Where is the American mech mod?

[Fury83]

You can get a steam monkey for around $120.

The only american mod I have had that is crap and wasn't worth the money to me was the scepter.

 

[SimianSteam]

There will never be a enough of a market for Big Battery mods to justify a large company making them by the thousands. PVs with removable batteries are an enthusiasts item.

 

[Rader2146]

Yeah, but is it really worth the $190 price tag? Parts and machining is about $70.00... I understand "American" made, but I like to be wined and dined before being taken advantage of!!!

$70? The threads alone could cost $70 to cut at a fair labor rate. I think that most of the prices for "hand-made" mods are quite fair. Having more than a few hours behind a lathe, I know that high quality and precision do not come quick, and therefore do not come cheap. I'd be surprised to find that any of the "high-end" mods have less than 10 hours of labor in each finished piece.

 

[Jazzi Mike]

The Reo is amazing. I haven't touched any of my other gear since I got mine

 

[jarreddizzle]

Guys and Gals...
Lets not forget cost of labor and raw metals/materials (China has them for the CHEAPNESSSWAGYADADAMSAYIN?!?!?)

Either way...
Is there a price too high, for AMERICA?

 

[cromagnon]

$70? The threads alone could cost $70 to cut at a fair labor rate. I think that most of the prices for "hand-made" mods are quite fair. Having more than a few hours behind a lathe, I know that high quality and precision do not come quick, and therefore do not come cheap. I'd be surprised to find that any of the "high-end" mods have less than 10 hours of labor in each finished piece.

Woah, hold on there. It was not my intension to turn this into a high-end versus mass produced debate.

Yes, a small outfit has high labor costs and it takes a good long while to make them "by hand".

I happen to make guitars as one of my (many) hobbies. It takes me many hours to make a guitar neck using a thickness planner, a bandsaw, a router, a spoke shave, a drill press, a belt sander and an oscillating spindle sander not to mention a good while hand sanding and the fret slots have to be cut by hand on a jig as well.

A CNC machine can do all this in a matter of minutes - never leaves the machine.

Does that make a "hand made" neck better? It does not.

It just means that a lot more personal effort went into making it. Some people prefer things made the old fashion way for various reasons - which is fine.

It is not my intension to attack, degrade or begrudge any small businesses here. People will buy what they want and can afford.

The truth is that I have looked into the actual costs of the material stock needed as well as the machinery costs on even the most basic level. So, I have a good idea about what's going on behind the scenes.

My point is about industry and mass production. Please don't throw that into the same boat as the small shop craftsman.

And by the way, the $600 a month wage of the Chinese worker that somebody quoted if quadrupled comes out to about the same as the average machinist wage in the US which is $12 - $15 an hour. Hence my $15 vs $60 - $80 comparison.

I have received several reasonable opinions that have stayed on point. Please don't turn this into a craftsman vs computer thread.

 

[Rader2146]

Woah, hold on there. It was not my intension to turn this into a high-end versus mass produced debate.

That wasn't my intention either. My comments were directed specifically to muzichead's comments about the cost of materials and machining for a high-end mod.

To the topic, mass-production would require mass-demand. Obviously, supply and demand drives the market and the Chinese have a firm hold on the demand for cheap mods. Unfortunately for any US based manufacturer looking to get in the game, the chinese mods work, many of them quite well. That doesnt leave much of a demand for a mod of similar, or even slightly better quality at 4x price. Unless a person has disposable income and is the kind that refuses to shop at WalMart or other mass import big box stores, that person would likely expect 4x of his money to buy him a proportional increase in quality. Sadly, I don't see any business venture of this type to be anything but a sinking ship.