Hi Scott, you're correct, the guitars coming out of China today are really good-sounding, good-quality instruments at a very reasonable cost. Larger brands to consider are Alvarez, Ibanez, and Eastman. Below is a review of my recently purchased Alvarez LD70e Herringbone Sunset, bought new last May:

I received my new, all-solid wood Alvarez Laureate LD70e Herringbone Sunset a couple of days ago. It sells for $1599, but I asked for the best price and got it for significantly less than that amount. Removing the guitar from its shipping boxes and gig bag, I saw a highly-silked, sunburst Sitka Spruce top with herringbone binding. It reminded me of my Martin HD-28 Sunburst—Twin Sons Of Different Mothers--I’ve waited 50 years to somehow use that album title.

The Alvarez Laureate LD70e Herringbone Sunset has an installed LR Baggs HiFi, making it about 10 ounces heavier than a Martin HD-28 without a pickup/preamp system. No doubt some of this heavier weight is due to a thickish polyurethane finish on the body. I was worried this finish would inhibit the guitar’s acoustic tone, but strumming my first E chord, I’m happy and relieved to report it doesn’t. The Laureate is as deeply resonant as any dreadnought I own or have owned. Its bass register reminds me of a Martin D-35 I had years ago, but the guitar also has a nice sparkle to its overall tone. Along with plenty of sustain, I have no negative feelings about the tone of this guitar or about buying it!

The setup and playability of the Laureate are good for me, but its 1 3/4” inch wide nut width and string spread make it a bit difficult for my medium-size hands to thumb-fret the 6th string. The fingerboard has enough space before its edges so that the strings could be located closer to the fingerboard edges to help with thumb fretting. If you don’t thumb-fret, or your hands are larger than mine, I think you’ll love the Laureate’s neck, as is. The open-back tuners have a 20:1 ratio and feel smooth and precise. The neck has a satin finish, and a strap button is installed at the bottom of the neck heel.

The Alvarez Laureate LD70e Herringbone Sunset has genuine abalone inlays, including the Alvarez logo and diamond figure on the headstock, the 12th fret figure on the fingerboard, and soundhole rosette. The overall guitar aesthetic is simple, traditional elegance!

I used a lighted mirror to check out the inside of the guitar. The quality of workmanship is equal to any of the nice guitars I own, as the forward-shifted bracing and all braces and supports are sanded smooth and with no visible glue squeeze-out along the joints. My only gripe is that the LR Baggs battery bag's wiring didn’t have any wire guides installed on the guitar’s side, so its cable was flopping around from the battery bag to the end-block preamp. I’ll remedy this when I make my first string change, as I have wire guides handy for the fix.

I plugged the Alvarez Laureate LD70e Herringbone Sunset into my Vox AGA150 amp, and the LR Baggs HiFi sounded quite natural and balanced. I was surprised to see some differences between this newest HiFi and the ones I installed in a couple of Larrivees over a year ago. The new HiFi has plastic-coated lead wires on the transducers, and the transducers are installed so the lead wires point toward the soundhole before curving around toward the end block preamp. The older HiFi transducers have the thin braided lead wires and were installed per instructions, with the lead wires exiting the transducers and passing between the guitar’s bridge pins. LR Baggs now states that it doesn’t matter if the transducers are oriented 180 degrees from the old method, and the newer method means the lead wires won’t ever contact the string ball ends or bridge pins—Nice!

I recommend an Alvarez Laureate Series guitar to any player desiring exceptional value with quality and excellent tone. Please feel free to comment on my review, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thanks for looking in!