Just to chime in about Chinese manufacturers… My first piano was a Pearl River made in China. To me, that piano has superior touch and tone in comparison to the many other pianos I’ve played to this day. Although I love my current piano which has a similar feel, I still sometimes woe the fact that the Pearl River couldn’t accompany me overseas. Both my best friend and I got Pearl Rivers when we started piano studies due to our (same) teacher’s recommendation. Both are very good pianos. However, another family friend’s daughter who got a “store brand” wasn’t so lucky. That piano’s keys are clunky and the tone very muffled. (Not endorsing Pearl River here, just saying I’ve encountered good ones in early 90’s.)
The thing with the music instrument market in China (or anywhere else) is that if you go in as an amateur without having done any extensive research or have any help from a professional, it’s likely you’d look at the price tags first, which in turn might lead you to generic store brands. For every well made instrument out there, there are 10 or more mass produced “store brands”. Also there’s the problem with “pirated” (yes lol) instruments that are mass produced but illegally branded with a well known name. I can say the honour system started to go down hill some time in the late 90’s, around the same time McDonald’s started shrinking their burgers (if sooner then I was too young to notice).
My grandfather also owns a 50+ years old Chinese accordion that still plays well with minimal upkeep. (Granted I don’t know much about accordions.) My father had a Chinese harmonica back in his youngster days. He loved that thing and calls the present day Chinese made harmonicas junk. It seems like companies nowadays tend to lean toward making money instead of making good products.
Personally I hold Japanese craftsmanship in another regard. For the most part they still hold onto the tradition of being honest to their craft. My shamisen teacher has talked about how some of the newer (not by the masters) made shamisens have misalignment issues at the joints (as in the joint points not matching with certain notes), but at least they are still sturdy and sounded acceptable.
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