is consistency a measure outside of quality?

Help!I'maRock!

Help!I'maRock!

Mediocringly Derivative
sue me, i'm reading TGP.

there's a discussion about a major manufacturer going on. and one poster said that if you know what to look for, and are willing to run the racks, you can find many high quality examples of this manufacturer's instruments. the quality is there, but you have to dig to really find the stellar pieces.

personally, i take the opposite view. consistency is just one of the many factors of a quality product. it's great that a company can put out a stellar product. but the ability to do it consistently, especially given the varied nature of the materials instruments are made from, is the key to a true quality brand. variation is bound to happen. a high quality product will minimize that variation.
 
I would think consistency is a huge part of quality. That is why I love companies like Rickenbacker and Musicman. Not only are they high quality, but every instrument is as good as the next.
 
Without consistency they don't truly have quality, just an occasional happy accident.
 
Aahzz said:
Without consistency they don't truly have quality, just an occasional happy accident.
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This. I'm an engineer, and I work closely with the QA department in my company. If your products aren't consistently good, your quality sucks. Period.
 
I totally agree. The only thing that seems to be an almost uncontrollable variable is the weight of the wood.

Also, if you listen to Steve Vai, he seems to think each piece of wood is more or less tuned to a certain frequency, and if the neck and body are tuned the same they work better together. Not sure how scientific that is, but it's really hard for me to discount his opinion.
 
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Help!I'maRock! said:
sue me, i'm reading TGP.

there's a discussion about a major manufacturer going on. and one poster said that if you know what to look for, and are willing to run the racks, you can find many high quality examples of this manufacturer's instruments. the quality is there, but you have to dig to really find the stellar pieces.

personally, i take the opposite view. consistency is just one of the many factors of a quality product. it's great that a company can put out a stellar product. but the ability to do it consistently, especially given the varied nature of the materials instruments are made from, is the key to a true quality brand. variation is bound to happen. a high quality product will minimize that variation.
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Both are correct statements.

What your preference is, in terms of selecting a quality instrument, is another discussion.
 
Manufacturers aim for consistency. That's the benchmark.
We have one product manager who has a particular pet peeve about consistently black anodizing. Apparently, if the people doing the anodizing don't keep their tanks clean, parts turn purple over time. You can spot the ones that will do that even when they're new. They have a hint of purple already in them. She'll go through boxes of parts and yank any that don't look totally black.

Yeah, quality doesn't just happen. It takes a lot of ongoing effort.
 
* mentally changes thread title to "1 in 25 Gibson guitars actually comes close to justifying its price tag" *
 
There are U.S. businesses that still haven't figure out that they can't inspect quality into their products, that the quality has to be built in to begin with? That dates back to the 80's when it was Japan, not China, that was the manufacturing juggernaut threatening to drive American companies out of business.

What are people learning these days in college when they get their useless business degrees?
 
Tralfaz said:
There are U.S. businesses that still haven't figure out that they can't inspect quality into their products, that the quality has to be built in to begin with? That dates back to the 80's when it was Japan, not China, that was the manufacturing juggernaut threatening to drive American companies out of business.

What are people learning these days in college when they get their useless business degrees?
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i don't necessarily think the problem is the companies. IMO its the consumers and their expectations.
 
I expect the stuff I buy to work the way it's supposed to...seems pretty simple to me.
and not to fall apart in 6 months time.
 
Peeker said:
I expect the stuff I buy to work the way it's supposed to...seems pretty simple to me.
and not to fall apart in 6 months time.
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Yeah.

I'm not sure I follow the logic in blaming the consumer.

Not to say that some peoples expectations aren't too high, but when a manufacturer advertises their products to be premium, professional grade instruments, the consumer should not have to sift through several examples to find one without noticeable and significant flaws.

Even worse, as has recently been discussed here, is to shell out a large sum of cash on a "high end" guitar, only to have a large chunk of the finish separate itself from the wood.

It's not that this happened, things like that are just part of the deal. It's that the buyer had to wait months while jumping through hoops to get a fair resolution from the manufacturer.

That is a measure of quality that is far too overlooked. Part of providing a quality product, is standing behind that product when it fails to deliver. Too many companies instead though, choose to take the position that their products are above reproach and refuse to acknowledge that they sometimes fail.
 
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