exactly! don't forget Tokai...they're famous for making incredible strat copies, and their 335 copy is one of the more desirable guitars in the world. factor in the fact that it costs half as much as the Gibson counterpart, and we can see why companies like Fender and Gibson don't like when Tokai sells its product to Americans.

I'm one of the minimum wagers...despite my recently-acquired college degree the job market still sucks right now. i like the idea that i can get something that is decent (that is, a piece of decent sounding wood with a nice straight neck on it) and customize it myself so i'm not paying the extra for someone else to do it. i get a better instrument for me when i do it that way. I love my strat, but the only original parts on it are the body and the neck (and the trem springs, i guess). i love my firewood 335 (i think that's what i'll call it! cool name), and again, the only original parts are the body and neck.

when i look for a guitar, i look for playability first, finish (which includes fretwork, straight neck, and laquer) second, and name brand 4,000th...i just don't care because at the end of the day only about 30 to 40% of it is going to be Fender, or Gibson, or Heritage made anyways.

(well kinda...with Fender and Fender only i do care about the name, because i like what the company stands for...but my Fender is MIM!)

i digress. the point is, if Fender made a $150 strat in the US, or if Gibson made a $300 335...they would more often than not be junk. it costs too much in manpower, and they'd STILL have the same electronics as imports. not to mention the fact that they wouldn't make them anywhere close to being decent for fear of losing sales on their higher-dollar product. (why do you think the hwy 1 came with a satin finish all of those years? why do you think the am special comes in two colors? because they know that olympic white and gloss black rock, and people would pay the extra $400 to get it with the small headstock and the spaghetti logo. just sayin)

_________________
Gear list:
2004 Epiphone Casino
----Peerless, USA electronics
2001 "Firewood" ES-335
----USA electronics, Gibson and DiMarzio PAFs
2001 Cort NTL20 Jumbo Acoustic
2007 Hofner Copy
Vox AC4TV/V112TV
Voice
Fingers
Cowbell

There is more to big name American made guitars than logos, labor, and paint jobs. This thread is getting dangerously close to the MIM-MIA debate that has been presented on this forum 1,000 times already. If anyone needs need a refresh, please use the search function.
American made guitars are luxury items. Most players view these instruments as the industry standard in terms of quality, sound, playability and workmanship. As with all luxury items, its easy for a consumer to look to a well made, but less expensive alternative and say, "geez, this is as good as the top shelf brand, but costs half as much!" And yes, the differences in quality may be less pronounced than the gap between a MIA Stratocaster and that git that you built from spare parts with the frets falling off that your planning to smash at your next gig.
There has been a surge in quality by the companies that produce the copies over the last 20 years. My dad recently commented that even the cheapest units currently being produced are quite playable, when in the 70s, most of the cheap store brand units were unfit for even the most unseasoned novice. But just because Hondo puts out a good product that looks pretty and sounds decent does not mean that its as good as a Gibson Les Paul.
So, to answer the question this thread poses with another question:
Why would an American company want to compete in the import copy market when we already build the best (and more expensive) guitars in the world?

Re:Gibson overpriced,I couldn't agree more,recently my buddy bought a MIJ Orville and attended a jam last week where a guy had a recent Gibson Les Paul,they did a back to back comparison and the Orville blew the Gibson out of the water both in tone and playability.It seems that lately Gibson has been resting on it's laurels turning out mediocre products for inflated prices.Much of this has taken place since Henry J. took over as CEO, recent boondoggles such as the "Hendrix Strat" and now with the outrageously over priced and over optioned Dusk Tiger are examples of how out of touch Henry and his henchmen are with the guitar playing public.We could never see a $150 American or North American Strat for that matter it would be financially impossible on a continent where just a refret costs $250 +.Regarding MIC guitars,I have 2 MIC Epiphones a G400 Custom(3 pup LEs Paul with an SG body)and a Casino,both guitars are surprisingly well made and sound and play just great.MIC guitars had QC problems earlier on but it seems thet in recent years have pulled up there socks and realized that to be competitive today you need to turn out a quality product at a reasonable price.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I too have found myself unable to buy a lespaul recently. Primarily through the shoddy quality of the neck binding even on a £6.5K gibson customshop. Yes I am the kind of person that expects something so pointless to be perfect. Whether it be a £150 guitar or a £2500 one.

Luckily everyone else who builds lespauls knows how to do it properly.

_________________
No no and no

two quick things....first of all, i hate the MIM v MIA argument, if its Fender, its probably great quality. Now you were saying that a Hondo that plays well and sounds great is not equal to a Gibson Les Paul, regardless of playability. What makes the Gibby better, the name? The headstock? I've played somewhere close to 100 Gibson LPs to see if I like them, and I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of LP's in general, but $500 Samicks were more fun to play, had generally better action and a better setup. Of course, according to some, because it's not a Gibson, it's not as good no matter what.

And to answer your question, I don't think we should be trying that. American guitars are the cream of the crop, everyone wants one, and everyone would be willing to save up to get one eventually. I myself wouldn't go so far to say I would never buy a Gibson (I wouldn't buy a USA LP though), but if the right 335 comes along at a reasonable price, and its playability, action, and finish is better than what I currently have, then I will save up to get it. I am FAR more likely to splurge on a USA Strat, although seeing as I have my own, custom-fit MIM Strat already I'm more likely to get the MIM 69 Tele thinline (those things are sahweeeeeeet).

The point of the thread was to ask that if the USA started pumping out $150 guitars, would the MIM, MIC, MIJ stuff be better? I think it would be far better. I think that if you stretch that logic out to companies like Tokai or Hondo, and they are using the same electronics and same wood but finishing at the very high quality we are seeing with more expensive MIJ MIK MIC stuff, you would find that a $1000 Tokai 335 or a $1000 Hondo LP would be FAR better than the Tennessee stuff that is polluting the market and bringing that company's reputation into the cellar.

If it was between a $500 Tokai strat and a $1000 Fender strat, however, I'm personally more likely to spring for the Fender...I swear Fender is the only brand name I'm grossly attached to.

I'm sorry, JNasty, if the comment earlier sounded condescending. I was just trying to point out that guitar A, with better action, playability, tone, and finish than guitar B, should be the one you drool about and obsess over...even if guitar B has an open-book headstock and a really old American name. Dunno about you, but I've never heard of a silkscreen logo increasing tone or playability...it does go a long way in keeping prices high and depreciation rate low, though.

_________________
Gear list:
2004 Epiphone Casino
----Peerless, USA electronics
2001 "Firewood" ES-335
----USA electronics, Gibson and DiMarzio PAFs
2001 Cort NTL20 Jumbo Acoustic
2007 Hofner Copy
Vox AC4TV/V112TV
Voice
Fingers
Cowbell

First off let me say that I am certainly well aware of all the MIM vs. MIA vs. Import threads here on this forum...goodness knows I've certainly been a part of many of them. That said I would reiterate again that my original comment was certainly intended as being hypothetical. That said, there are a few comments here that I would like to address directly...




Ok...I won't go too much in to this but let me say that in general, people are stupid and rather anally retentive when it comes to such things. As a person who occasionally indulges in a bit of home recording for example I frequently see others just getting in to this who, as with guitar gear will often ask "What equipment should I buy?". Inevitably someone will always pop off and say "You need to get a Shure SM57/58 because it's "the industry standard"...". Many people who spout these things won't even consider mics that are in fact as good if not -better- than those outdated Shure SM series mics...mics such as the Sennhieser e-835, the Audix OM-2, etc.. Because those Shures are still viewed as the industry standard however people simply won't consider anything else...it doesn't mean for one moment that the Shures are actually better, it's just that that's what many people have used for so long because at one time that's all that was available.

In in other words, in a mass production situation where quality control and manufacturing techniques have improved drastically over the past few decades, it has to be acknowledged that just because something is considered as an "industry standard" does not by default make it "better".



I really have to take issue with part of that comment not only as a person who's built a few guitars from those "spare parts" but also as one who has cut a couple of my own bodies and such...that really implies that a person who "builds their own" must be building nothing more than a piece of junk with "frets falling off" that's only good enough to "smash at your next gig". I'm not trying to be rude here but that insinuation is EXTREMELY offensive to me. I as well as many others around this forum take a great deal of pride in the time, effort and work we put in to some of our instruments.

I would further have to point out that many pro musicians...people that many of us love and adore, are in fact using guitars made from "parts". I seem to remember reading a few articles about how Stevie Ray Vaughn used to go through guitar necks like crazy and I'm almost certain that Clapton's "Blackie" is also made from parts from various Strats. Heck...look at how many times David Gilmour has modded the "black Strat". So what is it you're saying here...that only "pros" can use instruments built from parts and the rest of us should just crawl back under our rocks because we only build crap from parts?

Now that said, a guitar (or anything really) -is- only going to be as good as the parts that it's made from...I easily acknowledge this. And yes, I have built a couple of real clunkers over the years as well...this was (in part) how I learned to build better and better instruments. That said, if a person uses quality parts, then there is no reason...no reason at all that a person can't (perhaps with some practice and experience) build a guitar equal or even superior to those American name brands. In fact...and this is as always just my humble opinion here but...there are a number of after market manufacturers that in fact produce better parts than the big name American companies! For example, even if I had an American Strat (which personally I'd never waste my money on), it would very likely have a Callaham bridge and trem block on it, I would almost certainly swap out the pickups and I'm certain there'd be other little tweaks and such I'd do to it as well. The Fender (or even Gibson) parts are certainly "good" but there is even better out there and in many cases these parts are priced the same or are often more affordable than the name brand parts!

I won't really go in to the whole cutting your own other than to simply say, "we learn by doing".




Ok...forgive me here but to me it almost sounds as though you're contradicting yourself a bit there. Above you make comments such as "And yes, the differences in quality may be less pronounced than the gap between a MIA Stratocaster..." and "There has been a surge in quality by the companies that produce..." but then you come right back to defend the American made products which insinuates that even though you acknowledge the imports have improved a great deal over the years that some how the American products still justify the often outrageous price tag. Regardless, let's compare apples to apples here...and this has been the whole point of my hypothetical scenario...

Is a $200 Hondo or a $500 Tokai going to be as good as a $2500 Gibson? No...of course not! That's -NOT THE POINT- we're discussing here! Again this is hypothetical but the point is, -if- Gibson USA were to make a $200 Les Paul (or Fender USA were to produce a $150 Strat), how would the quality of -that- hypothetical guitar compare with the Hondo (Tokai, Cort, Squier or any other import) of the same price and again the general consensus seems to be that it wouldn't...it couldn't...that the hypothetical Gibson (or Fender) would in fact be inferior to those instruments....probably significantly so...-if- it could be produced at all!

Again here the point that I was trying to make is that when you directly compare products of similar price points, the reality of the situation is that the American made products are often lacking by direct comparison.

Think of it like this...let's take guitars out of the equation here. Let's say that an American company called "Joe's"makes a product called "Sufflebub" and sells that product for X number of dollars. Sufflebub can be anything...a toaster, TV, computer, cola, automobile, desk chair...whatever. Now let's say that a Chinese company called Shin-Fu decides to also start making Sufflebub. For all intensive purpose, Shin-Fu can make the exact same product as Joe's but because of economy, wages, etc., etc., they are going to be able to sell Sufflebub for less than Joe's can. At this point, does this mean the Shin-Fu product is inferior? No...certainly not. Respectively if you apply this to all the products in both companies lines, that would indicate that if Shin-Fu sold a product at the -same- price as Joe's, that product is going to be superior to Joe's...because Joe's has to pay their employees higher wages, has to pay more for any benefits, perhaps has to pay more for enviromental factors, cost of living and almost certainly has to pay more for the materials to make Sufflebub. It has no reflection on the product at all! In a world market Joe's just can't compete. Now all other things being equal, this should mean that Joe's is doomed...right?

But wait...there's another variable here...because Joe's is an American company that has been around since the mid 50's...in fact they invented Sufflebub...and because at one time American products were in fact superior to imports and because soooo many people still believe in this nonsense of "buy American", Joe's has been able to keep a foot hold on the market. Over time maybe Joe's has improved the original Sufflebub so that they can sell it at a higher price so they don't go out of business. Maybe Joe's will even buy the Shin-Fu company so they can then sell Shin-Fu's Sufflebub at a lower price and charge more for the American product...maybe they even jack up the price of the American made product to differentiate between the two lines. Does that suddenly mean that Shin-Fu's Sufflebub is now completely inferior and not worth buying at all? -NO-. The problem is that MANY people will say that the Shin-Fu product just doesn't compare and certainly the American version of Shufflebub is "the best".

Ok...I'm going to turn this all around again here. Instead of asking "What would the quality of a $150 American made guitar be like", maybe I should have asked "What would the quality of a $1200 import (we'll say Chinese) guitar be like compared with the American products?". Let's say that a guitar company in China started making instruments with the same attention to detail that American guitars (supposedly) have....top of the line hardware, very fine attention to fret dressing, etc., etc.. I sort of scratched at this a bit earlier but it seems to me that a guitar made in China to be sold at the same price as something such as an American Standard Strat...logic would seem to dictate that the Chinese guitar would in fact be a better guitar...very likely much better. If most people here agree that a $150 American made guitar would be a piece of crap compared with imports of the same price (again because of labor, cost of materials, etc) then that should be consistent through the whole price range, right? If that can be accepted then it begs the question; why don't we see any higher price, top shelf quality imports? Is it because China, Indonesia and Japan simply can't produce a "quality" instrument? That seems EXTRAORDINARILY unlikely (in fact I think Japan has proved that again and again). To me it seems that just that not as many people would buy one because folks have been programmed and hypmotized by this whole "made in America" crap. After all, how many people here would spend $1200 on a Chinese made guitar...even if it was considerably superior...when they can get an "American" Fender Strat for the same money instead? But is that really logical? Does that really make sense?? Is a person really getting the most from their money with this kind of mentality? Isn't that nothing more than just wasting money on something as utterly stupid as nationalistic pride???



Well...again (and again and again and again...) this was meant as a hypothetical scenario to prove a point. No...quite obviously an American company such as Fender or Gibson wouldn't want to compete in that market...they would most likely loose their proverbial shirts in such an endeavor. That in and of itself though does prove part of the point though that "price" is not necessarily a direct reflection of "quality"...or at the very least they are not directly proportional in this country.

Ok...obviously not all of us need or even want "the best". For a great many of us, "good enough" will do...and that is easily substantiated by the wide range of instruments out there. If this were all there was to it, I'd probably keep my mouth shut and my fingers away from the ol' keyboard here. The problem is that when folks say that "American made is the best", it suggests...at least as far as guitars go...that everything else is somehow sub-par if not junk. By your comments here it appears that you seem to think that there's "the best" and...well...everything else and that nothing else can compare. I'm not trying to be mean or rude but that really seems unfortunate if not a bit short-sighted to me. This is probably a poor analogy but to me that seems like a person who's looking at a rainbow and see's the color "red" as "the best"...then never looks at the rest of the rainbow. In other words, you're missing a lot of the pretty colors there

Ultimately, "the best" guitar is the guitar that makes a musician feel good about his/her playing. It's the one that "calls to you" from across the room and says "Play me!". I guess for some folks that simply means something that's really really expensive and/or made in a certain part of the world...if it's not expensive then it's not worth playing and everything else is junk. Personally I think I've proven my point though that if we were actually able to compare apples to apples, people would find that this world isn't always equal and that price isn't always proportional to "quality"...and living in a country that is supposedly so great and wonderful and all, you'd think we should be able to do better than that instead of simply trying to rationalize it.

Peace,
Jim

(Sorry for another lengthy post there...obviously I'm not a man of few words! LOL!)

Lomitus,
I was not implying that if you build your own guitar from parts, you have a piece of garbage. I was actually thinking more of my personal ill-fated attempt to create a "jnasty custom shop" guitar from a pile of import parts. I dont doubt that you have constructed some fine instruments.
I was a little all over the place with my response, but this thread has been a little all over the place, too. We started with "what if there was an American made Stratocaster for $150?", and moved on to, "look at my ES copy.", and on to "hey, I cut my own guitar bodies."
My point, that I did a poor job communicating, was that I dont see how its in anyones interest to make an inexpensive, low quality American made guitar when players already view American instruments as the best in the world. Companies that dominate the super-premium tier will generally not put their name on an entry level product.
I dont expect to find much love for Gibson on a Fender forum, but I have to giggle when a person says "my import copy is better than a Gibson!" I should have known that it would only be a matter of time before a forum member said, "yeah.....well......my friend.....Bob.....he has an Orville, and this one time.......we put it against a Gibson........and the Orville was way better."
I own an Orville. Its soooo great, that it has not left the case in well over a year. I would have sold/ traded it long ago, had it not been a keepsake from my overseas study. Meanwhile, my crappy, overpriced Gibson Les Paul with the binding falling off is played daily and gigged regularly. Yes, even more than my MIA Stratocaster. Sound and playability are subjective, but I think that my Gibson Les Paul plays and sounds great, and was worth the fat price tag.
I will further digress by saying that I have owned many Gibson copies made by Ventura, Samick, Epiphone, Orville, and Hondo. The Ventura was by far the best quality and came close to my Dad's 77 Gibson SG. Samick was my least favorite. I also own an Ibanez RG that has a brilliantly constructed neck, Floyd Rose, and screaming pups. A STEAL at under $400 from the import market. I am opened to anything. If I get my hands on an import copy of a Gibson or Fender USA of equal quality, I will be the first to admit it. However, I have yet to find one.
We already see import guitars going for over $1,000 with Ibanez, and I suspect that Shecter (spelling?) will break the $1,000 ceiling soon. Its hard to compare when the import companies have been improving so drastically, and the US companies are simply trying to maintain standards while exploring new ideas. back to practice, later.

I do certainly agree with you on the subjective issue here...as the thread originally said "a highly subjective, hypothetical what if". Interestingly enough, I find the Gibson part of this debate really interesting because aside from the price tag, I don't like most Gibsons, particularly Les Pauls...never have. I've tried playing a lot of Les Pauls over the years (both Gibson and knock-offs) and personally I think they are uncomfortable beasts to try and play...they're heavy and awkward to say the least. I -know- that most of my preference issues are due to the arch top design...I have an old Memphis LP copy which is a real "cheapy" (although she's held up very well over the years considering) and she's a "flat top" LP...that I don't actually mind. I've never really cared for SG's for that matter either but that's more of an aesthetic issue to me...I honestly just think they're ugly! LOL!!! To me an SG really looks like little more than a neck and a couple of pickups just slapped up a slab of wood...no real "style" there to speak of. For that matter I'm not really crazy about ES-335's either...if I ever were to get something like that I'd really go with a Gretsch instead. Obviously though, this is certainly one of the biggest reasons I play Strats myself.

Your comments about Ibanez and Schector are certainly right in that they do make some very fine upper level instruments. Personally I really love those Schector C-1 Classics myself...the ones with the "Vine of Life" inlay up the fretboard. Of course that too is a really good example...those are -very- fine instruments (and they really do play and sound just as sweet as they look). I remember showing my wife those when they first came out and even she had made the comment about how if that were a Gibson it would likely be in the $2000 - $3000 price range, if not more. I was really amazed to see such a truly sweet instrument that was only around $850.

Reading through your response here as well as a couple of others though, it raises another interesting question; Why do people appear to get all offended at the idea of an "inexpensive" American made guitar? Based on your reaction and a couple of others, it almost seems as though some folks apparently think that American made guitars should be expensive...if not really expensive. Perhaps I'm reading more in to this than what's really there but to me it seems as though some folks would feel that the idea of an inexpensive American made instrument would somehow be blasphemy and would tarnish that perspective of American building "the best" (which obviously I personally don't believe anyways for all the reasons already stated).

I am going to address one specific comment you made however...



My point was simply making the contrast of a perceived difference about quality in regards to specific price points using what is again a hypothetical scenario. I'm not saying that American companies "should" be making inexpensive guitars (although I do think that it should be possible if we're really that great of a country)...as I've said repeatedly now, that's almost certainly never going to happen. My original question and point was -if- they were to do this, how would the quality compare to the imports...and again most folks obviously seems to feel that the quality would NOT compare...that such a hypothetical instrument would be a bigger piece of crap than most of the imports.

In my mind, making such a contrasts takes issues such as "nationalistic pride" and pure simple "snobbery" out of the equation. While I'm sure the majority of guitar players feel that your comment about American instruments being the best in the world is true, not ALL of us do...and my point proves exactly that. It also was meant to help people look at this as an apples to apples comparison...you CAN'T directly compare a $1200 American made instrument to a $200 import...that's NOT a direct, let alone fair comparison. By presenting the hypothetical scenario that I have, hopefully it get's at least a few people too see that that almight American pride should perhaps be re-evaluated just a bit. If we "fat, lazy, rich, capitalistic pigs" can't made an instrument in the $100 - $200 range that compares with an import, than -HOW- can a $1200 let alone a $2000 - $4000 instrument really be "better" than a top of the line import? Yet many people seem to think this way by default.

As I said a couple of times now...I've really been playing devil's advocate here. I'm trying to maybe get a few people to put their arrogance and pride off to the side for a moment so they can perhaps think "outside the box" (which is where I typically tend to live! LOL!). One simple truth here is that the world -is- getting smaller every day and there really is going to come a time...perhaps in the not too distant future...where concepts such as nationalism really aren't going to have any place at all on this planet and people who cling to concepts such as America being better than everyone else...such people will really be little more than dinosaurs. I'm sorry if that offends anyone, but it's true...one planet, one people. It really is a much much larger picture than just guitars but being as this is a guitar forum and that there's a few people here who really are full of it...perhaps this will get them to think from a bit different perspective, if only for a moment.

Peace,
Jim

Jim you may have a point here. Though I don't think I would take offense to a cheap American guitar. but i do think with the nature of labour costs, and benefits and such, America has priced itself out of the bargain guitar market. so if you are starting at a higher price point, you guitar had better be better. in fact maybe you start outsourcing instruments of a certain 'standard' to a neighboring country like mexico, which has lower labour costs, unlike your other neighbor which has higher costs. maybe domestically you only even bother to make guitars of a certain quality because it is impossible for you to compete in the lower price point at home.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Hi jnasty,I wasn't making up the story about the Orville,my buddy bought it from an ex-pat American who now lives in Japan and deals in high quality Japanese copies of Fender and Gibson guitars.He made a guarantee that this Orville would hold it's own against any Les Paul or he'd refund the money and pay the return shipping on the guitar.There were quite a few people at this jam and they all agreed that the Orville had the superior sound,even the owner of the Les Paul.You may have ended up with a dud but that doesn't make the whole product line inferior,I guess that as in a lot of guitar factories you'll have inferior instruments as well as superior instruments getting out.I sensed that you felt that I had fabricated what I recounted but anyone who has read my postings knows full well that I'm not prone to mendacity or hyperbole.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Back to the original post of equal money spent for a MIA or other origin, I would buy an American hands down. I can buy a set neck USA Gibson Melody Maker($489) less than a Fender MIM strat($499). Keep your money in America.

The Orville has been a source of interesting conversations up until the last year, when I got a couple of new gits, and it has since been neglected. To be more specific, I could never get the "sparkle" tone out if (middle position, neck pup vol 100% tone 90%, Bridge pup vol 80% tone 100%, or some where in that area). It didnt have that punchy, back pick quality that the out of phase burst-buckers do. I am not sure if it has a nitro finish, but the neck almost had a laminated feel that I never got used to. It has a great bridge pup for high gain and is well built, but I am far from an Orville advocate.
Gibsons are not for everyone, and I have played some worn LP studios and SGs that were less than inspiring. The SG has a head heavy feel that takes some getting used to. Good LP tones can be tricky to dail in, and it takes practice to know where to hit the sweet spots. I screw around with the knobs on the LP all the time, when I rarely touch the tone knobs on my Stratocaster.
Schector guitars have rad features for a guitar under a grand. I played one with a flamed maple top, set neck, Ebony board, EMG 81-85s, and a locking bridge for under $800. IMO, there is no finer guitar made anywhere in the world in that price range. Ibanez has almost become too proud of its top tier gits. I guess if a couple of hacks like Satriani and Vai play your stuff its okay to be proud!
I dont doubt that we will see a day when import guitars are on par with the best America has to offer. But, I dont think that day has come yet.
In the meantime, here are my American beauties:

It's not the quality of parts, woods and craftsmanship that make American products cost more, it’s the cost of the American workers that raise the prices.

We’re funny like that here in the States. We like being paid a living wage for the work we do here.