...if our beloved major companies, Fender and Gibson (of course, others too like PRS) had remained mainly domestic and as handmade as possible? I know, seems pointless on a first thought, but let's try to figure this.
I mean take a look at Rickenbacker.
RIC is kind of a rarity in the industry these days. Still a family business, all their instruments are made in Santa Ana, with as many premium quality parts as possible (good woods, Schaller tuners, good wiring and pots). They don't offer budget line imported replicas of their all known models, nor do they sport a Custom Shop to sell allegedly "custom" guitars that cost like 4 or 5 times what a standard does. In fact, all their guitars are "standard" models, the amount of bling varying slightly from model to model to suit the customer's taste.
Few employees, a very well made product, and they are still Rickenbacker...
So, what if our other companies had done the same? How would that have affected the prices of guitars today, and what's really cool to imagine: would we praise old vintage guitars like we do now? Would there be terms like "Burst" or "Pre-CBS" if we still had only the factories at Fullerton and Kalamazoo making fine and all good instruments?