Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Does the country of manufacturing matter to you?

I've just watched Korg LP-380 and they say it's made in Japan. Bluthners are made in Germany.
What else are the brands made not in China, Malasia etc.?

I think Nords are made in Sweden.

Do you avoid all Asian factories (except for Japan)? Because some Kawai and Yamaha pianos (N1X for instance) are made in Indonesia.

P.S. I used to be mad at China because of the Coronavirus situation (they could've prevented it if they have closed the filthy wet markets where they torture so many animals...) and decided that I will avoid Chinese products. Well, that's not possible as it seems, so I abandoned that strategy

No, I avoid no countries:) But there is stereotype still alive that products made in economical world-leaders (Japan, USA, European countries) are better in quality. Just wanna know what people in piano world think of this:)

For me, I simply look at brand names rather than the country from which the piano was made or assembled

Sweden-made products (in red) are great

About Bluethners "made in Germany": Take that with a grain of salt. What they do there is assemble a number of components produced somewhere else (and bought from other companies located in other countries) into a box - that is quite different from producing the entire instrument in Germany.

To some extent and varying degree this is true of most manufacturers and most of their products, hence the "made in" qualification is generally rather moot. Exceptions exist, but confirm the rule.

Sure it does.

I would rather not buy Chinese goods, but sometimes tbere's no choice. My Japanese Korg C1 Air seems very solid, I must say. The "Made in Japan" sticker factored in the decision to buy a Korg. (And availability.)

Made in Mars! Anytime soon; just wait and see!

I agree with Maurus, the "made in" label alone is not enough for me. If they were to say "the action is made in Germany from German wood" that would be more honest and valuable IMO.

I don't think it is reasonable to consider China-made *digitals* of lesser quality because workers there perhaps have even more expertise/qualified people than western countries when it comes to producing electronic goods. To me as Beowulf put it, the brand and price range of the keyboard will condition the quality control at the factory more than the country.

That said quality is potentially not the only factor, I believe CyberGene's reason is more "geo-political", and I agree that I would also consider a keyboard made in France 🥖 to support my country's economy, and/or Europe 🇪🇺 to reduce the ecological footprint of my piano (if not all parts are coming from the other side of the world ...).

I heard that the shipping costs from there could be a bit high...

When speaking about acoustic pianos, there's a certification called BVK for pianos that are 100% made in Germany and a separate one 100% made in Europe (for Fazioli and some models of Petrof). I think it guarantees that all parts and materials are sourced from German companies. Yet, you'd probably find some of their machinery or tools are Chinese But other than that it's the closest you can get to a piano that's 100% made in Germany.

However if you look at the prices of corresponding models (some of the certified brands have models or sub-brands that are made in China though), you'd understand why people purchase Chinese pianos These are really premium pianos and I have very low hopes I will be able to purchase a brand new BVK piano ever in my life... On the other hand Yamaha and Kawai make very affordable pianos which are made in Japan. Only the GL10 and GB1 (cheapest grands in their portfolio) are made in Indonesia.

Profit margin needs to be exponentially higher for products that cost more to make.

Cost of labor doesn't directly translate to higher quality or more experienced labor, what this ends up meaning is that you will generally get the best "value" for products made in countries with lower labor cost and get slightly higher quality product for paying a lot more for higher labor cost countries.

Like anything with diminishing returns, the quality increase is not proportional to the cost increase.

Even if it would matter to me I would have no clue how to avoid some countries.

Many products and components are made in china. I guess almost every non-trivial object these days has parts from china in it. Figuring out the exact origins of all parts would be difficult, consider the number of parts in a piano or computer or whatever appiance you have at home....

Yes, shipping will be a little more than your average shipment from Sweetwater, and there will be no overnight shipping (initially); but still, how great it would be to own a piano made in Mars!

Discriminating against people because of the government they have to live under doesn't really make any sense to me. Otherwise I probably wouldn't buy anything made anywhere.

And what about famous "Each nation has the government it deserves"?

That‘s a saying I find very cynical: What about dictatorships, what about countries where minorities are systematically suppressed? However, I‘m sure this forum is not the right place for discussing politics.

LOL. Volvo was. SAAB was. Until they were sold to Ford and GM.

United States, Japan, Germany, other European countries have the highest quality products

By not purchasing products manufactured in a certain country, I am basically boycotting their government, not their people. Theoretically if everyone does the same, it’s their economy that will suffer hence also the government. In a way I’m punishing their government. This is a complex issue and there’s no definitive answer. If by not purchasing a product I discriminate against people, doesn’t that mean I discriminate against local manufacturers when I avoid their products by favoring Chinese goods? And if I prefer Chinese goods for their low price doesn’t that mean I actually support a government that maintains cheap labor to create a strong economy? These people haven’t chosen their cost of labor. It’s a result of the fact they have a government that exploits an environment of poverty.

So it’s not that simple IMO.