When friends buy guitars, I think one of the most confusing questions is “What is a handmade guitar?” and “Why buy a handmade guitar?” We know that all excellent classical guitars are handmade products. (But not all handmade guitars are good guitars). Due to mass production of factory guitars, it is impossible to adjust the sound quality of the guitar in the production mode of running water. For woods with very different attributes, they all use a uniform processing program. Therefore, the quality of the sound cannot be excellent. In addition, even some factory pianos are better. But it is almost impossible to guarantee that the entire batch of guitars will have the same quality. Because of this, more and more guitars on the market are now labeled “handmade guitar”, including some of their inferior guitars and “handmade guitars.” This really makes guitar lovers feel at a loss when they buy. I don’t recommend economical or experienced guitar lovers to use factory guitars.
So how do you distinguish between handmade guitars and factory products?
Here are some ways for your reference. The guitars produced in general workshops are all handmade. For example, Vowinkel, Stenzel, Smallman and the guitar I introduced here. The annual output of these famous artists is less than 15 (the production volume is less than 20 in some years). They are all made independently, so it can be considered a handmade guitar, and this is a fact that has long been recognized by the world, so buyers can rest assured. If it is a famous brand, such as Ramirez, Bernabe, Contreras and other guitars, some are hand-made (referring to the signature of the producer of the trademark). But the student guitars or low-cost guitars they produce are often factory-processed (OEM), which are the most confusing, so be careful. The hand-made guitar we are talking about should be made by a producer (and should be a well-known guitar producer). Otherwise, everyone can ask a woodworker to complete a guitar by himself, according to the drawings. The effect can be imagined. Of course, accessories such as bridges are likely to be ready-made.
Judging from the price point, in general, the production of concert handmade guitars can only be produced within 15-20 per year per producer. Therefore, the price is relatively expensive, and it is necessary to distinguish whether the guitar is less than 10,000 yuan. It is possible to encounter a handmade guitar in this price range, and it is more likely to encounter a factory guitar. However, if a guitar goes through a lot of sales, it may sell for 20,000, 30,000 or even higher, but it is a factory product.
In terms of production, it is as described above for the production of handmade guitars.
If a guitar is available in a variety of stocks around the world (or a region), it is generally a factory product. There are some popular hand-made guitars, which are made up of several producers in the hand workshop. It depends on the brand and reputation of this workshop, and the level of masters in key panel production. Although this type of guitar is not expensive, it can meet the requirements of most guitar students. For example, one of the most famous hand workshops in Barcelona, Spain, Antonio Picado – Antonio Aparicio (the former has only seven producers in the workshop, the latter only has more than 10 producers) made the guitar.
In fact, any classical guitar or acoustic guitar is handmade in a certain sense. Because a machine that can mold the above guitar has not been invented so far. As a result, some factory guitar manufacturers or distributors have eloquently said that their products are “handmade guitars”. But how do you define a handmade guitar in the true sense? The hand-made guitars we want to define are instruments that have been selected by the producers and processed according to their own characteristics and techniques. Such instruments have a relatively uniform sound effect and quality.
In nature, the texture of each tree is different. Even the wood collected from the same tree has different qualities in different parts. Therefore, the producer must have a wealth of experience. The first step is to first determine which woods are suitable for making instruments and which ones can only be used for furniture or construction sites. The producers then test the hardness, elasticity, etc. of the wood they have initially selected. Based on these hardness and elastic properties, they have to think about how to turn this particular material into a tool to achieve their sound concept. They have to determine the overall thickness and thickness distribution of the material. (Many production masters introduce their guitars, and for the thickness of the panels, they only give a range, such as 2.1mm – 2.3mm). The thickness of the panel of a handmade guitar is different, and in some areas it is thinner and some areas are thicker. All of these decisions are for one goal, that is, to realize the sound concept of the producer. Of course, design is also very important. But the design is not static. In the production process, the producer must adjust their design according to the characteristics of the materials and the specific problems encountered in the production process.
After the entire guitar is completed, the handmade guitar maker must manually paint the guitar. This is a very important process. Because if the paint is too thick, it will affect the vibration of the guitar and affect the sound. Therefore, hand-made guitar makers generally do not use the machine painting method to paint the guitar, but paint it many times by hand.
Therefore, a handmade guitar takes much more time than a factory guitar. On the other hand, the factory guitar, they also select materials, but more is to start from the appearance. The more beautiful the material (not necessarily a good material in acoustics) will be used on guitars with higher models (not necessarily sound better). Then, they started production in a uniform process, and the production process was highly divided. Some people specialize in making necks, some specialize in making panels, some specializing in making back panels, etc. The final tool is to assemble these semi-finished products.
The whole process is done manually by machine, but the most important difference is:
- Uniform panel thickness ignores the different properties of different materials.
Therefore, in the professional or experienced guitar lovers, the guitar sound of the same model of the factory can be very different. It is also often found that the sound of its premium model is better than that of the lower model. The reason is that the materials used for the advanced models are good. However, it does not play its sound characteristics through good production, or it may be a material that cannot be used.
- Different craftsmen make different parts and finally assemble them. There is no coordination of the unified production concept throughout the process. Therefore, a unified sound goal cannot be achieved.
- Machine paint is often too thick and affects the pronunciation of the guitar.
The only advantage of the factory guitar is that it is fast and can be mass-produced to meet the needs of ordinary fans. The disadvantages are obvious and there is no stable product quality. That kind of obviously can only be used in primary guitar production. Therefore, I think that if you are in a guitar with a few thousand yuan or more, it is unreasonable to choose a factory guitar. Because the value of a guitar is not just about those materials. The proportion of material in the total value of a guitar is limited. The value of a guitar lies in the craftsmanship, including the cost per unit time and the value of the producer. And these are exactly what factory guitars don’t have.
I also recommend factory guitars, such as the Fitness guitar. Because it is cheap, and the production process, material selection is relatively more particular. Even so, we still have to pick out many unsatisfactory return manufacturers in every batch of guitars. Ordinary guitar lovers have very few opportunities to pick qualified products from a group of guitars. All in all, high-quality classical guitars must have been hand-crafted to date. However, not a handmade guitar means a high quality guitar. In any case, the producer’s philosophy, craftsmanship, experience, and accomplishment are the decisive factors. It is ridiculous that some producers attribute the quality of their guitar to the quality of the material. Because it is not difficult to buy high-quality materials in the market. And I saw some factory guitars or some poor quality hand-made guitars, and often found that they used very good materials, which is really a pity!