Very interesting reading posts! I am a New Zealander and it is interesting to read the posts and the perceptions of the quality of these guitars as far as guitar brands in general. I have a "tree of life" dreadnought which I bought new from Lewis Eady in Auckland in 1977. I think I paid about $300 odd for it. It has the Tama name in full and Horizontal across the headstock. Full Mother of Pearl inlay, Real Ivory (it has gone yellowy with age) Rosewood sides and back, ebony fretboard...etc etc. a truely beautiful and awesome sounding guitar, anyway back to the ignorance in NZ, About 5 years ago I took my Tama to a music shop for a replacement quote for insuring. They could not give an answer or compare like with like on paper for my insurance. I asked one guitar shop if they had heard of tama guitars and the salesman said yes sure, but his opinion was they were rubbish and not worth insuring! Needless to say I told him he didn't know the difference between a Gibson and a Martin and that,no, its not a guitar made by a drum company! Anyway, now I pretty much keep my Tama in its case and bring it out for the occasional play. it gets better with age and is truely, I feel, a collectors guitar. As with above posts I think there are very few of them around and those that have them, tend to hold on to them. Then again I guess that music shop in my story had the right answer, as I think they are irreplaceable instruments! Keep it up fellow Tama lovers! Kerry.