Thank you all for your responses. Our local small town music shop sells several acoustic brands in the less than $500 price range, but I notice that none of you have mentioned any of them. It might very well be that this fact tells me alot. He sells, Aria, Sigma & JB Player. He is also a technician & does a set-up on all the guitars he sells. He lowers the strings at the nut and the bridge so that they fret easily, but without any buzz or rattle again the frets. But the fact that none of you mentioned any of the brands he sells would seem to indicate that they are, perhaps, more for beginners???

I will be checking out the sites that several have posted.

Sorry about asking the same question that you have all answered before. I tried to find something my searching the forum for "Guitar Brands" and only found a thread on fingerpicking guitars. I didn't think of searching as Catspaw has suggested.

Take care.

Randall