There’s nothing fancy about a six string Starsun. They look good, sound okay and cost little. An acoustic model can be picked up in Beijing music shops for RMB300. A brand-name learner’s guitar in a western European capital costs at least three times that, even though a rookie would hardly feel the difference between a Starsun and a Yamaha acoustic.

The company that makes Starsun, Huasheng Musical Instruments, is an upstart, only ten years in the business and growing out of a small collective factory in southern Guangdong province to become China’s largest manufacturer of string instruments. From its lowly beginnings Huasheng has emerged as one of the world’s most prodigious manufacturers of stringed instruments, helping China become a music workshop for the world. As China sucks up other labour-intensive manufacturing jobs, so its labourers today string guitars and assemble pianos that end up in European and American living rooms. Huasheng’s modestly paid 3,000 workers use European and Korean production facilities to produce entry-level musical instruments cheaply and efficiently.
Few Huasheng violins will make it onto the concert hall stages of the world professional music circuit but the company is happy to cater to millions of unfussy music students and amateurs worldwide. Huasheng exported over USD20 million worth of instruments in 2003.The firm also made plenty of noise at last October’s Music China, an international exhibition for musical instruments in Shanghai, showing 400 models during the four-day show. With big guitar-making names like America’s Gibson now manufacturing locally rock stars of the world are playing instruments made in China. Over 600 exhibitors made the third Music China in Shanghai, the biggest such exhibition yet in China. Numbers were up almost 50 percent on figures for the previous year’s show.
Most of the exhibitors in Shanghai were local makers like Huasheng. But Western musical instrument makers who previously manufactured in Korea and Japan have changed their tune, manufacturing in China for export – and for local sales. Western retailers came to Music China buy from the likes of Huasheng while big brand names came to sell high-grade instruments to local musicians. Over 25,000 visitors from 61 countries showed up at Music China show. “Music China… in time may well rank in importance with major music industry events in Europe and the USA,” said David Magagna, international sales manager for Paul Reed Smith Guitars. Magagna is betting on Chinese middle class parents pushing their children to learn to play a musical instrument. Fewer than one percent of Chinese households today own pianos, compared with around 20 percent in developed countries, according to the China Musical Instrument Association (CMIA).
Chinese companies have mostly aimed low-quality and mid-range gear at the domestic market but many firms are getting a bigger slice of the foreign market because they’re quickly learning to produce better quality instruments, often in joint ventures with big foreign brands. Over 1,000 instrument manufacturers are turning out instruments across China, according to the CMIA. A recently inked joint venture with Pearl River, China’s largest piano maker allowed Yamaha Corp, the world’s biggest instrument maker to open its own plant in southerly Guangzhou city. Up north, Korea’s Samick Musical Instrument Co. plans to double annual capacity in Tianjin, to turn out 60,000 pianos a year within three years. Back in Korea piano production fell to 40,000 in 2003, from 200,000 a decade ago. Chinese firms last year assembled three million guitars and 343,500 pianos, with exports up 20 percent to USD600 million. America’s legendary guitar maker Gibson has abandoned its strategy of outsourcing production of its mid-range Epiphone series to huge Asian factories. Most Epiphone guitars were assembled in Korea by local firm Samick. Today Gibson is exporting better guitars more cheaply from its own factory in China. “In order to produce a superior instrument, we needed to open our own factory,” said a spokesperson for Epiphone president Jim Rosenberg. In October 2002 Gibson opened its plant outside Qingdao in northeast China, manufacturing Epiphone guitars. An Epiphone Les Paul model produced in Qingdao sells for an average RMB2,500 in guitar shops in Beijing. The same guitar sells for slightly more in the US and Europe. But producing its guitars in China has allowed Gibson to stay competitive and maintain quality. “The guitars look and sound fantastic,” said Rosenberg’s spokesman. “…We’re combining Epiphone and Gibson expertise and experience with Asian production efficiencies to make great instruments at prices the average working musician can afford.”
Drums, guitars and sound gear seemed to take up most of the space at Music China but the biggest market locally is for classical instruments. At Music China to show new models and drum up business, Alistair Hanson managing director of UK woodwind instruments maker Hanson, says his company is seeing growing demand from China. “The Chinese market is so susceptible to brand names, and the great thing is that all foreign brands are on an equal footing, as nobody has been here more than a few years.” With the local penchant for iconic brands its little wonder that top-drawer instruments like USD50,000 Steinway pianos and USD3,000 Gibson Les Paul guitars sell well in Chinese showrooms: Steinway’s sales in 2003 soared 50 percent on the previous year’s figures. The French Association of Musical Instruments brought 15 French companies to Music China and wanted to take more but the fair was out of space. Representing famed Italian accordion maker Ballone Burini at Music China, Andrea Ballone Burini was also looking to cash in on China’s middle class’s interest in music.
“…I met a number of teachers and other representatives of music institutes, and this is a strong start for us in China,” said Ballone, whose finely crafted instruments are pitched at the top end of the market.
Aside from selling musical instruments, many European industry heads are traveling to China to sell sheet music and musical scores to Chinese music teachers, conservatories and musicians. “The interest in music from Europe is clearly very strong,” said Gabriel Teschner of German music publisher Sikorski. “We met some interesting dealers and retailers, including one of the biggest sheet music retailers in the country. It’s essential to be here.”
Music China also attracted plenty of rock stars, giving master classes and working up interest for brands among Chinese rock wannabes. Guitarist George Lynch of rock band Dokken appeared as a guest of Warwick, the German manufacturer of electric guitars, basses and amplifiers. “China keeps getting better and better,” said Hans Peter Wilfer of Warwick, which has manufactured at its factory in China for eight years. “Being here now is essential for anyone in the music industry.”