no, all posts that contain political views will be deleted or edited ........

While it is almost impossible to not interject politics in a topic like this, all of the major "American" manufacturers build some of their guitars in other countries. The world of global business and consumer price-points. I prefer socially responsible countries to give my hard dollars to. The Chinese are not there yet. I have tried a few of their guitars, and the quality is not quite at the level of the higher priced instruments and they sell bling in place of fair trade and living wages. Let's be honest, if all the similar guitars were lined up and at the same price point I don't see anyone picking a Chinese made guitar over Martin, Taylor, Gibson etc...Price-point is king, that's their ace in the hole. The time will come when the Chinese economy will overcome their country's politics and demand fair trade and a living wage, then look out because their quality is way ahead of their contemporaries at this stage of the game.;)

Isn't the truth of it that, in an ideal world, we would all like to buy instruments made in our own countries if we could so as to support our fellow countrymen.

It comes down to money for most people. It has got to be a good thing that someone who isn't loaded can get hold of a well made Chinese guitar at an affordable price - they are more likely to enjoy, practice and improve. Others will be encouraged to play and the number of guitarists in the world would therefore increase. This, in turn, is scientifically proven to increase overall levels of happiness of the world (some might say that this is not true, but that would just be pure speculation).

The tradition of the steel-strung acoustic flattop is essentially an American story. So it is natural that players who are interested in folk, blues, country, bluegrass etc will be drawn to American made instruments. I think the mid to high end industry in the States is pretty safe.

At the lower end, should someone in the USA really feel pressure to buy a plastic (sorry, HPL) guitar from Martin when they could buy an all solid guitar by Recording King for half the price?

Its all about the music my friend -not the guitar . Why does it really matter where your guitar came from ? most of us started with a Asian made guitar .Im not real kean on them now , but that old Yamaha of mine has served its purpose . Im not typically a person who jumps in on posts like this - but to many of us have been getting annal about stuff like this- its about time it stops and we get back to our playing !

This topic is difficult, because there is hardly any way to avoid the political aspects of guitar building in China or other countries. Some of us have tried, others not so much.

Despite our forum rule prohibiting political discussion, we have let this thread run for over 120 posts. I'm sure we haven't exhausted the topic, but I think we've covered most of the basics. Respectfully, then, I think it's time to close this discussion, as it has gone more and more into politics and less and less into guitars. Tony's post above is a great place for this thread to end.

Thanks, everyone!

cotten