Ventura made some pretty sweet little numbers, both acoustically and electrically in the '70s... course the examples that they have on Ebay these days as 'collectibles' leave a lot to be desired. For the most part, the acoustics were laminated tops and sides, but the construction was superior to a lot of the crap from Indonesia and China today with a few exceptions. The electrics really tried to copy the American manufacturers to a tee... down to three piece mahogany necks on some LP copies. Ibanez, Greco, Memphis, Electra and a bunch of other companies were out there selling reasonably well built products at a fraction of the cost of the American originals... of course, they haven't faired as well in the long run when it comes to durablity or retaining their value... with few exceptions.

docrichards@juno.com