My emphasis (in my head at least) was on the CNC manufacturing .. the cheap labour thing was an afterthought. I was not defending the cheap labour economies, especially when they are blatently oppressive like China, far from it, but that's how it is at the moment. However, CNC manufacturing is also cheap in the west (though not as cheap as in the Far East), especially in long production runs, and most USA Fenders (as an example) are mass produced in this way. Yes they will cost more than Far Eastern products, but I don't believe that they need to cost as much as they do.