The Orange Deplorable God touted Gibson Guitar as making their products in America. Gibsons have
ALWAYS been made here. Gibson Brands, Inc. is Epiphone's Parent company.
Epiphones are made mostly in China. Some in Japan. I do not see that changing.
What a deceptive piece of work the Deplorable Orange God is.
= new reply since forum marked as read
It's funny...even though Epiphones are scorned by elitists and don't hold a candle to the resale value of a Gibson, do a Google search on the Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro. It's got 5 star reviews across the boards. A Gibson LPC for $5000 is a thing of beauty, true. For musicians who have $600, the Epiphone LPC Pro will definitely pass muster.
You're talking under $100 in parts (esp with Gibsons ability to buy in bulk at wholesale prices) except perhaps in some cases where exotic materials or a ton of decorative stuff is used. And although Gibson guitars are 'Made In USA', that doesn't mean every single PART ... is made physically in the USA, nor are they all made BY Gibson.
A good deal of the process at Gibson US is done using automation/machines I'd guess ... Stuff like grinding/polishing the bodies and necks, popping the frets into the neck, the paint/lacquer job is likely all done automatically (though programming the machines to do it correctly is I'm sure no simple task).
A real person I'm guessing has to put on the bridge and put in the pickups and adjust them, string the guitar, set the action and intonation, probably in some cases attach the neck to the body and put the tuning keys into the headstock and adjust tension on the truss rod. I wouldn't guess on how the binding is put on (by hand or machine), when present, but the binding material is I'd guess made by a machine.
Then there's the 'brand name'. It's arguably the most famous guitar maker in the world (them or Fender is for sure) and their products are revered because of the sheer volume of famous music created by artists using their products. When you picture Jimmy Page or Slash or Joe Perry ... you see 'em with their friggin' Les Paul's in hand (or maybe in Jimmy's case, the double-neck used in Stairway which I think may also be Gibson-built).
You picture James Hetfield, you see him with his Explorer.
You picture Jerry, he's rockin' an SG ... you get the picture 
Basically this means consumers are willing to pay a premium for the name and it's iconic status. They'll happily pay $2500 for a piece of merchandise that cost $100 in materials and perhaps $200-$400 in labor (in many cases at least), or $5000 for one that cost $200 in materials and $600 in labor.
Not implying there's anything in any way 'wrong' about any of the above, but I am saying that with labor & market conditions the way they are, you almost have to be a company that, one way or another, makes a very high-margin product ... to survive as a company that manufacturers its products here in the USA.
