[PsYcNeT]

As a long time player and multiple guitar owner, this isn't much of a surprise. Guitar manufacturers have long been pushing themselves into "niche" category. The 90s/00s were pretty egregious in how they tried to gouge players, and the push to manufacture in substandard factories really devalued the product that you would receive in years past.

Kitchy designs and nuanced improvements aside, not much has changed in guitar construction since the 70s/80s, yet there was a massive supply-side consolidation of manufacturing in the 90s. Many brands of guitars were all being slapped with different prices while being made with the same materials in the same Asian assembly plants around the late 90s, and the decline in general quality on sub ~$1000 USD guitars was very noticeable. Amp quality has dipped a fair bit as well (relative to price), which is bizarre because there have been huge overhauls in audio technology in the last 20 years. While tubes themselves are still niche and obviously expensive, modelers and solid state tech has gotten intensely better, but at near-tube pricing.

Add in the "used guitars are better" aftermarket, and it's really a recipe for disaster.