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What other companies have acquired guitar brands? ..aside from eastwood buying out defunct harmony/airline
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

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Samick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samick

They were the company that bought out Kurzweil when I worked there and 3 months after telling us employees that everything would run as it always had, they moved to California. :x I chose not to go and stayed in WA as a contract service tech.
Then, a year later, the contract between YCA/Kurzweil and Samick was overruled in court but by that time I was working on more than just Kurzweils so I didn't go back when offered a position. :roll:

...but I digress, Samick has bought out other manufacturers and also manufactures guitars under other brand names. You wouldn't know it unless you looked up the history of which plant the guitar was made in. This has been going on for a long time in the music industry.

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PsYcHo SaMuRai wrote:Samick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samick

They were the company that bought out Kurzweil when I worked there and 3 months after telling us employees that everything would run as it always had, they moved to California. :x I chose not to go and stayed in WA as a contract service tech.
Then, a year later, the contract between YCA/Kurzweil and Samick was overruled in court but by that time I was working on more than just Kurzweils so I didn't go back when offered a position. :roll:

...but I digress, Samick has bought out other manufacturers and also manufactures guitars under other brand names. You wouldn't know it unless you looked up the history of which plant the guitar was made in. This has been going on for a long time in the music industry.
I'm not even sure knowing what plant is was made in will tell you much, a lot of the asian built guitars are made in the same factory. Some people think they are marketed by the same company but they are not. You can have LTDs coming off a line right next to Shecters.

It's the same thing with a lot of gear, and yes a lot of companies jump around....like for a while (not sure if they still are) Akai and Charvel/Jackson were the same company...and Korg use to own Marshall...Ampeg use to be Harmony guitars...been happening forever, just not only with Fender and Gibson :shrug:
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.

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I'm fairly certain Kurzweil never made guitars.

Samick has turned into an asshat of a company. They've closed down their own korean guitar factories. Most / all of the guitars they make now are done in indonesia except the jazz boxes which are done by Peerless. At one time they were responsible for building 70% of the worlds guitars. I've owned 10 samicks over the years. Honestly the best ones to me were the pre valley arts (now owned by Gibson) Samick did the same thing that Cort did for awhile before offshoring. Meaning swap country of origin. They'd have the body and the neck completed elsewhere (thus only being parts) and then mount the neck and or bridge assembly in Korea for the final stage to make it "made in korea"


You can have LTDs coming off a line right next to Shecters.
That's because they are both owned by the same investor (have been since the 80's)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schecter_G ... 93_present
Because Hisatake Shibuya is an independent investor(owner) and it's not an open corporation he doesn't have to list them as being under the same roof.

My point is that while the rest of the music industry is still in flux with constant acquisitions (such as Gibson's buy of Cakewalk and Avid's long/strange history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avid_Technology It's actually diminishing for guitar makers
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

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O.K. I'll have to throw my analog oldies up for fun… Unfortunately I spend more time working than playing guitar these days but it's nice to know there over there when I turn around… That's a super old (52' GA75) Gibson amp (one 15" spkr.) and 72 hardtail strat… a 50s Silvertone jazz box and one of the first GE Smith teles. I sold my old Telecaster custom (74) a couple years ago. (Boss reverb/delay pedal for a little "space"). 8)

Image

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Wow, that's a nice stable.

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Agreed, Nice collection indeed.

Meanwhile...
The arrival of my latest tele happens TODAY!!!! :) one day earlier then expected. I never take these calmly when the item is on the truck and en route. The UPS location is about 2 miles from me and yet I've got a feeling it's packed furthest in so the driver will drop it off last on his way back to the shipping center.

I'm pacing up a storm and not trying to play any of my other guitars so I have fresh fingers when I unbox.

Mike.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

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haha, I see the UPS truck go ALL OVER this little hood before they FINALLY get here :x

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My guitar buying days are over I'm afraid but I've had some unbelievable guitars over the years… I think I figured that if I still had my collection it would be worth around $100k. Scary, but I've always viewed guitars as instruments to make music. I never wanted to own them if I wasn't using them. When things went crazy in the 90s I started selling mine to friends and musicians who were going to play them. They're probably owned by Doctors and lawyers now. Crazy. Here's a partial list:

69' paisley telecaster
52' telecaster (serial no.2357)
65' Flying V
59' ES5 (3 p90s T-Bone model)
80s Les Paul Deluxe gold top
65' Lake Placid blue strat slab board
64' Jazzmaster

And numerous other less desirable Firebirds, strats and teles... Read it and weep… Ha!

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I'm weeping!!!!!!!

I'm mostly really happy with what I have. I'm having an issue on the fender that is driving me batty. It's a 'murican deluxe with one of these newfangled things:

http://www.fender.com/guitar-bass-parts ... ed-chrome/

I don't know if I need to replace it or what but the G string has started where it goes sharp when whammied and pulls back into tune. I know some guitars have this issue but it didn't used to. And I'm terrified of trying techs (god the techs in this area have been FANTASTICALLY bad) and it's not under warranty anymore. Other than that it's a pretty terrific guitar. Sounds and plays wonderful.

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DHR53 wrote: I never wanted to own them if I wasn't using them...
I'm not totally like that. However, I do think guitars are to be played. Although I have a few "collector" worthy guitars, I play them. Once I buy a guitar the chances of me selling it are very slim. At least I've never sold a guitar in the 40 years that I've been buying them. I've slowly built up the few guitars I have, and each one has its own purpose/sound/reason. They are dang near family.

Keyboards on the other hand are disposable to me. I have no idea why I have that opposite behavior/feeling for instrument types. I've bought and sold gazzillions over the years and a lot of it is now back to being worth truckloads of money obies, minis, rolands etc...
If you have to ask, you can't afford the answer

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DHR53 wrote:Image
Is that a Wilkinson bridge on your tele? I love that look but I'm worried that it will change the sound or you get noise without the shielding of the bridge plate. Have you noticed that?

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SJ_Digriz wrote:
DHR53 wrote: I never wanted to own them if I wasn't using them...
I'm not totally like that. However, I do think guitars are to be played. Although I have a few "collector" worthy guitars, I play them. Once I buy a guitar the chances of me selling it are very slim. At least I've never sold a guitar in the 40 years that I've been buying them. I've slowly built up the few guitars I have, and each one has its own purpose/sound/reason. They are dang near family.

Keyboards on the other hand are disposable to me. I have no idea why I have that opposite behavior/feeling for instrument types. I've bought and sold gazzillions over the years and a lot of it is now back to being worth truckloads of money obies, minis, rolands etc...
My personal theory is that a guitar is a much more "intimate" instrument than a keyboard. To play a guitar, you generally hold it close to your body and wrap your arms around it. It also demands constant detailing-type maintainance: tuning, changing strings, cleaning, oiling, etc. These things add to the intimate attachment. Finally, guitars in general will all have a unique identifying look. In this way we visually relate to them like people we know. And their unique tones give them unique "personalities."

The above don't generally apply to keyboards, at least not nearly to the same extent.

Cheers
-B
Berfab
So many plugins, so little time...

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BERFAB wrote: My personal theory is that a guitar is a much more "intimate" instrument than a keyboard. To play a guitar, you generally hold it close to your body and wrap your arms around it. It also demands constant detailing-type maintainance: tuning, changing strings, cleaning, oiling, etc. These things add to the intimate attachment. Finally, guitars in general will all have a unique identifying look. In this way we visually relate to them like people we know. And their unique tones give them unique "personalities."

The above don't generally apply to keyboards, at least not nearly to the same extent.

Cheers
-B
You might be in the ballpark, although I know some keyboard fanatics who might disagree. The only time I've felt about keyboards as I do guitars is when playing really great playing/sounding grand piano. I've had the opportunity to do that a few times. A good grand piano has that same connection of enveloping sound and contact. If anything it is greater than when you play a great acoustic. But, you can't really collect grand pianos can you?
If you have to ask, you can't afford the answer

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The GE Smith tele was spec'd that way… it's a standard flat stamped bridge for string through body but it does have brass saddles. The thing on this guitar was it was supposed to be like his lap steel i.e. the pickup mounted to the body not the bridge. I'm not really sure whether that makes any difference in the sound, as it sounds like an old tele. Front pickup is pretty weak standard tele and the bridge pickup is like a broadcaster... pretty stout. What it does do is sound really tele twangy in the middle, which is what I like. And it had a FAT neck which is what I was looking for. So it was sort of like a less expensive custom shop nocaster. I really like it. It's not any more noisy than any other single coil guitar I've tried, but I do have a dedicated circuit at home to cut down on noise in the guitar area... Ha!

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