I decided several years ago to not try to compete at the bottom of the price scale, but rather to build the best instruments I'm capable of. There are certainly cheaper instruments out there, but I believe in the old saying "you get what you pay for." My priorities when building an instrument are how it plays and sounds. A beautiful looking instrument isn't worth a damn if it doesn't play and sound good. When choosing components function and sound are more important than price. A case in point is disc piezo pickups. If you see an electric cigar box guitar with no visible pickup it most likely has a disc piezo pickup. Builders love them because they only cost a couple dollars and are extremely easy to install. They just get glued to the under side of the top. I won't use them because I believe they're inferior to other pickups. For more info on this read the electronics page. I've been playing guitar for over 50 years, and believe I know the difference between a good instrument and a crappy one. I build every instrument as if I'm building it for myself. If you go to my Artists page you will see that many of my professional customers own more than one of my instruments, which I believe speaks to the quality of my builds.