You may not have demanded them, but from your description of yourself, you are not the typical guitar buyer.
The typical buyer -- parents purchasing a guitar for their sons or daughters, teens or 20s purchasing guitars for themselves, or adults who do not have a lot of disposable income and want to get themselves a good guitar and still save for their kid's college education -- are concerned with cost and do want high quality at a low price. They are the majority of the guitar market and they are who the Asian imports are aimed at.
Jim
Yes, I may not be the typical buyer, being a middle-aged, late-to-the-dance hobbyist, who is not on his first( or second or third...) guitar. But, I get the sense from participating in these forums, that I belong to a sizable demographic. Another forum just ran a pole about the age range of participants and the largest sectors comprised people in their 40s and 50s! Again, this may not be an accurate representation of the guitar-buying public, but it must represent an important part of the market. It seems like we're talking about different parts of the same elephant here: some refer to the low-end, entry level and generally young players, whose parents are doing the buying and others refer to young and middle-aged adults who are buying for themselves and are knowledgeable about quality. I gathered that Jay was referring to the latter customers while describing people looking to pay little for quality instruments and to whom some store owners are capitulating by low-balling their good quality American-made guitars, which may in turn undermine these brands for other sellers. On top of this, there are now the very nice Asian imports and some eastern European which come in way below ours.
To bring back into this discussion the AG Guiild article, I was very happy to see the publicity, no matter how incomplete the info may have been, because I think bringing attention to the brand is the right way to try to increase customer interest among serious enthusiasts, which may in turn soon allow retailers to hold the line on their prices. So, for Guilds, I don't see why, in theory, GADs can't coexist alongside Tacoma-mades, so long as the latter offer something more than the GADs, such as red spruce tops, different tonal objectives and ornamentation, new build approaches such as in the Contemporaries, etc. Somebody in his/her 20s may start with a GAD, love it and keep it, but want to try something higher up the line ultimately. If the professional players he or she admires are seen holding American Guilds, they are more likely to consider that it might be worthwhile to pay somewhat more for one. Even as they get into their late 20s and 30s and have kids, they're still going to be spending on some non-essentials like the latest electronic devices, so why not a guitar? - That's what the plastic is for! :roll: Obviously, you need a big company with some serious cash to pull off this marketing and exposure and that's why I'm happy Fender's there.
