I hear you, Jrod.
The problems are many.
To begin with, they are mass produced in China by folk who are peice workers struggling to feed their families. Not Luthiers.
They drown the instruments in whatever the gunk is to try and hide the imperfections.
Then they send them by the container load to the USA where they bolt the neck on, slap on el cheapo hardware (again, mass produced in China) and then because the USA has stupid laws around manufacturing they stick a made in USA stamp on it.
None of this work is done by Luthiers, if it was there would be no setup problems with frets, action etc...

They proudly jump up and down saying look at these great Guitars we make here in the States and whack a stupidly high price tag on them.

As for the custom shop, well... They charge exhorbitant prices just to keep a handfull of real Luthiers employed.
Mind you, the bodies are still made in PRC and the necks I am lead to believe are Mitey Mite necks....

This is just one of many "made in USA" products out there being sold to the unwitting buyer.
The list is long, and it is sad that all these once great US products have been dumbed down in quality just so the big corporations can make more money.

They are treating the customer with contempt and they should be ashamed.