In November 2013, the UK and USA distributors of Crafter guitars were invited to South Korea to visit Crafter’s extensive guitar workshops. The tour covered two days of watching every detail that goes into creating a Crafter guitar and the expertise of the craftsmen and women who produce them. Crafter’s CEO, Injae Park, showed us the time and effort that goes into each guitar and the constant quality control that is observed during each stage of production.
The guitar workshops follow a comprehensive workflow with separate rooms specialising in each stage of production. There are dry rooms for acclimatising the woods, humidity controlled rooms for production and sealed off areas specifically for spraying and finishing the guitars. Even though there are many machines for the cutting, sanding and shaping of the guitars, much of the production craftwork is still done by hand and with great attention to detail.
With complex production methods and expertise, the staff are seen as a great asset to the company and Injae has not moved his workshops much further away from where HyunKwon started the company in Seoul. This is helped the company hold onto loyal and skilled staff who often stay with the company for at least 15 years or more.
As we walked through the workshop rooms we were welcomed and greeted by every member of staff who were happy to demonstrate their skills in guitar building. We documented the tour with a view to share this with Crafter players across the world.
