Same thing with electric guitars. In the 60 and early 70ies, Made in Japan guitars, specially copies of Gibson and Fender guitars where not well regarded. But

Same thing with electric guitars. In the 60 and early 70ies, Made in Japan guitars, specially copies of Gibson and Fender guitars where not well regarded. But they started to greatly improve, and by the late 70ies and 80ies they were equal if not better than their originals (specially Fender which was not well managed by CBS at the time). In the copy department you still have brands like Burny/Fernandez or Tokai, and also brands that outgrew the simple copy business with genuine models such as Ibanez, Yamaha or Takamine (a few lawsuits may have helped them develop in that direction).