string_slinger wrote:
Yes, but remember, manufacturers build to a price and the factories in Korea spec to that price. 'Where' is the labour cost part of the equation, but not the only part. The factory that used to build Jap Squiers now builds 30k Gretsch White Falcons for Fender - same factory, different price spec. PRS are pretty anal about wood and hardware choice for the SE range - not as anal as for the USA guitars, but they certainly didn't spec just any mahogany or parts for these. They knew what they wanted to achieve for what price, and they've done an epic job. Have to say, I used to own an original Santana SE (green one with stripe inlays) and that was a great guitar - the current ones are even better.
+1 ... Dave nailed it ... and he knows what he's talking about.
Zark ... if you took Dave's Singlecut and put it up against that Tremonti SE, you'll understand where that extra money goes. Now if you don't need that extra something in a guitar, then you will really struggle (of course my opinion is that you won't succeed) to match the quality at the price-point of the SE. The way I feel about the SE line is not that they are the cheaper brothers of the USA models (like Epiphone is to Gibson), but rather that each model in the SE range is a model in its own right. Built (as Dave says) to a price-point to be best of breed. That is all they share with their USA brothers. As was mentioned earlier, all SE's are sent to the USA factory for final setup and testing. That also ads to the final cost ... imagine if they stopped doing that and rather dropped the price of the SE range by around a third. Damn nothing would even be in the same league for value-for-money. Let's not even get into the quality of the included heavily padded SE gigbags which are unmatched by any mid-priced line.
Yes yes yes I'm biased! But I'll happily sing the praises of anything that can change my mind.
