Quote Originally Posted by Kazz
...
The quality is there and they offer reasonable price tags that fit into my budget much more than the big names. Sure I would love to have a Martin, or a Taylor....or Gibson J-185 or for that matter the workhorse J-45 but I do not make that kind of money, have a family of 4 children and a big mortgage to pay....so under $500 dollar guitars seems to be where I land...and when you can find deals on them for under $300 with a case....you really cannot go wrong.

....but at the end of the day it boils down to do you have champagne tastes and pocket money to boot? No....I have champagne tastes and cheap beer pocket money.....so I bought a Washburn Acoustic (which actually makes the 5th W I have bought over the last 3 years)
Well put, Kazz. :

One must realize that many (note: I say many, not all) of the Pacific Rim imports of decent quality, that pack bang-for-the buck in the $300-$500 (US) street price (approx. 30-40% off MSRP) range, like Washburns, Epiphones, Ibanez, Guild GAD series, even Takamines (G-series, mainly...their top line insturments are Japanese), are made in the same Chinese and Indonesian factories under contract to the various brand name 'manufacturer' specifications, and even shift production from one factory to another as the factories bid for low-cost. Samick is just one such factory producer that comes to mind.

Generally, Korean-mades kick the price tag up a notch to the $500-$1000 range. Washburn has shifted away from Korean factories to China and Indonesia over the past 3-4 years. And when these shifts happen, some models get discontinued in favor of new models from new factories.

Point is: there aren't that many quality Pacific Rim factories that produce consistently good quality instruments. One man's Epiphone, Guild GAD series, Tak G-series or Ibanez EW series may be another man's Washburn, because they may have been built in the same factory.