I almost forgot-
My "brother" also called real excited with news that he bought a guitar.
Said it was an "Epiphone Gibson" that had "made in USA" on the back.
That kind of got me excited as I know there are high end Epi's that say something like "Made in USA by Gibson".
Turns out it's one of the cheapest beginner "bundle" models without even adjustable intonation.
Someone put a Gibson truss rod cover on it and the "made in USA" turned out to be "set up in USA" on a Chinese built guitar.
...and it had brand new strings that were only wound once around the tuning pegs.
I'd have happily gone used guitar shopping with him if he'd only asked first.
He thinks he got a great deal on it and I didn't have the heart to bust that bubble.
I did point out the "features" or lack thereof, and why they may be problematic moving forward.
...and also looked up the Chinese MFG per the S/N.