Epiphone Factory Tour in China [English Subs]〜室長が行く！エピフォン中国青島工場【デジマート・マガジン特集】

Welcome to our show. I am Dr. Idonuma from the Digimart Basement Laboratory. Today we are here from Japan to visit the Epiphone factories in Qingdao, China. There seem to be two in Qingdao. So what's the secret behind Epiphone's high-quality, cost-effective guitars? First, we will review its main one, the GQ

factory

. Come on! Here we are in the lumber storage warehouse. It seems that the wood arrives here from all over the world after being roughly cut and seasoned. Here we see bodies and necks processed at the same time. Because? I would like to ask Mr. Lewis about this.

It seems like it involves a lot of manual work. Let's ask Mr. Lewis about it. Meanwhile, it seems that cutting-edge technology is also used. I would like to ask Mr. Lewis about this. Making the neck is one of the most important processes. The "Quality Control" people here are carefully inspecting the neck. I would like to take this opportunity to feel that way. Forgive me. It's already extremely soft. What a comfortable grip! These presses are exclusively for Casino bodies. Had they always been used? Let's ask Mr. Lewis. I heard this line is fairly new. Could you tell us about it?

The paint line also seems to have changed a lot. Let's listen to some examples. Their

factory

is truly a spectacle! Here we are on the final assembly line. All these people form this line for the final process. What a beautiful view! Look everyone! Above these pickups it says in kanji what we read as "sound-device-pickup." And here we see the word... "on-ropes-post"? It seems to mean "crazy." So nuts mean "above the ropes" in Chinese. Chinese characters literally symbolize meanings. It's fantastic how we Japanese can guess them, right? So after all these processes, the products are finally checked in these cells to be delivered to Epiphone fans around the world.

Wow! I assume this is where the finished products are stored. There are rows of guitars here, ready to be shipped. There is more? This is incredible! Look at all these guitars waiting to be shipped! Now we are here at Epiphone's other factory in Qingdao called EQ. The models made here seem to be different from GQ. We'll see. The wood for necks and fingerboards is stored here. The seasoned wood is brought here to be stored at the proper temperature and humidity. This is for an Epiphone Joe Bonamassa exclusive Firebird model. You can clearly see that this is a "through the neck" construction.

Mr. Lewis, we saw a similar line at the GQ factory yesterday. Could you tell us about it? We now know that both factories focus on efficiency. Let's listen to the differences then. Tell us about one of the latest EQ machines. What a soft touch! High quality guitars are shipped all over the world from this factory! Touch the exact subject!