Many luthiers build a guitars long enough to feel they have figured it out and then go into production. Innovation then tends to go into finding more efficient methods rather than incrementally better guitars.
Some luthiers devote their careers to making the best possible guitar, one after another.
Most luthiers of my acquaintance walk a line in between these extremes in an effort to keep production up and prices down: real world economics.
There are so many ways to approach our craft that it is not a great idea to generalize about “luthiers”.
My early works has proven to be generally quite good, and virtually all of it has stood the test of time. Because I am in the middle category above, my latest work is virtually all incomparably superior to what I was doing 20 or more years ago, at least judged by my own standards.
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