As you might guess, I do have a fancy named "luthier" guitar, and a couple cool, collectible guitars, all carefully stashed away. however, I need of something that I can play, and keep handy, without fear of children, pets, or clumsy dinner guests--

I had a perfectly fine Dreadnaught that I bought at a yard sale for $25, and which survived ten years of airline and auto travel, only to turn up one morning last month with a shotgun style hole in the side--a 12 string that I have kept in a corner of the room for years has been decapitated, and the Classical Guitar that my wife found at Goodwill for $15 is developing a split in the back--

It's not that I don't want to fix them, it is simply that it costs more than they are worth--new tuning pegs for the twelve, for instance, cost more than it would be worth, with the pegs. The dreadnaught would require more custom than was used to make it--and that with the caveat that it will never be what it was(which was a Korean copy of a Japanese knockoff of a cheap guitar that had been roughly modeled on a Martin D-18)

I have noticed that there are a number of new guitar brands, Samick Guitars, designed by Greg Bennett, and Sanitoga Guitars, for instance--that can cost less than $200 new, and yet are discussed as if they were the kind of instrument that a professional musician might use(one who pawned his instrument to buy liquor, perhaps)--

Can this be true? Are there really cheap new instruments that are playable and sound, well, at least OK?

Or maybe there are other instruments older, and used, that can be had for a low price, owing to the fact that they never got the reputation that they deserved?

Please share your ideas--I need something that I can really play, all the way up the neck, finger and flat picking, that won't break my heart if it takes a hit--