All-solid, non-Chinese, < $750

[Maryc-k]

Originally Posted by Troubador

Why would you not want solid back and sides?

We have a small cottage on the ocean. I keep a guitar there for guests, and for myself just in case. I have two Martin X series guitars. They sound decent, play well, and are oblivious to the weather.

[Macpage]

How do you feel about purchasing one used? The original transaction to the country of origin has already happened.

Originally Posted by Troubador

Mac, I would be happy to purchase a used one.

If I interpret your reply as you would consider preowned that originated in China, you might be able to locate an Eastman E30M used. This should be in the price range and gives you the 1-3/4" nut of your Martin. While it's not rosewood, ovangkol will have a ballpark tonal profile. Eastman does a nice job and lots of Martin owners find them very enjoyable. I would guess this would be a shorter term search.

If you want one right away and can deal with a deeper body OM shape, there are usually Yamaha A3R's available used. This would give you the rosewood for a price that leaves enough left to have a new nut installed. This provides a wider nut string spacing that "might" make the 1-11/16" nut workable.

Of course, these are only relevant suggestions if you are ok with Chinese imports as long as they are preowned.

Best,

Mac

[Br1ck]

A small shop guitar is a small shop guitar. The Northfield mandolins are built in a very small shop. The head designer is Japanese and living in China. There is an equally small shop in the US doing the raw materials procurement and setup and marketing. They build good mandoines. I hope the Eastman company has a small shop within their factory building the new Bourgeois guitars. Pono is also a small shop building in Indonesia. So to me it is not so much location but the type of process used.

I do think both Martin and Taylor will have an advantage as transportation costs rise, and destabilizing political problems crop up pretty much anywhere these days. Those long supply chains aren't the money saver they once were.

[JB200]

Originally Posted by MarkLee

Faith guitars and Pono guitars. Made in Indonesia in the Genta factory.

I didn't look at all their models, but the Pono Dread I was looking at recently was $1,495+tax.

[CASD57]

I can't think of any all solid USA made guitars that are in that price range "NEW"
possible North America ..Canada and that's a big maybe.