Gotta agree with you, for the money there are
actually a few pretty good brands out there.
A friend of mine is distributing chinese-made 'Johnson'
guitars, and paired up with decent 'Tesla pickups' they
sound pretty bad as$ and stay in tune as well.
I'll tell you a story.-
Personally everytime I need a new guitar and such
I go to the pawn shops or trade-in section at music
centers, the last little jewel I found was an
incredible Ovation balladeer Model. 1111 from
the early 90's with the great OP 24 electronics
set and a carbon fiber shell (not plastic).
This Connecticut made beauty was laying in
the corner of "freedom guitar" all dusty, alone
and forgotten just because it had little crack on
top (maybe 4" long) surely caused by the dry
san diego summers (EZ fix with epoxy or resin).
I had about $500 to spend and the floorguy was pushing
on me an incredible takamine i fell in love with, but after
examining and playing the ovation for 30 seconds i was
sold. Best $200 bucks I've ever spent! I'll never sell it.
Moral of the story:
give other peoples' good 'junk' a new beginning