. And since the right number of guitars to own is n+1, they are the market to buy yet more guitars. A nice guitar at a low price can be irresistible.

The problem for tariffs is that they drive prices of domestically produced goods up as well as driving up the price of imported goods, so it ends up being a net wash in terms of discouraging purchasing foreign-made products and encouraging the manufacture and purchase of US made goods. In short, the costs of tariffs to Americans will be high and the benefits low.

[Spook410]

,, A nice guitar at a low price can be irresistible.

From one who is out of space and as Gore once said.. an inconvenient truth.

[Skip Ellis]

There's a lot of garage and basement builders (myself included) in the US putting out some real nice Teles, Strats, LPs, and original designs. Not high numbers in the scheme of things but some players like to go to a local luthier and watch his/her new guitar being built. From some of the 'luthier' sites I see on FB, there's a lot of folks assembling parts from places like GFI and Amazon - seems like a lot of them really want to learn - they'll never get rich, but......

[Cunamara]

You know, that's a good point. Factories operate on economies of scale; the individual builder does not. I have assembled two Teles and a Strat from components purchased from Warmoth and other sources. I mainly did it for fun and to get just what I thought I wanted, but for some folks it's a business. I hadn't thought about them, only about large scale manufacturing.

[Stringswinger]

Assuming that there are 6 million electric guitars made a year, one could surmise that there are an equal number of acoustic guitars made. How long before demand for 12 million new guitars made each year drops? How long before many of the extant guitars drop in value? These questions make me think that there are better investments than guitars. I would not count on a pile of guitars to get you through old age.

I have 23 guitars at present (the most I have ever had at one time) and I am not counting on their value going up or even staying the same. I am counting on enjoying them as long as I decide to own them. 20 were made in the USA, 1 was made in Canada, 1 was made in Mexico and 1 was made in France. In the past I have had guitars made in Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Sweden. Great guitars know no borders.

While I think Tariffs can have their place, IMO the recent USA Tariffs have been unwise and unconstitutional. I will leave it at that.

[Mick-7]

Probably where the Trump guitars were made.

Yes, that was confirmed months ago -- See: The Hello Kitty Stratocaster

[Greywolf]

Support your Luthier's !

[LesB3]

Being frank and without passions...with a budget...let's say...of 2 thousand dollars for an American company and a Chinese company, to build the best guitar possible with that budget...I would bet a thousand times on the Chinese one...without looking back!

Yes, but a good deal of that $2,000 would go towards the Chinese company buying American pickups, pots, switches, caps, etc. They would also need to source better woods from somewhere else, probably Canada? At that point, all China has is the labor cost advantage (which will still be significant) but still begs the question: is that a Chinese guitar?

Of course, they could source the same electronics from Japan or Korea, but those would be of lower quality to the U.S. made stuff, so you wouldn't necessarily be getting the best bang for your buck with the Chinese guitar.

[lammie200]

There a lovely story about the smartest marketing person in the world. He was hired by a consumer packaged goods company to help increase their sales of shampoo. After studying all aspects of the marketplace, consumers, packaging, formulations and more, he reviewed the copy on the side panel of the shampoo package, which read: "wet hair, apply shampoo, lather, rinse." His recommendation to the client was simple: add one word to the instructions - "repeat." Doubled their sales.

I suppose somewhere there is someone that is still in the shower repeating. Kinda like groundhog day for showering.

[lammie200]

Yes, but a good deal of that $2,000 would go towards the Chinese company buying American pickups, pots, switches, caps, etc. They would also need to source better woods from somewhere else, probably Canada? At that point, all China has is the labor cost advantage (which will still be significant) but still begs the question: is that a Chinese guitar?

Of course, they could source the same electronics from Japan or Korea, but those would be of lower quality to the U.S. made stuff, so you wouldn't necessarily be getting the best bang for your buck with the Chinese guitar.

That may be true for today, but an efficient market will eventually lead to Chinese companies making all the components on par with the same (or better) quality than what can be sourced from elsewhere. Guitar componentry is relatively unsophisticated and every time a volume maker has tried for more sophistication (robot tuners, for example) they have failed.

[DawgBone]

That may be true for today, but an efficient market will eventually lead to Chinese companies making all the components on par with the same (or better) quality than what can be sourced from elsewhere. Guitar componentry is relatively unsophisticated and every time a volume maker has tried for more sophistication (robot tuners, for example) they have failed.

At the end of the day the 2000 buck chinese guitar, however good it might be, will just be a ripoff of an American designed instrument because communists pioneer little but misery since the financial incentive is mostly stripped from the average person to make it worth pursuing good ideas.

[213Cobra]

At the end of the day the 2000 buck chinese guitar, however good it might be, will just be a ripoff of an American designed instrument because communists pioneer little but misery since the financial incentive is mostly stripped from the average person to make it worth pursuing good ideas.

To be fair, that's a dated view of the (evolving) Chinese implementation of communism. China is not like the old Soviet Union. Since Mao died, leader-by-leader China has intentionally evolved its system to be far more adaptive to modern circumstances than was true for Soviet communism. And to borrow, at least temporarily, from capitalism. China certainly still has the strongly authoritarian, single-party, aka totalitarian, political system associated with communism, but in the political economy it has been running a sort of "state-managed capitalism" to drive economic success. The state has strong sway in capital allocations but innovation (and resulting entrepreneurship within the bounds of the state) is quite strong. The state no longer dwarfs the private market. The private sector is now delivering more than 60% of China's GDP, about 70% of its innovation, and 80% of urban jobs. In 2024, China granted over 1,000,000 patents for invention, over 13% more than in 2023. Though US AI patents were considered a higher class overall, China issued about 50% more patents for AI than the US did. Meanwhile, patents issued to domestic entities in the US declined by about 4% last year. Chinese entrepreneurs and companies also filed more AI patent applications than US companies in the last year, continuing to present. US patent growth in 2024 was driven by a 3.8% rise in foreign applications, including Chinese.

To be sure, in China the state can capriciously intervene in private market and private company affairs, but while such interventions can have a throttling effect on the private Chinese economy, it is far from choked.

China is also shifting to more development of home-grown brands in all sectors of the consumer & commercial economy. I do business with some entrepreneurs in China, and while they have their differences with their government, they are far from miserable or lacking financial incentives. It will do Americans no good at all in the US' international "co-opetition" with China, to view Chinese potential through the dated lens of sclerotic, ossified Soviet communism. That dismissive perspective will feed damaging underestimation of China and impede American understanding of with whom it is competing.

Guitar design is largely American and British due to the music that exploded guitar's popularity, and vice-versa. Asian guitar makers, whether Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian have copied or emulated the western markers laid down for the instrument, in part because that's what sold when they started guitar exports, and then that's what they were contracted to produce. But it would only take a Chinese Eddie Van Halen or Steve Vai, for example, to leverage a particular Chinese design fillip to guitar that makes a music innovation possible and popular, to put a China vector on the instrument. Give it time.

Phil