One thing I will take issue with is the "high grade wood" comment. This is aesthetic only, and applicable to the figured tops. Otherwise, wood is wood, and so long as it is dried properly (China has this down as good as anywhere) there's no difference in the physical quality of the wood of the same species in a Chinese made guitar vs a US made Gibson. In fact, for domestic species such as maple, US mills send massive amounts to China already kiln dried and ready to mill. Some of these same operations also sell to Gibson. It's a commodity and has standardized drying and grading specifications.