Well, I should be a politician because I have argued for both sides depending on the situation. :mrgreen: I think it all begins with your impression of what a GAD is. My opinion is highly biased but I will give you my impression of your examples in addition to some others. While I can not vouch for electrics, I have played a Squier acoustic and they are unplayable pieces of particle board. They cost about $100 and are meant for the very beginner. Epiphone is a little higher up on the list, but the many I have played have bad finish jobs, have buzzing like a nightmare, and just sound dead. The Masterbilt series is another matter. Descent tone, all solid, but low end satin finish will do it for some but not others. Sigma by Martins were laminated low end imports for those who could not afford a Martin (check my sig.
). Tone wise it is not all there. Maderia by Guild were roughly the same. One common theme among all these is they were beginner/affordable models of pretty low end quality. They were made by a parent company with high reputations.
A lot has changed in the past 10 years in terms of quality imports. You have brands like Recording King, Blueridge, Eastman that are so good, they can hold their own with the big boys according to many people (maybe not majority but a significant amount). These guitars, in addition to GADs, are of quality build and materials and based on my experience sound great. Granted I have played duds, but I have also played real Guilds, Martins, Taylors, and Gibsons that would qualify as duds as well (it happens...nobody is perfect). Due to the increasing quality of imports, it seems some companies are beginning to slap their name on the guitar. It may be marketing. It may be that they are proud enough of the product to call it their own. It may be both. Several companies do it, including Martin, Taylor, Larrivee, and Gibson.
A bigger question is when does a Guild stop becoming a Guild? When it changes country of production? When it changes factory, or city, or state of production? For example and sake of argument, Larrivee started and still produces guitars in Vancouver. In 2001, they opened a factory in California. Are those still Larrivees? I doubt they transplanted the workers from Vancouver to work at the California plant. What they probably did was hire the locals to start producing guitars according to the Larrivee specs. Guild, according to their website, did the same with their imports.
Most guitar companies aim to have a diversity in their offerings. Usually a low end, middle or Standard, and a high end to appease the masses and their fat or thin wallets. Guild, like Taylor and Martin have started producing their low end in other countries to reduce cost of production while maximizing features (i.e. solid wood, Grover tuners, bone nut...for Guild at least). It is not all puppy dogs, rainbows, and butterflies because in the end you still get what you pay for. Any time you go to a store and pick up a $500 guitar, you shouldn't expect it to sound like a $5000 guitar. The average GAD will not sound like the average US made Guild (while there are exceptions). But should they? I would argue no since they are not even in the same price range. They fit to attract different audiences.
I'll stop here and I am sure you can figure out where I will stand on the issue....for today. Happy discussions and I hope this turns into an 18 page thread.
