Guitar Story
Guitar Story
9 plants in South Korea on record built for Epiphone, Gretsch, Guild, Ibanez, Ovation and PRS.[1]
“Made in South Korea” on a label tells you the country, not the factory. Several brands can share one plant, and one brand can move between plants in the same country. Below is every South Korea plant on record and what it built.
3 of 9 plants placed. Click a plant to open it.
| Brand | Lines | Plants | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epiphone | Epiphone Korea | Samick Korea (Epiphone; city unverified), Other Korean contractors (Epiphone; unverified) | 1984–now[2] |
| Ibanez | Ibanez Korea | Korean builders for Ibanez (unverified) | 1985–now[3] |
| Gretsch | Gretsch Traveling Wilburys (Korea), Gretsch Electromatic, Gretsch Synchromatic/Historic | Korean builder of Traveling Wilburys guitars (unverified), Peerless (Korea; city unverified) | 1988–2008[4, 5, 6] |
| Guild | Guild DeArmond (Korea) | Korean DeArmond builder (Guild; builder unverified) | 1998–now[7] |
| PRS | PRS SE | World Musical Instrument Co., Incheon | 2000–2019[8] |
| Ovation | Ovation imports (Celebrity, Applause, Elite import) | Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified) | 2014–now[9, 10] |
| Plant | Where | Run by | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified) | South Korea / China / Indonesiano source | No operator on record | Ovation |
| Korean builder of Traveling Wilburys guitars (unverified) | South Koreano source | No operator on record | Gretsch |
| Korean builders for Ibanez (unverified) | South Koreano source | No operator on record | Ibanez |
| Korean DeArmond builder (Guild; builder unverified) | South Koreano source | No operator on record | Guild |
| Other Korean contractors (Epiphone; unverified) | South Koreano source | No operator on record | Epiphone |
| Peerless (Korea; city unverified) | South Koreano source | Peerless (Korea)[5, 6] | Gretsch |
| Samick Korea (Epiphone; city unverified) | South Koreano source | Samick Musical Instruments[2] | Epiphone |
| Samick or SPG (Korea; builder disputed) | South Koreano source | No operator on record | none on record |
| World Musical Instrument Co., Incheon | Incheon, South Korea[1] | World Musical Instrument Co. (WMIC)[8, 11] | PRS |
Every numbered marker on this page points here: the document, its grade and the passages relied on. An era is computed, so it cites the facts it was derived from. A fact marked “no source” has no claim attached yet.