Inside the biggest guitar factory in the world: CORT, Indonesia-1 million guitars

[Navdeep_Singh]

The World’s Biggest Guitar factory (CORT, in Indonesia) : 10 factories-in-one—one million guitars produced annually of all kinds and various brands, plus amplifiers. 10 separate buildings, 2500 workers, making a dozen different brands. 8,000 magnetic and electronic pickups made per day. 25, 000 fully acoustic guitars made per month. From student price to deluxe pricing. The high end apparently looks like a Fender Mexican factory, but with a much higher wood supply from a huge warehouse. Mass production with everything happening simultaneously.

It seems they’re following the established Fender template. Many years ago, the President of Fender noted that it took about 3.5 hours make one of their planks/slabs, from absolute start-to-finish. Which is why they outsourced production to Japan and Mexico.


Now, we’ve gone much more downstream, to find lower costs, to Indonesia. But it’s clearly more than “make a CAD file and press enter:. In terms of QA though: every single employee plays the exact same song on every guitar.

[jads57]

Thanks for the thread, very informative. Aside from actual specs and style of guitar, seems like the main difference would be much cheaper labor force involved.
Really a great deal for younger and people just staring out.

When I started out 58 years ago at 10 years of age. There were no cheap new guitars of this quality available. My first electric was a Winston brand Japanese electric. The action was awful,and it felt like the strings were cheese cutters,Lol!

[DawgBone]

I believe PRS has their own building there, and I must say they are making some incredibly nice guitars!

I have an Indonesian LTD Viper that is also very nicely made and set up though it's plugged in sound has left too much to be desired and even with a couple pickup swaps it's not working so I gotta let it go. I guess I just don't bond with the bite of thinner SG shapes though I love the upper fret access.

[bluejaybill]

Thanks for the thread, very informative. Aside from actual specs and style of guitar, seems like the main difference would be much cheaper labor force involved.
Really a great deal for younger and people just staring out.

When I started out 58 years ago at 10 years of age. There were no cheap new guitars of this quality available. My first electric was a Winston brand Japanese electric. The action was awful,and it felt like the strings were cheese cutters,Lol!

Yup, I remember when I was teaching in the '70's I saw so many students give up because of their unplayable instruments, really used to bother me.''Now the students have no excuse not to practice!

[GuyBoden]

CNC has changed the Guitar manufacturing industry for the better, this includes mass produced Archtops not only solid body guitars.

[Gitterbug]

I wonder how Americans view this, and other impressive factory tour videos from the Far East. A Korean company established some 60 years ago has 1 million guitars made per year in Indonesia. When the standard of infrastructure is sufficient, investment goes to where labor is abundant and cheap. I'm afraid no tariffs will be able to turn the clock back. While there's still guitar making industry in the US and Canada, in Europe virtually all of it succumbed to the Japanese invasion in the 1980s. Finnish Landola was one of the last to struggle, with an annual volume about 5% of Cort's. A huge deal with Peavey crashed due to quality issues in the early 1990s, the company went bankrupt (for the second time) and never recovered.

[GuyBoden]

I wonder how Americans view this, and other impressive factory tour videos from the Far East. A Korean company established some 60 years ago has 1 million guitars made per year in Indonesia. When the standard of infrastructure is sufficient, investment goes to where labor is abundant and cheap. I'm afraid no tariffs will be able to turn the clock back. While there's still guitar making in the US and Canada, in Europe virtually all of it succumbed to the Japanese invasion in the 1980s. Finnish Landola was one of the last to struggle, with an annual volume about 5% of Cort's. A huge deal with Peavey crashed due to quality issues in the early 1990s, the company went bankrupt (for the second time) and never recovered.

If we want to chat about lost industries, well then...........................................

I can still remember British mass produced Motorcycles ruling the world market and the same with British Raleigh Cycles (Nottingham had the world's largest Cycle Factory).

Northern England invented mass produced Cotton weaving factories and had the world's largest Cotton weaving mills, but things changed, cotton weaving production moved else where in the world, and we had to move onto doing something else.

But, if steam trains or horse drawn canal barges make a come back, we'll be ready for that here in Northern England...............

Unfortunately, we live in today's world, not yesterday's world.

[jads57]

Totally agree with the above statement. But the result of buying cheaper goods ends up hurting western countries that have usually a higher standard of living.
This includes education ,infrastructure,healthcare,housing,etc.

But with globalization and technological innovations, and both cheaper labor costs. We are the proverbial Frog in the water,slowly boiling ourselves. This happens because we support places like Walmarts corporate model of doing business.

In fact it’s now pretty standard in most larger companies.Where few make any decent salary or have health benefits any longer.And the lion’s share go to the very top few,in the form of stock buybacks and buyouts.
If we continue this model,and don’t find a less greedy way out of this cycle, our western societ,especially in the U.S.A.
We are headed to becoming a 3rd World Country,unfortunately!

[jads57]

I’d also like to add, that as a long time professional musician, this really hurt music in serious ways. The quality due to lack of revenue streams has made music now made by one person and a computer or worse a teenager w/ out any musical ability or real knowledge to compete in the world.

Great if the kid happens to be Stevie Wonder like.But even Stevie had Motown staff of musicians,composers,arrangers,marketing,etc.
And that collaboration along with him maturing along with those others as well, created some of Pop Music’s most prolific and iconic hits!


This phenomenon has also become prevalent in advertising jingles, Broadway Musical Theatre, and even Bars which funded most musicians paychecks. So we are left with part time and amateur players and singers playing for tips and free beer!
And sure who in world really cares? But think of that happening in all sectors of society?

I sure don’t see anyone in any real profession working in those conditions sans coffee shops,and restaurants,etc.
A.I. now is even making possible to legally steal others work. I imagine it will also come for all professionals jobs eventually.

[Arnesto]

I have a Cort Yorktown (my second guitar) and with a proponer set up it s a Great guitar