...with little or no quality control it is a toss up if the guitar is any good or not....


You are bang on the money there, Warwick. I know I made a bit of a sweeping generalisation, but there certainly are some low end brand names which occasionally throw up a beauty.

I wouldn't be caught dead playing a Seagull, normally, but a friend of mine has one which sounds absolutely magnificent. I'm not saying I would trade my Martin or Bourgeois for it, but I would love to have it nonetheless.

However, I haven't yet come across a Harmony which got my hormones hopping ...