Continued thanks for the opinions and suggestions. I'll confess that I've been looking at the higher-priced US-made guitars, thinking to myself...what if? Why not?
Ultimately, though, I think I need to "earn" a guitar like that. What I mean by that is, I need to devote enough time and energy to getting back into playing regularly. I need to reach the point so that when someone asks me if I play guitar, my answer is, "Yes, I do" and not, "Well, I did 15-20 years ago."
And once that happens, who knows what will wind up on my wall!
it comes back really fast... the other day my fingers started a tune I haven't heard or played in 20 years all by themselves. My brain just went, wait I know this from somewhere...