General Discussion

Most of the musical instruments currently branded by well-known companies are now made in China. Same think with all sorts of consumer products we think of as being made by US manufacturers. They're not. It's becoming more and more impossible to make top-quality products in the USA. If you do, they will be priced right out of the market. So, companies are shifting production offshore - usually to China. The country of origin is still on the product or packaging, but nobody reads that stuff any more.

What you can't do, as a consumer, is assume that random items ordered direct from China will match the quality of products branded by companies with reputations for quality. What you get in a direct order might even be made in the same factory, but of lower grade materials and with far worse quality control.

When it comes to musical instruments, particularly traditional ones, people should only buy from retail sources that make it possible to thoroughly test the actual product you're buying. That's the only way to go, now. If, on the other hand, you're a professional musician, you end up buying instruments from the best makers, and only after a thorough trial. Anything less is not acceptable.