[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw

I tend to agree. It's more of a watering down to me. I think the Epiphone/Gibson model is more honest. The Gibson's are built in Bozeman, Montana.

But, what do I know?

Gibson is hardly an example to follow. Epiphone used to be its own brand that rivaled Gibson until the latter bought them out. Now they're a carbon copy of Gibson and are mostly built overseas. Granted, the Masterbilt line was pretty good but there are still plenty of Epiphones that are essentially sanctioned Gibson knockoffs around.

Personally, I don't understand how something with quality can be shipped halfway around the world twice then shipped back to nearer to the point of sale to be QC'd? If they were cigars it'd be a whole different story; we'd be bringing the labor here.