...I was sad to see that they are now making the LTDs in Indonesia. Nothing against Indonesia, but Korean guitar factories are getting pretty good at what the do.
I think, at the end of the day, it's gonna come-down to materials and craftsmanship - no matter where they are made.
I watched a Youtube thing the other day - Ola Englund, His Solar brand.. He flew over the Indonesia to personally check every-single-one of the guitars that they had made..
And it comes down to that. If people Really care before their products head out the door, then not a bad product will make it into the hands of a consumer.
For this reason, I don't think Indonesia - or anywhere for that matter, holds sway over levels of quality that can make or break a brand. These guitars are either being made right, and being checked properly before they head out the door, or not. I think that would be true of any guitar made anywhere in the world.
I have an Ibby RGABCDEFG (or whatever), ..(it's a through-neck, satin violet flame kinda thing).. Plays better than the USA Jackson I own. That Ibby is made in Indonesia, I think. paid about a third as much for it as I paid for the Jackson.
A lot can be said for Quality Control. You can get a lot of guitar for your money if the quality control is there.
You're right: guitars are much more consistent than they were years ago. It's less of a risk, but there are still differences. I can pull ten of the same model of the wall and only really gel with one or two. Sometimes none.
I know that there can be, on occasion, real differences between identical guitars, but, some of that might be due to poor setup. I have never had a guitar that didn't need a setup, and a poorly setup guitar is easy to dislike.
Just as an example, I was in GC a while back looking at some Taylors, they all sounded ..well ..not great. Played ..well ..not great -to- pretty bad.
I have a bunch of guitars, and the only guitar I truly love is my Ovation Balladeer LX, and when I got that, it needed work. But, with that little-bit of work, it's just great - plays great - sounds wonderful..
I always tell people new to guitars, Whatever you buy, it's gonna be twice as good with a really good setup. :0) - Outside of 4k properly set-up "instrument" that is - and even then, plucked off the wall four-months later at a Warehouse Store like GC? ....I don't think places like that do any of the instruments they dangle off the wall any justice.
I'm sure those Taylors I tried out would have sounded and played better with a little care and attention shortly after unboxing the things.
...
...and in closing I'd like to say.. WTF, Gibson? :0) ...What the hell was that video all about!? LOL! .. Ladies and Gentlemen.. "Greed". :0)
Now, I get that being directly ripped-off and defamed by Chibson type crap is gonna wear on a nerve - something similar happened to us, it's not pleasant when your brand is being trashed by scumbags selling crap under your flag, and you are taking the customer service calls on those crap-products you never made or profited from. It's a heinous bitch, actually.. But, it sure seems like Gibson are trying to cash in to a pretty-disgusting degree - going by the OP's vid.
Squashing competition, just holds the whole industry back. It's not right. ...And demanding ..what? .."payment" ..for every-little-tiny aspect of a thing.. Are they so bad off anymore that they need that extra buck?
"taping over the name doesn't blah-blah-blah"
Something fundamentally wrong with that level of unadulterated greed. ..ain't right at all.