It costs a LOT to make a new guitar model, especially in CF where you need new molds (each well into five figures) and new processes. These are usually built in small shops with lots of hand labor at low production levels - more like a handful per day, not hundreds per day.
I agree with you on price. They have to be competitive in the marketplace. My LGS is a CA dealer, but $1799 for a Cargo w/ pickup and ~$3200 for a Gx or Ox is just not going to compete well. Rainsong's C-H series starts at ~$1350 and my latest Emerald was just over $2300 delivered, for comparison. Add in the market niche of wood versus CF and you have even more buyer resistance, not just price. I enjoy playing the wine red Gx every time I test drive it locally, but at that price it will never come home with me to join the herd. There are at least three other CF guitars that I would - and actually did - buy first.
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