I'm thinking that's just a case of awkward wording (and primarily for any "newbies" who might be reading), but D-4's were "all-American", although as the entry-level Guild dread of its time, would certainly qualify as a "gateway".
My "gateway guitar" was a '96 D25.
Fender didn't bring in Made in China instruments until the
Guild
Acoustic
Design series appeared in the spring '04 price list, Corona era.
And didn't mean to sound overbearing and thanks for acknowledging your understanding of my "larger picture" intent.
"Disingenuous Sellers" have been one of my pet peeves ever since they all used verbiage lifted straight from the
MIRC website to reassure buyers that the new-but-unwarranted MIRC refurbs that Fender flooded the market with at closure of Tacoma had been "Inspected by my luthier".
Yeah, sure, if you stretch the definition to mean that MIRC was
everybody's luthier in the case of the liquidated Tacoma Guilds.