| "Unca Bry, why are some guitars so cheap?" Well, little Johnny or Suzy, some guitars are so cheap because they are made in places called "sweat shops." These are horrible places where Mommies and Daddies, and sometimes little boys and girls like you, work really long hours in very bad condition for pennies so they build cheap guitars for people in this country to buy. "Unca Bry, are these sweat shop guitars any good?" No, little Johnny or Suzy, starving people are usually too weak to build a good guitar! "Then why would anyone buy a sweat shop guitar, Unca Bry?" Because some people just want a certain name on the headstock, I guess. "Unca Bry, don't these people who work in sweat shops have more money now than before?" They might have more money (barely), but their standards of life have been drastically degraded. This just shows us there is more to life than $$$. "Unca Bry, why are there sweat shops?" Because some people wanted to pay ridiculously low prices for things and other people figured out they could make more money if they cut corners. If you have heard your Mommy or Daddy say, "You get what you pay for", you know better than these people do. "Are all imported guitars made in sweat shops?" No. Factories in South Korea have established working conditions fairly similar those in our country. However, some big guitar companies are moving production facilities to places like China, who can give them a big workforce they can pay a fraction of what Korean workers would get paid. That makes Unca Bry sad! "Why are you sad, Unca Bry? Do you not like Chinese workers?" No, Unca Bry likes Chinese workers, which is why he wants them to be treated fairly and not be taken advantage of! Unca Bry just believes that people shouldn't "get ahead" by standing on other people's heads! "How can I tell a good imported guitar from a sweat shop guitar?" Your biggest clue will be its price. If the price tag is too low to believe, someone probably bled to build it. Sweat shop guitars usually are "bare bones" models which rely on brand recognition for their retail sale. Just ask yourself the question, "What am I paying for?" "What about companies who tell me that they always treat their workers fairly and that they regularly shuttle employees from the U.S. to another country to build guitars and that their foreign factories operate under the same conditions as their U.S. plants? Unca Bry would like to believe this, but he wasn't born last night! What Unca Bry thinks you should ask these companies is "If you have the same people under the same conditions making these guitars, why do the imports retail for significantly less than their American counterparts? Why aren't you, the good little capitalists you are, charging the same amount for both guitars?" If they do respond to that, please let Unca Bry know what they say! "Why do you care so much about this?" Because Unca Bry likes guitars and likes playing them and doesn't want his pleasure to come from someone else's pain. When Unca Bry gets up "in front of God and everybody" to play, he doesn't want to use a guitar that has been tainted by oppression, because he doesn't think God will be glorified by that. Unca Bry thinks that, whatever your spirituality may or may not be, you should be responsible with your music store dollars and should steer clear of such questionable purchases because when you buy a sweat shop guitar, the "fat cats" are the only ones who win. "I can't afford a new guitar and I'm just one person, so what can I do?" You can do plenty! Unca Bry isn't loaded (he's Unca Bry, not Daddy Warbucks!) so he knows that, as long as you are careful, deliberate and know what you're looking at and for, you can do very well buying a used guitar. Remember, like many other purchases, a piece of gear is an investment and cheap and easy in the beginning can lead to tears and heartbreak down the road! |