Import factory closing?
- Thread starter AcornHouse
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GGJaguar
Reverential Member
Even with the higher quality (and cost) of a Terada-made Guild Starfire, it would be competing with the same price point for pre-owned US-made Starfires (mainly from the 1990s and early 2000s). I suspect the US models would then increase in price as a result.
This has been "the" conundrum for Guild since New Hartford (and before). They told us that at LMG, and you can be sure that Guild's management thinks about this constantly. It certainly concerned Fender, and I guess that Yamaha Guitar Group worries about it too.
Just catching up on this thread, but what's funny is that Johnny Cola (the OP) is a pretty good friend of mine. He's been a stalwart of the Long Island/NYC music scene for decades!
GGJaguar
Reverential Member
In the "small world" department, I corresponded with him over 25 years ago about Fender Coronados. Anyway, may you can check with him to see what his source is for the info and if he has anything else he can share.
I should see him soon, although maybe not before we leave for Norway. The next six days are going to be packed!
Johnny (like Buddy Miller) is into all kinds of oddball electric guitars, so it figures that he's an authority on Reverends. I've played a few of their basses, and much like Rickenbackers, they just leave me cold.
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
Just checked shipment records and SPG Musical Instruments Co., Ltd. shipped a batch of 200+ electrical guitars to Guild in Oxnard, they arrived mid February in California.
On 3/18 a shipment of Fender guitars arrived in Newark for MIRC. That's the last shipment I see coming from SPG.
Anyway, as it looks the last shipments out of SPG to any US customer were made around February, so it is possible they shut down in February 2024.
Ralf
jp
Senior Member
Ah. That's a good point and also makes sense. So ultimately, it wouldn't be so good for all of us who like the vintage U.S. models.
Yet despite being mindful of this, Fender still put out U.S.-made Guilds back then. The used guitar market, however, is a vastly different beast now than what it was 20 years ago. I'm interested to see what will happen.
LesB3
Member
Story starts at 3:17 or so... apparently they were going to have a few new Reverend models made at SPG, got a few prototypes, and then got the notification that SPG were closing their doors, having lost the Guild business after Yamaha bought CMG.
Could be a good reason for the Sweetwater X-175 and X-350 sell-off.
GuildFS4612CE
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According to Reverend Guitar vid, SPG plant is no more!
Story starts at 3:17 or so... apparently they were going to have a few new Reverend models made at SPG, got a few prototypes, and then got the notification that SPG were closing their doors, having lost the Guild business after Yamaha bought CMG. 😳 Could be a good reason for the Sweetwater...
letstalkguild.com
GuildFS4612CE
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GGJaguar
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Of course, this makes me wonder if YGG will pull the plug on those models all together or if they will move production to a Yamaha facility in either Japan (unlikely), Indonesia or China. And then, what of the Westerly line made in China? Do those get moved to a Yamaha facility, too.According to Reverend Guitar vid, SPG plant is no more!
Story starts at 3:17 or so... apparently they were going to have a few new Reverend models made at SPG, got a few prototypes, and then got the notification that SPG were closing their doors, having lost the Guild business after Yamaha bought CMG. 😳 Could be a good reason for the Sweetwater...
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LesB3
Member
Arguably, the (now defunct) Korean models competed with these same guitars - a MIK SFIII or SFIV lists at $1399 (even now), which could easily get you into a Fender-era USA Starfire on the used market. I think the argument that the used Guild market has an effect on the new guitar market borders on a non sequitur: there aren't as many FMIC Guilds out there as we like to think, and there's an argument to be made that a Terada-made Guild could still be superior / at the same price point. There's precedence for this already: a brand new Terada Gretsch Anniversary runs for the same price (or maybe even more than) a 60's USA Annie goes for now, and we all know which one is the better guitar. Granted, when we move into discussing full hollow-body guitars like the X-175 and X-350, the math changes substantially. I think there is where a case could be made to manufacture in Japan -even Fender era jazz boxes are getting pricy on the used market.
My guess is they will move them to Indonesia (Cort or Samick). Epiphone had their new 150th Anniversary Zephyr made there ($1299 List), so a full-hollowbody guitar manufacturing capability does exist there now. And like someone else said, they make the poor-quality SF-I's there too. Either that, or they could move them to the same factory in China that Gretsch uses for their cheap-o Electromatics. Doesn't matter which one they pick - I'll never buy a hollow Guild made in one of those factories. I (briefly) had one of the new Epiphones; it was a terrible guitar, cheap and lifeless, uninspired and uninspiring. It went back the next day. My SFI was a QC nightmare. I still have it (I haven't even been able to give it away to one of my friends yet).
I've never seen a company bump a contract-manufactured guitar up in quality, its always gone down. Contract manufacturing is about maintaining price points (and profit numbers) so when costs or labor go up, there will always be a move to a lower-tier (lower labor cost) factory in order to maintain profitability.
LesB3
Member
According to the interwebs, they made quite a lot of brands there: Gretsch (moved), Guild, and D'Angelico (wonder what they will do now that their top-level plant is no more???), not to mention smaller brands like Reverend and Comins. It will be interesting to see what happens to brands that relied on SPG for their TOTL instruments - no one will pay top dollar for an Indonesian D'angelico, thats for sure!
GGJaguar
Reverential Member
Some D'Angelico models were made by Vestax in Japan before they moved production to Korea. It like guitar manufacturer musical chairs!
Walter Broes
Enlightened Member
OK, so Yamaha decided not to have those guitars made at SPG any more - so it's not a case of SPG closing and Yamaha being confronted with a problem.SPG were closing their doors, having lost the Guild business after Yamaha bought CMG.
I guess that could mean two things - either the Yamaha bean counters have looked at the profit situation and decided to pull the "retro hollowbodies" from the lineup because they're not making (enough) money for the company, or Yamaha has their own facility, or a better deal at a different one where they can build them.
In any case, I guess we'll be speculating wildly on here until we see what happens.
GGJaguar
Reverential Member
We're very good at that.