I worked at a papermill for 33.5 years so my guess is Union Labor wages is a big part of USA made guitars price
Gibson does not use union labor. I believe they did when they were in Kalamazoo, but they don't in Nashville.
But, there is a heck of a lot that goes into pricing a manufactured item.
If a company's source of revenue is the product it sells, then selling that product has to pay for
everything. At it's most obvious, the revenue from a product has to pay for the cost of the materials in the product and the labor of those assembling the product. But, that's just the beginning. Revenue from the product also has to cover a portion of the facility (rent or mortgage); insurance at the facility; utilities; taxes (of multiple kinds, to include the company's portion of FICA); contributions toward employees' retirement (401K, if the company matches the employee contribution); a portion of the employees' health insurance; travel; advertising; promotions (e.g. NAMM); and all the other indirect employees, like management, accounting, administration, legal, research and development, sales, janitorial, and so forth. Just think, the money you pay for your Les Paul helps pay the receptionist's wages at Gibson, even though that person never touched the guitar.
And, there's even more than that.
In short, literally every expense a manufacturing company incurs has to be paid for by the products it sells. It goes way beyond just the materials in the product and the wages of those who built it.
Sometimes, I'm surprised guitars are not more expensive than they are.
