“The majority of Barcus-Berry pickups are made in the United States. We have not strayed from the Barcus-Berry factory that has made the products what they are today. The level of quality from this U.S.-based factory has given Barcus-Berry its reliable reputation.” —Kimberly Hawthorne, Barcus-Berry
“Vic Firth manufactures all of our drum sticks, mallets, practice pads, and drum mutes in Newport, Maine. We only use the best grades of American Hickory from Kentucky and Tennessee for our drum sticks due to their superior quality and well-known durability over imported wood types. This allows us to maintain the highest quality standards and immediate product shipment to our partners within 24 hours with a 99 percent fill rate, which is critical for the dealers to maintain our mutual customers.” —Mark Dyke, Vic Firth
“Fender is a company that was born in Southern California and, over time, has literally helped to define American music culture. That fact is essential to the proverbial DNA of our company and everything we do, and we will continue to remain true to our roots.
Players aspire to own Fender USA instruments for many reasons, whether it’s the quality or simply the way our American-made instruments look, sound and feel. Whatever the reasons, we must meet the expectations of our customers. By creating products right here in the United States, we are able to tightly control how our products are made, ultimately to deliver the finest instruments possible.” —Andy Rossi, Fender
“The Manhasset Specialty Company has been manufacturing symphony-quality music stands and music accessory products for nearly 75 years, and we feel that our manufacturing in America affords us many distinct advantages over having them made overseas. These advantages include the following: Longevity: Manhasset has been doing what we do for a long time. We have had many decades to work things out, and develop the best ways to make our products. Local Control: Because we do not outsource our products or associated operations, we have 100 percent control. In addition to our ability to continually monitor, oversee and direct processes, we can immediately make operational, process, or other changes. Quality: Our policy requires inspections and verification through every manufacturing step and the entire packing and handling process. Customer Service: Rather than the customers having to contact the store where items were purchased or a supplier, we direct them to us. We deal with them and their issues first hand. Employee Owned: The Manhasset Specialty Company is an Employee Stock Ownership Company, meaning that all of our employees have a stake in the company.” —Barry Heid, Manhasset Specialty Company
“As a tiny company, we have much better control over our manufacturing here. We can move quicker on new designs and make updates faster. Fewer surprises. Plus, most of our customers like the idea of a California-built product.” —Dave Smith, Dave Smith Instruments
“Whirlwind has always had a reputation for making high quality products and we also build a lot of custom pieces with short lead-times. You just can’t get as consistent a quality of manufacture overseas unless you invest heavily in constantly having on-site people from your company to enforce strict procedures. Short-run custom builds are impossible to do overseas and it’s also impossible to meet deadlines that our customers have come to expect from us regularly. We have domestic sources for high-quality components that are closer and more reliable. This helps in controlling inventory levels, maintaining the quality of product, and shortening lead times. We are a company that has been manufacturing in the U.S. for 35 years.” —Al Keltz, Whirlwind
“There are several reasons. First of all, our business is made up of our people and our factory. We all need jobs and aren’t excited about sending our own jobs to another country. Second—and this comes back to people—it’s the people here who know how to do the work, so the quality of the guitars would surely suffer if we exported our production to Asia. Third, we have a highly sophisticated factory that’s equipped with the latest technology, which is required to craft precision musical instruments. We have spent millions upon millions of dollars keeping our factory on the leading edge. Asia does not offer this, only low-wage labor.” —Bob Taylor, Taylor Guitars
“The No. 1 reason we build all our products here is because it fuels our desire to make them better and feeds our new product imagination. Secondarily, we will ship products of a higher quality from here. We understand the subtleties of our instruments better than any Asian or Mexican contract manufacturer does, and we will see small deficiencies that would otherwise go unnoticed. We source components from all over the world and we see the quality that comes in from overseas vendors and, frankly, many of those component parts are returned and never make it into our products. These components would be installed if the factory were simply a job shop and not as careful as we are about the quality of our finished products. When you visit the Moog factory, you see all our products being produced and it gives you a real sense of Moog, an American company.” —Mike Adams, Moog Music
“There are many reasons. First, Completely Oblivious, Inc. manufactures Pointless Picks in Southeast Michigan and our economy is in a depression. In our small way, we are taking a stand against outsourcing. Manufacturing locally allows us to maintain high-quality standards and eliminate shipping costs. It also gives us peace of mind in protecting our intellectual property, which is impossible to do in places such as China.” —Douglas Larsen, Completely Oblivious
“Simply put, virtually every product on the U.S. market contains some elements of foreign production and that is how it should be in a globally competitive marketplace. However, almost any U.S.-based product manufacturer would agree that product control and quality control are extremely difficult when retail-ready products are made overseas. Variances exist in every complex system and global manufacturing and component sourcing are prime examples of it. But when those variances appear and need to be resolved right then to meet a production deadline, how can you be a part of the decision to use this kind of epoxy or that kind of cable if your manufacturing operation is 12 time zones away? You can’t.” —Dan Goldsmith, X-Laser LLC
“Our factories in the U.S. are very flexible. They contain specialized equipment and experienced personnel and they are in close proximity to our engineering talent. Therefore, in the U.S., we are able to build a much broader range of SKUs with a smaller inventory investment and shorter lead times, which results in a much tighter alignment between manufacturing output and demand fluctuations. This translates into improved customer service levels. Also, we are able to build more complex and technically demanding products more effectively in the U.S. This gives us time-to-market and technical superiority advantages.” —John Andrews, QSC
“We’ve found that it’s much easier to control production quality by manufacturing locally, and the savings on inbound freight costs is significant. We’re having all the main components of our new TWA Little Dipper envelope-filter built right here in New Jersey, so we can oversee quality right as the product comes off the production line. In addition, we’re putting money back into the pockets of our neighbors and helping to stimulate our local and state economies. It’s a good feeling, and more Americans should be concerned about these types of intangible benefits, before we’re all out of jobs.” —Kevin Bolembach, Godlyke
“We make the great majority of our guitars here in Nazareth, Pa. Of course, we take great pride in all of our products, especially the very special guitars made here in Nazareth. These instruments have a heritage and legacy that traces back nearly two centuries. We could shut everything down, leverage our brand and make inexpensive copies of our guitars in China, but that would be shortsighted and probably disastrous to our esteemed reputation. It would also terminate most everything that is special about Martin guitars.” —Dick Boak, CF Martin
“The main reason is quality control. Manufacturing is much more than schematics alone. All of our products are tested several times at various stages and there are things only musicians hear. When you design and manufacture in the same building, we can constantly monitor each and every step. This helps us see how we can improve the process and increase reliability, which is why we have such a low repair rate. When you go offshore, it can take months to implement changes. We can do it within a day.” —Dale Krevens, Tech 21
“Peavey has a long history of American manufacturing and makes more products in the U.S.A. than any other manufacturer in the music products industry. A dealer who sold our first SP loudspeakers in the 1970s can buy the latest evolution of the series today, and they’re still made here in the U.S.A. In fact, although we source select product lines overseas, the vast majority of our products are made here. I believe that we have achieved a unique balance in which we can still compete with the industry on entry-level products while continuing to serve the middle and upper ends of the market with American-made wares. That’s evident with our 19th Street Custom Shop. We made our first big push into custom instrument making in 2004 and, this year, we expanded to include custom amplifiers.…While most of our competition sources products that are both designed and manufactured offshore, Peavey’s approach is to design and engineer in the U.S.A. and specify components, etc., for all Peavey products manufactured offshore. It’s a difference that is usually readily apparent.” —Hartley Peavey
“We make our products here for two reasons: We provide jobs for U.S. workers and we have better quality control over our products.” —Orin Portnoy, CE Distribution
“The heritage of Conn-Selmer brands is the ‘American sound’ that has defined band music since musical instruments started being made in America. Great reputations have been earned by those who produced this ‘defining sound’ of an instrument, including Vincent Bach, Alexander Selmer and George Bundy, C.G. Conn, William Ludwig, H.N. White and Vito Pascucci. Today, Conn-Selmer continues that tradition with an enduring craftsmanship, expertise, and dedication that is required to guarantee this famous heritage. We are proud that our American-made instruments provide jobs that, in turn, help support American music education.” —Scott Jennie, Conn-Selmer
“Rane manufactures in the U.S.A. because it is the best way for us to produce the musical instruments and professional sound tools our customers demand, respect, and deserve. It simply makes sense. Rane is proud to define, design, manufacture, and support all of our products from our single facility in Mukilteo, Wash. Doing so allows us to have a deep understanding of our product, our customer needs, and gives us a superior ability to support our products and react to customer wants and desires.” —George M. Sheppard, Rane Corp.
“In our business, quality and accuracy are extremely important, especially when it comes to copyrighted material. Not only do we have a responsibility to the consumer to deliver a product with accurate transcriptions of the audio tracks, but we also have been entrusted by the composer to represent their creations in the best possible manner. The only way to maintain the type of controls on the manufacturing process we require is to produce it locally. The cost savings by using Asian production do not outweigh these benefits. Additionally, we have a fairly automated manufacturing process, and we have found that pricing in the U.S. has gotten increasingly competitive with overseas manufacturing. Once you factor in the additional freight costs, there is very little cost benefit to importing from Asia.” —Bryan Bradley, Alfred Publishing
“Headquartered and manufacturing in Austin, Texas, we are at the global crossroads of music and technology. Our location has everything to do with what kind of company we are, and what we ultimately aspire to be. In Austin, we have access to the talent and resources necessary to design and manufacture these smart music instruments. We could not do that by turning this over to disengaged assembly line employees. Manufacturing in the United States (and especially the Central Time Zone) also enables us to more efficiently and effectively communicate with all aspects of our business, eliminating language, time, and cultural barriers typically associated with overseas manufacturing.” —Victor Wong, Open Labs
“The reason for making DBZ Guitars here in the states is simply there is a demand for my U.S.A.-made guitars. While Asian manufacturers make a very nice product, the attention to detail it takes to make an ultra fine guitar that caters to the demands of my artists and collectors could never be achieved in a mass production environment. There is also a big demand for customization of my guitars and that is not possible out of Asian factories. Our U.S.A. guitars compared to our Asian instruments are much like the difference between a Toyota and a Bentley. Fortunately, I have always had customers for both.” —Dean Zelinsky, DBZ Guitars/Diamond Amplification
“Not only are all of our products made in the U.S., but they are all made in our one factory in Connecticut. Manufacturing in the U.S. is a great way to provide jobs. Our parent company is Bridgeport Wire, and we’ve been in business for 60 years.” —Chris Pelletier, Strings By Aurora
“Our products are all made in the United States. Our factory is located in Kalamazoo, Mich., where the original Gibson factory is. We were all former Gibson people. In 1995, Gibson decided to close that factory. When they did, Gibson asked the factory workers to relocate to Nashville. Many decided not to do so. Kalamazoo has a number of great craftsmen we can draw when building our guitars. Every one of our guitars is handmade. It takes years of experience to build handmade guitars and we have many great people [available in Michigan].” —Lane Zastrow, Heritage Guitar
( continued, next page >> )
[ pages: 1 - 2 - 3 ]
|
you can download this entire issue here >>
