Factory Visit

Hey all,

Next week I'm heading to China and I will be visiting the Factory where our kits (and Guitars) are manufactured.

I'm hoping to have a meeting with the Factory manager and raise a few issues that regularly pop up with our kits.

I'm going to ask them about:

• Misaligned tuner and string through body holes.
• The thickness of the veneers; ie, can we pay more for a thicker veneer?
• Glue spots
• Wonky headstock shaping on some of the 3 a side headstocks.
• Turnaround on custom orders, which seems to vary between 4 and 12 weeks. Hoping to come up with some guidelines so we can give a more accurate ETD for custom orders.

If you have any recurring issues to add, please post in this thread.

The neck twist issue has been resolved. That is, they are aware of it and are going to replace the necks of the 23 kits we have collected here with twisted necks.

If it's just "Can they make XYZ?", please email this to me and I can email my contact.

Hi Adam,

The jack hole in the SGD-612 probably needs to be moved from the factory settings.

Attachment 13453

As you can see from the position, the jack, when inserted, shorts out on the back of the pot.

I plugged my hole, and drilled another one on the top of the body. Its heaps better there.

Attachment 13456Attachment 13457

(thank god you guys know i'm talking about guitars......:o)

Hey Ads, sounds good, hope there are no language barriers between yourself and the factory manager.
The tele kits the bridge pup cavity should be moved about 5mm toward the neck. Also the tele neck pup cavities are too big. We had a discussion a while ago and most forumites wanted a single neck pup route. Currently the neck pup route is too big for a standard humbucker surround.
Good luck with the visit !

That's cool, so when does Adam get back from visiting the factory in China?, I need to email him about that 51 Tele kit that I want to order soon.


@ Adam Wishing you a happy and safe flight to China and hope all those issues with the kits can be all sorted out, cheers mate.

Pot holes on the FB-1M are too close to the raised section to get knobs on I believe.

Neck PUP Rout on J Bass is too large in case anybody wanted to go sans pick guard.

I'm still here DrNomis, leave early Friday morning, hopefully. I only thought on Saturday, "hmmm, I wonder if I need a Visa?". Of course I do. The good people at the Perth Chinese Visa Office kindly sympathised with me being a complete fricken idiot and have arranged the Visa for pick up Thursday (day before I leave).

Keep the comments coming, it's good stuff I didn't know about.

Wokka, I thought we had decided on a clean, single coil size rout in the TL bridge. Not that they got that right, as they've gone the humbucker size again. I think the single coil size would be best then you can rout (file?) out if you want something bigger in there.

Hey Ads, yes if the builder wants a humbucker neck pup the single cavity can easily be routed to a humbucker size. Sounds good.
Glad you got your Visa sorted in time !

If I had to be really picky......the kick ramp (ie where the headstock meets the fret board) on the ST and TL kits is on a bit of an angle to the nut slot, here is a photo of my ST kit and the community ST



Attachment 13503Attachment 13504

Have number one golden good time Mr Adam.
Oh I suppose you know about "happy money?" the money you need to leave the foreman or manager to ensure every one is happy? A friend in the clothing industry is always complaining about happy money. His trick was he sent a woman to the factory saying she was a quality control inspector for his company, they paid HER happy money to say all was good ;D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by adam

I'm still here DrNomis, leave early Friday morning, hopefully. I only thought on Saturday, "hmmm, I wonder if I need a Visa?". Of course I do. The good people at the Perth Chinese Visa Office kindly sympathised with me being a complete fricken idiot and have arranged the Visa for pick up Thursday (day before I leave).

Keep the comments coming, it's good stuff I didn't know about.

Wokka, I thought we had decided on a clean, single coil size rout in the TL bridge. Not that they got that right, as they've gone the humbucker size again. I think the single coil size would be best then you can rout (file?) out if you want something bigger in there.

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Ah rightio, I'll wait till you get back from visiting the Factory, I have some guitar projects to work on in the meantime anyway, as Dedman said, hope you have a great time mate.

How about veneer sheets for headstocks? Some of the Flame / Quilted Maple would be nice! If it was available separately so you could add as part of the build process.... Anyone else like that idea?

Great idea Brendan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brendan

How about veneer sheets for headstocks? Some of the Flame / Quilted Maple would be nice! If it was available separately so you could add as part of the build process.... Anyone else like that idea?

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Definatley

Enjoy the trip...

But, you know we'll expect a full video documentary showing the PBG kits being made when you get back, no pressure ;)

great idea Bman and Weirdy. They may not want video camera's in the factory in case we see some method or technique they may not want us to see but worth a go !

Would definitely be cool to see the techniques behind it if its allowed!

There is a video of a tour of the factory that makes Chapman guitars (and quite a lot of other brands) in Korea, I imagine the Chinese factory would be similar but without the dust masks and safety boots :P IE huge multi head cnc routers cutting 6 or more bodies at a time.

Thanks for all your feedback guys, appreciated. I will raise all of these issues.

I'm sure I will be able to get some video... I've seen some still shots from the factory and it doesn't look that exciting, but I'll try and get some stills/video of the various steps... and maybe even some shots of the actual Luthiers (I use that term loosely) who make our kits and guitars.

I'll check this thread again next Tuesday night, before the Factory visit on Wednesday.

all the best for the trip Ads, what's happening with GOTM judging do you want us to send comments/scores to Brendan or wait for your return?

Hey Wokks - I'll coordinate GOTM while Ads is away - there are some cracking entries, so it could be a tricky one!

Adam - MMB-4 - is the pickup 4 wire (red, green, black, white, earth) (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-1pcs-...0AAOSw5HJXLBIC) or 2 wire (black /white) (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Musiclily...gAAOSwKfVXJ9Nm).

The 4 wire version is splittable and the 2 wire one is not. Given the control plate is has 3 knobs, I think we need the 4 wire, but there were a few 2 wire ones come through.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by adam

I'll check this thread again next Tuesday night, before the Factory visit on Wednesday.

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Don't count on it Ads. When I was in China two years ago I could not access this website (or many, many others) due to their super strict internet censorship. Don't count on facebook either, it just won't work.

I would be very surprised if they let you film there, or if the resulting film is something you might want to put up given the potential of their working conditions

That depends, Stan. Where I was, in Shenzhen, the factories are mostly quite modern and they are very proud of them. We were invited to inspect almost all of the production facilities we contacted (CNC router and Laser cutter manufacturing).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stan

I would be very surprised if they let you film there, or if the resulting film is something you might want to put up given the potential of their working conditions

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I visited the Chinese factory for our Hydraulic Rockbreakers back in 2008. They had no issues with us taking photos back then, but video wasn't as popular as it is now. While the factory looked as you would expect for an industrial workplace, the workers were slightly overdressed for what you would expect. When you see a woman working on a lathe in high heels, you know they asked everyone to dress up for our visit!!!
The biggest culture shock was seeing the toilet facilities. While they had plumbing, having to squat over a toilet bowl flush with the floor is not the best idea they have come up with! Thankfully a #1 was all that was needed by me while I was there, but my wife and bosses wife weren't overly impressed!!

LOL, squat toilets are pretty common in Japan too, not great for those of us with arthritic knees :P

Hey all.

Just had an email from our fearless leader.
Internet connection is a tad sketchy so Adam has asked me to let you all know that the factory tour was a resounding success and there will be photos and videos. (Appropriate bribes having been paid to the factory manager)

Hurray for happy money!

cool, but we are now known as Lucky Golden Dragon Guitars...

good stuff cheers for the update DB, look forward to Ads full pitch report on his return

Howdy all, I made it home, almost intact.

That little "niggle" in my ankle, before I left, turned out to be a full blown case of gout.

"Have you been drinking beer, walking a lot and having irregular sleep?"

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Attachment 13851

Fricken painful, but I didn't let it stop me.


Updates from the factory visit to follow in the next few days.

Sorry to hear about the gout - good to hear that it didn't stop you.

Welcome home Ads. Hope you get over the gout your feet look well swollen

Attachment 13852

Here's a great shot of all the key players in the production of our kits.

On the far left (of the photo) is Mr Chien, Production Manager for the factory. We got on really well and he listened to all the issues I brought up. We had a tea ceremony when I arrived, had a full tour of the factory and then went out to a fantastic lunch, where much alcohol was consumed (hence the gout).

The guy on my left is Tom who was the driver for the whole of my visit.

The woman in red is Amanda, our primary contact. We've been communicating for 4 years and have become good friends; I'd like to think genuinely. She is a real sweetie and just as I had imagined.

On Amanda's left is Jenny, who is Amanda's boss. She is always introduced as "the wife of the Manager", but she is also a Manager. This only makes sense in China.

And the woman on the end was clearly not important (/s) because no one ever introduced us... I assume it's Mr Chien's wife.

These two guys are their "Guard Dogs".

Attachment 13853

Nope, not joking. Seems they spend their days in these cages and are let out at night to guard the factory. I assume the smaller one on the right guards with his adorableness and reminds the potential robber of all that is good with the world, so the robber immediately gives up, goes home, and takes stock of his life.

And, you know I'm a dog guy, but after the whole 10 days in China, everything I experienced, the one thought that is with me now is that the dog on the left didn't have any water in his bowl and it was stinkin' hot. And I didn't say anything.

Photos and vids of the inside of the factory to follow.

Nice intro to the key staff Ads.
Look forward to videos and more pics

@ Adam Thank goodness you got back home to Oz safely, sorry to hear about the gout, hope you get well soon mate.

Dayum, sorry to hear about the foot, I bet its fricken painful.

Great update, thanks for that.

Welcome back, glad it was a successful trip, and gout sucks, get well

oooh gout sucks badly! Glad you could still soldier on and enjoy the visit.