Guest:Bill said,"found out the hondo is from China. So maybe the reason for the $$$ and shallow sound. Chinese instruments have a dirrerent sound as does mountain music"

You can't make a generalization like that. I've played poor sounding Chinese instruments, but I've also played super Chinese instruments. Try an Eastman and tell me that it has a "shallow" sound. They compare favourably with similarly priced Gibsons. In fact, they blow some of them away.