Well, there are many ways to answer what you just wrote. The bottom line is though, nothing is made the way it used to be done. And, there are so many joints in a scroll saw as opposed to a bandsaw that there is no comparison. When you buy a piece of equipment today, you must plan on bringing it home and fixing what they didn't. Those Chinese are working their little fingers to the bone to turn out the crap that we are buying. Just as soon as we stop buying their crap, things might improve. Like I have said, I bought a used type 1 that was U.S. made. No problems at all with the exception of the main drive bolt coming loose after I don't know how much use. I used to have a shop full of good U.S. made equipment but when we sold out to go full time RV living, it all got sold. Now, my shop consists of mostly Harbor Freight stuff. I know in my mind when I buy it that i"m buying cheap. So, I'm not disappointed when I get it home and have to fix stuff. My bandsaw is a Chinese Delta. It can't compare to the old one I had but it is still not bad. I guess what it comes down to is this....if you have enough gold in your gold mine, then buy the best you can buy. Otherwise, you just put up with the occasional repair tasks. If your DW788 was as well built as you had hoped, it would not have been a $500 saw.
Ray