If you were in the guitar biz in the US, you'd know that you and we are totally at the mercy of what finish companies are putting out, of what the government is requiring of them to stay legal, etc. All of us from one-person shops on up to Fender, Martin, and Taylor have gone through finish supplier hell in the past 20 years. The finishes change every year. We all have to re-learn, deal with f-ups, deal with warranty work, etc. on a regular basis. The product names stay the same and the products change. The public gets used to dead flat finishes on plywood from Japan and China...that are .030" or more thick...and expects that of companies trying to keep film thickness down to .008" on real solid wood.
Then there is the miracle that there are still production guitar companies able to exist and thrive in the US. I, for one, am very happy to see costs of Asian instruments rising at a much faster rate than those made here. We have a chance at survival.
It's really easy to rag on Martin, Gibson, Fender, Guild, Larrivee, Taylor, etc. But those companies are full of real luthiers with passion who just happen to work in that realm between the major Asian factories and the boutique factories like Santa Cruz, Collings, Bourgeois, Kamaka, KoAloha, Kanilea, and yes my own.
I'd also like to point out that Chris Martin and Dick Boak from Martin have been two of the most supportive gents to the US luthier movement of the past 30 years. Believe it or not, they love and support what we do.