IBG made in China - Dip in Quality?

[macca9091]

IBG now crafted in China

Wondering what owners are experiencing with recent IBGs from the factory in China.

Just ran across a YT vid calling out a recent (2023) factory change for the line, from the Masterbuilt facility in Indonesia to their factory in China.

Basically was a decoder for the serial no. Third and forth digit signifying the factory code: 23 for Indo, and 15 for China.

The change looks like from 2023, as my Masterbuilt Texan and J200 are 23s, and my recent Sweetwater Blue J45 and FB have the 15 factory code.

No issues with my FB, and after 1 month, the J45 seems on par.

Anyone experience a big dip in quality? Have my eye on a couple more IBGs.

Cheers!

 

[Mike Hickey]

I don't know about a dip, but I put a notch above the Fender squire line but a notch below Fenders Vintera line. Id like to see Epiphone step up and put out something equivalent to the Vintera line.

 

[Charles Carter]

I don't yet have a Chinese IBG but that is a great question @macca9091 .
I have said in other threads that we may have to wait for Qingdao to come up to speed on the production of upper-range models.
I'll follow this thread with interest.

 

[Epison]

Huh? I have a 23' and a '20 and both had china stickers on them. I never heard of the IBG line being made in indonesia. I don't get it?

 

[spupilup]

I think the OP may be talking about acoustic guitars. Like you, I have five IBG models all made between 2021 and 2023. They are all electrics and the las one, a DG-335 was the best made of the group.

 

[brentg]

i have 3 epiphone acoustics, non ibg j200 indo with 23 factory #...White dove acoustic indo with 23 # .......and hummingbird ibg made in china 2023 with 15 factory # it out played and sounded better than the indo versions ibg and studio that i compared to in a studio room at sweetwater.. I also have 3 electric ibg guitars.... firebird, 335, les paul special all made in china great quality...

 

[Kevan Tolley]

I haven't noticed a dip. In fact to my eyes and ears my Chinese epis seem a cut above Indonesians. I don't buy into the emotional and political crap. A good guitar is a good guitar.

 

[allyouneedisdave]

Thought i’d share my recent experience on this topic.

I ordered an IBG J45 and had to return it because the pickguard was peeling up at the edges and it had a weird lump at the shoulder of the headstock. The ‘aged’ finish was also distinctly satin. The defects were what I would expect on a £300 acoustic so was quite disappointed. This guitar was made in China but it didn’t concern me much at the time, having had great guitars from China over the years.

I took a trip to a store that stocked the guitars and found similar issues with the same model, straight out of the box. This was also made in China.

They did have an IBG J200 that was made in Indonesia, which was absolutely fantastic. Great craftmanship for the money and the finish had more life to it than the satin finish on the J45’s

I’m yet to find an Indonesian IBG J45 to make a true comparison.

I could have just been unlucky here and caught two bad batch guitars. However, the quality difference was miles apart.

Found a great second hand Gibson J45 Standard at a different store in the end, so things finally, although more expensively, worked out for the best.