Way too much boutique this and signature that in the music instrument business. My philosophy is that if it works for YOU, that's all that should matter.
Manufacturing in Asian countries has developed and improved greatly over the past few years. Remember when Fender started producing the Squier line in Indonesia? They were utterly crap at the beginning. Now they have a lot of the production kinks worked out, and have developed a skilled workforce. The Indonesian guitars these days, in many cases, rival the Korean produced models, and even some of the U.S. models.
Bear in mind that Asian countries have been producing electronics for the U.S. market much longer than they have been producing guitars.
The hand-painted pedal phenomenon was initially a result of stoned, bored players who had art supplies around the house because their room-mates, or girlfriends were artists or art students.
