AFP, Washington :
Fifty years ago in California, Jimi Hendrix poured lighter fluid on his Fender Stratocaster and, in a scene seared into music iconography, knelt and watched as the guitar-from American rock ‘n’ roll’s most cherished brand-burned.
The truth is, however, that for about half of its 63-year existence, those guitars have to a large extent been manufactured in Mexico.
And as US, Mexican and Canadian officials open talks Wednesday in Washington on revamping the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, the Mexican-made Stratocaster stands as an example of how liberalized trade has encouraged seamless cross-border supply chains-ones that may be almost impossible to undo.
Unlike major automakers benefitting from NAFTA, the half-billion-dollar US guitar industry does not employ hundreds of thousands of workers who ship billions in product.
Still, in common with the bigger manufacturers, guitar makers like Fender, CF Martin & Co and Taylor have turned to Mexico as a source of cheaper yet still skilled labor, and to take advantage of NAFTA’s duty-free export to the United States.
The regional trade deal means they can compete with cheap imports from Asia.
“Trade is vital to guitar manufacturers and any US manufacturer that can get any of its manufacturing done internationally will benefit,” Rory Masterson, an industry analyst at the research firm IBISWorld, told AFP.
The Stratocaster’s sleek and ergonomic body gave an unmistakable silhouette to British and American bluesmen and rock heroes like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Eddie Van Halen, and created a market among wannabe rockers who tried to emulate them.
Since the US Congress ratified NAFTA in 1993, US imports of Mexican-made guitars valued at $100 or more have risen 90 percent, reaching $38 million last year, according to US government data.
Largely thanks to NAFTA, Mexico is now the third-largest source of US guitar imports after China and Indonesia, generating 21 percent of foreign-made guitars sold in the United States, according to Masterson.
Fifty years ago in California, Jimi Hendrix poured lighter fluid on his Fender Stratocaster and, in a scene seared into music iconography, knelt and watched as the guitar-from American rock ‘n’ roll’s most cherished brand-burned.
The truth is, however, that for about half of its 63-year existence, those guitars have to a large extent been manufactured in Mexico.
And as US, Mexican and Canadian officials open talks Wednesday in Washington on revamping the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, the Mexican-made Stratocaster stands as an example of how liberalized trade has encouraged seamless cross-border supply chains-ones that may be almost impossible to undo.
Unlike major automakers benefitting from NAFTA, the half-billion-dollar US guitar industry does not employ hundreds of thousands of workers who ship billions in product.
Still, in common with the bigger manufacturers, guitar makers like Fender, CF Martin & Co and Taylor have turned to Mexico as a source of cheaper yet still skilled labor, and to take advantage of NAFTA’s duty-free export to the United States.
The regional trade deal means they can compete with cheap imports from Asia.
“Trade is vital to guitar manufacturers and any US manufacturer that can get any of its manufacturing done internationally will benefit,” Rory Masterson, an industry analyst at the research firm IBISWorld, told AFP.
The Stratocaster’s sleek and ergonomic body gave an unmistakable silhouette to British and American bluesmen and rock heroes like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Eddie Van Halen, and created a market among wannabe rockers who tried to emulate them.
Since the US Congress ratified NAFTA in 1993, US imports of Mexican-made guitars valued at $100 or more have risen 90 percent, reaching $38 million last year, according to US government data.
Largely thanks to NAFTA, Mexico is now the third-largest source of US guitar imports after China and Indonesia, generating 21 percent of foreign-made guitars sold in the United States, according to Masterson.
