Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozarkpicker
What is the difference in the terms “Handmade” & “ Handcfafted” when referring to how a particular manufacturers guitars are made. I am a bit confused, because I recently heard a member here refer to Eastman acoustic guitars as being “Handcrafted”, when I’m pretty sure they are machine-made for the very most part...to keep prices lower, I suspect. But, that term would suggest they are not.
I have always thought of guitars like Bourgeois, Collings or Thompson being “Handmade”, with virtually no machinery used to build their instruments, and therefore they are made in far lower numbers than even those made by Martin, Gibson or Taylor...which I would consider more “Handcrafted” than “Handmade”.
Will someone smarter than I give a shot at this?
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I don’t think there’s a standard associated with either of those words, so I think the usage of either could be subject to a wide variety of interpretations. Of course, no guitar I’m aware of is made with no human touch. Even guitars with CNC parts are still assembled by hand. So it’s semantics really. Any guitar maker in the world could use the term “handcrafted” or “handmade” without being totally wrong.
I think it’s probably more sensible to think of things in terms of mass production instruments vs those made one by one. In the case of the former, guitars are built to average specs with a combination of machines and humans. In the case of the latter, it’s mostly a person with jigs and hand tools/power tools. Instruments are individualized. And there are boutique companies that are somewhere in between.