GuitarVlog,
Thanks for your feedback. I understand - 6 for 6 is really not a good score. It's not acceptable for us either as Q/C is a major concern here, rest assured.
That said, I could go on and on about fully hand made Nylon/Classical guitars and Q/C .... the unknown that will vary from end-user to end-user, guitarist to guitarist, is where the designation A stock ends, and B stock begins. There's no way around subjectivity when it comes to grading, and that gray area grows wider as you go down in price point. There is no perfect, I can assure you of that .... this is true especially in the nylon/classical world where traditional Spanish construction methods rule the game, as opposed to American factory made (read: Taylor and Martin) which is often the standard applied by dealers and customers here. Anyone who does that, and I'm not presuming you do, needs to readjust their standards so they are appropriate to the nature of building nylon guitars in China and/or Spain. I can tell you this from first hand experience having worked at Taylor Guitars for 5 years - if I applied that standard to any guitar I put my hands on here, I probably would have left the company by now. There's alot to learn here on the inside and I'm happy to share what I know.
One more note, of the guitars you mention, the C7's, F7's, and the C10's, everything with the exception of the C5, based on the time frame you mentioned these were all first run, new models from our factory. We kill ourselves to get it right the 1st time, but the 2nd time is usually much better as we dial in closer to the right, albeit imperfect build.
Thanks for letting us know when we don't hit the mark. We are a relatively small company with limited resources, we try very hard every day to get it right, and we won't stop trying. Hopefully we can win back your confidence in the near term.
Best,
Jay
|