Korean Job Discussion Forums

[World Traveler]

What is the best way to go about getting high end musical instruments while living in Korea? I looked at some Taylor and Martin guitars and they (at least the ones I saw) are so expensive here. (I guess this is because of high tariff taxes on Western products.) Should I buy a Korean guitar then? How do they compete with American guitars in terms of sound quality? Maybe they have a distinctive sound, which could be good for the music I make? (I hope.) My goal is produce some home recorded music with the best instruments money can buy. The problem is, when one is dealing with top end stuff, thousands of dollars is at stake- kind of like buying a house or car- so I want to try to get the best deal I can. Otherwise, it's like throwing money down the drain.

What I'm looking to get:
-an acoustic guitar
-a keyboard
-a computer program (ProTools is best?) for making music on a computer. (Also, I need to buy a computer. Is a new Mac coming out anytime soon?)
-maybe a bass guitar (though maybe not, as the bass could be played on the keyboard or programmed on ProTools. Still, live instrumentation could sound better. I don't have experience playing bass though. Worth the investment?)
-maybe a classical guitar (Classical guitars sound so beautiful. They would be problematic to mic, however.)

(Anyone selling high quality used stuff? If so, PM me.)

Any thoughts or advice for what to do?

[Sister Ray]

There's a large musical instrument market near exit 4 & 5 of Jongno3ga station (Nakwon Sangga.) I am not certain if it has high end stuff, I imagine so though as it is rather large with many, many stores.

[globusmonkey]

I haven't bought anything in Korea other than a relatively cheap Cort electric/acoustic for fun & practice, but the one thing you should consider is how you plan to record. If you have no experience with that, your biggest problem will be sound. You can have an old-school Martin that sounds great live, but it will sound like garbage if you don't have the proper mic and recording setup. I know there are recording studios in most cities here, usually with decent gear to use. One option is to track there and work on the files on your own afterwards (if you have and understand the proper mix/master programs).

Another word of advice is that more expensive does not always equal better. Depending on what you are trying to do, a cheaper Korean guitar would be fine. Check out Peerless, which are not cheap, but have high quality sound and would give you a better bang for the buck than Taylor or Martin in this country. Unless you do a lot of fingerstyle or melodic work where the guitar will be prominent and tone is essential, a medium level acoustic guitar will be all you need. Most amateur/part-time guitarists can't realistically craft original tone with their budgets, especially in the acoustic world.

Start googling gear, instruments, and how to run the software. Protools is the industry standard, but has a learning curve and if you don't know what you're doing, it will sound bad at the end. Many also forget that a good mastering program will make a big difference with the final song. My experience comes from playing semi-professionally for the last five years or so back in the states and recording with/learning from some solid industry engineers (guys who worked on major bands, even), so I hope my advice helps. Good luck and have fun!