Quote:
Originally Posted by charles Tauber
For a guitar maker, it might include making a guitar top thickness just on the edge of failure - one more stroke or two of the hand plane, sanding block, electric orbital sander, etc. and the top is too weak or not the right response.
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I wish this example would go away. If two strokes of the sandpaper is left on it may last 10 hrs. If another stroke, then ten days. There is no way a builder will take an instrument just before the point of immediate failure if he wants it to last for years.
As far as hand built, I am getting close to finishing an instrument. I was given free reign to build as I pleased, I was told what they could afford (oh they have no idea what it really should cost) and I decided on the wood and what it will look like. It will be comparable to a store bought instrument but it will come with the knowledge that one person built it.
And that makes it more special than a store bought product. It is what makes antiques valuable, they might have been mass produced a hundred, two hundred years ago but how many are out there? There will not be another instrument built like this one, the cost will not be an issue as it is a gift and the person to receive it will not know the cost. Hopefully it will sound fine, so far I do not see any reason it will not.
I worked in a factory for 18 years. I was good at whatever piece of machinery I was working on. Even with the machine made to spit out carbon copy items many times (well it used to be) how the operator ran the machine affected the quality or amount of production. One week they let my partner and myself go for holidays the same week, that was the only time and we were not allowed to be gone at the same time. Production of the plant fell from the mid 90's (percent of product to 100% production) to the 50's. But today's factories are more tightly controlled.
I have no bias against factory made things, use them every day. A factory built instrument can sound better than a hand built one, and the reverse can be true. If they were on par in quality and cost which would you choose? And if there was one that was better than the other but it cost more which would you choose? Not saying if it was the factory one or hand built. And if you were willing to pay more and get the higher quality one, at some point the added cost will not be worth the added quality and most would buy the other as long as it was acceptable.
So it is wants and ability to pay the price that determines the sale of the item. If you made 10 million a year and you wanted a Somogyi and it was $75k would you care? What if you liked the sound of a Martin better? Oh yea, you would get both but use the Martin as a beater.
In the end it is a question is if you like how the guitar sounds (built or to be built) and the physical aspect of it. Does it look cool, does how it was made enter into the cool factor? Will always knowing that a person picked the woods he thought would go well together and managed to make it all work together mean anything more than if it was a factory built guitar after you owned either for 30 years? (assuming you are young enough to still be around).
Lot of things go into whether one is better for you, there are no wrong answers to this one.