I've read that the one of the factories in S Korea making great stuff is WMI (World Musical Instrument). They make guitars for many USA companies:
- PRS (SE line)
- Schecter
- .strandberg* (Salen and OS lines) --> correction, these may be made at PT Cort in Indonesia
- Agile
- Michael Kelly
- Chapman
- B.C. Rich
- Dean
- Gretsch
- LTD
- Line6
I am convinced that the workmanship is far superior to what you see in the USA for the same price level. And if you put the price level at $5K and up, there's probably no way you can tell the difference in workmanship between Asian-made guitars and USA. In fact, out of the USA-made guitars, I found it appalling for the Gibsons at > $5K. Perceptions are everything. If you handed somebody that USA-made Gibson Les Paul, and said it was $10K, many would ooh and ahh and say it was the holy grail. But say it's made in Asia and people immediately say it's overpriced crap and not worth it. Few could tell in a double-blind test. My Ibanez AS153 (made in China) rivals any USA-made ES-335 I have seen or played.
Are you buying the guitar for making music or for provenance and bragging rights?
