Official Luthiers Forum!

I've been kicking around thoughts in my head, trying to get a feel for the future of professional lutherie. These are just some rambling thoughts I've had.

I was reading a couple articles in Woodcraft Magazine yesterday, one about Gerald Shephard, and the other about building a guitar kit. They made the concept of building a guitar seem very realistic and easy in that article about the kits. It also reached the eyes and minds of countless thousands of people who maybe never considered building a guitar, but just might now.

It's been said that for the last decade or so that there has been a Rennaisance of lutherie. And it would appear that it is in more than just the US, but in Canada, the UK, Australia and elsewhere in the world.
There's no doubt that the internet and books such as Cumpiano & Natelson's book has made tackling the task of building a guitar a much more easy venture.
When I was first exposed to hand-made guitars back in the 70's, there were a handful of builders in the country. Looking at the membership of the OLF makes you realize just how much all that information has spread across the globe.
This isn't news to any of us I think, but it prefaces where I'm going.

It used to be that buying a handmade guitar was something that many people desired, but few people were able to do because of either finances or availability.
Now, a quick search on the internet and hundreds of builders are listed from which to choose.

The ranks of the elite builders have been growing steadily over the last 10 or 20 years. More people are learning to build and are building high quality instruments in less time and with less of a learning curve than ever before. I see people's first guitars here on the OLF that are really terrific first guitars, and also folks whose subsequent instruments approach world-class.

Prices for guitars from the elite builders are at an all-time high, yet the number of these builders are swelling.

My mind is starting to ask,
Just how much of a market is there for high-end guitars?". At what point, if any, will supply exceed demand?
And if it happens, what will happen to the price of handmade guitars? Will it be a viable form of income for builders hoping to reach the elite levels?
I saw a number of very fine guitars at the Newport show, from a growing number of builders. And yet, there seemed to be as many builders there as people coming to look at the guitars. Even a number of the people coming to look at the guitars were builders.

With all the available kits and access to knowledge, more and more players are getting the urge to build guitars too, and are beginning to swell the ranks of those who are building.

I see several scenarios of where it can all lead.

The first is that the market won't have enough demand for the expensive handmade instruments, and many will give up trying to earn a living at it, even if they have been doing so already.

Another possibility is that because of the rising cost of factory instruments, the handmade guitars will continue to be an option buyers will consider, albeit on the lower end of the handmade price structure.
It's possible that handmade instruments will creat a larger market for themselves due to the quality and what they have to offer compared to the factory instruments. The elite builders will struggle to maintain their share of that market due to price constraints, but lower end builders will sell to those who want a better guitar than what factories produce, but not significantly more expensive. Those builders will struggle to make money on these instruments, as their labor and material costs rise.

Still another possibility is that people will decide to just build guitars for themselves, effectively and for the most part, eliminating the need for the luthiers on the lower and mid levels of the industry. The elite will survive, but only the best of the rest will be able to climb into their ranks. This, to me seems where we're going. We all were those musicians who love guitars, and were enamored enough with them to want to build them. There are now thousands of us where once there were only a dozen or so. And in the back of all those people's minds will be "Sell them and make money.".

Is it possible that many will look back and wish Cumpiano & Natelson never published their book? Or that Robbie O'Brien never put out the DVD's? (Sorry Robbie...just an example!)
In other words, will the proliferation of information end up being a detriment to the industry of the Handmade Guitar?

If the market begins to wane, builders will be forced to sell at lower costs, meaning they will have to produce more in order to be able to continue earning their current wages.
Will the elite builders and others be forced to automate their processes in an effort to compete, and have their products end up being just small one-person factories of mostly machine made instruments with high price tags?

So many more thoughts....anyone else thought about this stuff?

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

It seems to me that the elite few of which there seems to be more now than a few years ago are commanding higher than ever prices and still remain booked well in advance. I'm not sure why but I think these guitars have become like status symbols or just objects of high desire since most of them can't be considered tools of the players trade because most of the buyers are not professional musicians.
It is certainly a difficult market to break into and now the foriegn (Chineese) are getting into it with what are being called some quality instruments. I have not played one so I can't comment. I don't think these less expensive guitars are much different than entry level guitars have always been so I don't worry much about them. People always seem too want the best and still desire these handmade music makers so I think the market and demand will continue. Sure there are more makers than ever before but you and I know that it is not the easiest thing to build a guitar and there are shops and tools required so not everyone will or can jump in. I don't think it is or ever has been a business for much more than making a living unless you have some extrordinary talent and a very good plan.
The market will support what builders it can and the rest will either quit or be hobbiests.
I continue to work on my niche and be happy. I'm selling more guitars now than I ever have before as well but I still continue with my day job.John How38938.5042476852

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Hey Don,

Some good thoughts. I'm one of those guys who has played for many years and always wanted to build guitars, but didn't get started until a few years ago. And I too can blame much of my sucesses on The Book and the Internet, but I have only myself to blame for my failures, which have also been learning experiences. Still, I finished my first commission a year ago, and have been building commissioned guitars ever since.

I've also given this same subject a lot of thought, since my plans, when I decided to get serious about building guitars, were never to be a hobby builder. I have the utmost respect, however, for those who do build as a hobby, and who turn out such fine instruments. It reminds me of the original meaning of the word "amateur" -- 'lover of [the craft]' In that respect, even professionals should be amateurs, methinks.

I believe in, and respect, market forces. For those who build for an income, market forces will shape the way they market their instruments. As to what the particular market forces will be in the future, it's anyone's guess.

Custom handcrafted musical instruments are very much "disposable income" objects, except for a very small few working professional musicians who consider them to be necessary tools for their art form. Thus high-end musical instruments are more susceptible to the vagaries of economic fluctuations.

Those of you who have been building for a number of years, I'd be curious to learn how past economic downturns affected your sales. Seems to me that would be a partial indicator as to what one could expect in future times of tight money. I'll wager that, for the top builders, recessions probably have only minimal impact, but for the great mass of us in the middle, chances are any such downturn will result in a shaking out of many. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. It isn't really good or bad, it's just economics at work and play.

Regarding the continuing high demand for custom guitars, I would agree that this is a Rennaisance-like time for builders. As to how high things can go, it reminds me a lot of the real estate market. Prices can go much higher than people would have believed, but when situations come along, such as recessions or tight money policies, the market can turn suddenly.

But I'm also reminded of the collectible market. I used to buy and sell photo equipment for a living, both collectible and user gear. I realized in 1990 that an economic downturn had begun -- about a year before anybody admitted to the recession of the early 90s -- because I saw a downturn in sales that steadily increased. The fall-off in sales wasn't across the board, however. The amateur, user-quality gear stopped selling. But the high-end professional gear and the high-end collectibles continued to sell well. IOW, professionals continued to buy what they needed for their businesses, and serious collectors, many of whom still had plenty of disposable income, continued to buy.

I think certain parallels can be drawn here. Custom instruments have an intrinsic collectible value because of their relative rarity. But rarity alone does not secure collectible value. There must be at least some reputation associated with it. Or else rare items simply become obscure ones.

So it seems to me that, what is most likely to insure a luthier's long term survival is a continued commitment to excellence. Any time-saving procedures one adopts should not affect the goal of excellence at all. Whenever I adopt a procedure that saves me time, I make sure of that. I've also found that, more often than not, when I use a jig or some other sort of method that will save time, it usually also results in greater consistency from one build to the next, which I see as ultimately a good thing.

Just my overly long-winded thoughts on the matter.

Best,

Michael

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

Don,
You have obviously been involved in Lutheiry long enough to have come to these conclusions. I would tend to trust your opinion. However, from my standpoint, it is still very difficult to make a “great” guitar. I may not have been building acoustics as many years as some here but I have worked in many shops in job situations that all are related to the tooling for Luthiery and in some respects, led me to building instruments. I have always been trying to make myself a great instrument to play my music. It’s always a work in progress. I have grown passionate about making instruments to the point of obsession. Even with all the help from you guys and the other resources available today, it is still very difficult to make a great guitar. Yes, you can make a good first guitar from a kit, but it takes a lifetime of playing with wood to understand why it’s a good guitar. Every instrument I make is better than the last. It keeps me building more,.. but I ask you.
Who would want to go through all that just to have there own guitar?
How many more folks are willing to give it there all just to make instruments?
I think it takes much more of a larger connection to create great instruments and I don’t think it’s for everyone.
I can understand the lure though.
It is way contagious!

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

Dan,
   All good points that I'm sure have been pondered by many already in the trade and others considering entering it.

    I don't think there will soon be a shortage of players wanting to buy custom handbuilt guitars, though. I see so many people getting into building their first instruments with a kit and a book and a minimal number of tools that it is surprizing.

    I've taught as many as six classes a year with as many as ten students in each and have watched very few of those students go on to build even a second guitar after the class, but some have continued to build consistently and have tooled nice shops to do so in. I was criticized through a phone call once from a very visible and respected luthier who questioned the wisdom of my teaching "competition" for us after one of ky students brought his newly completed guitar into his shop to see. My response was simply, "My teaching of classes will do two things...allow those who attend them to fulfill their dream of building their own guitar and force those of us who build for a living to build a better one."

    I send a consistently large portion of my guitars overseas to either Japan or Europe and have a backlog of several years with commisiioned and dealer orders without ever placing an ad or even maintaining a formal brochure. Why? I have no idea, but people seem to seek me out to buy a guitar for alot of the same reasons that they seek out other builders who place all of their ads in every major industry publication and chase artists around the country to throw guitars at them in exchange for endorsements.

    I think that if any builder stays with his direction and continually refines his designs and tone, he will enjoy a level of followng that can support him. There are what seems to be alot of players who are venturing into the luring terrain of building their own guitars, but there are so many more that will never consider it and would just rather commission an experienced luthier to work with them to design and then build what they want.

   I've played a few of those Chinese handbuilt guitars that are being touted as the high end of tht region and they were very nicely built and finished. Their prices were in line with what factory guitars of the same quality from the big guys here are bringing even though much more of the work is actually being performed by human hands. They've played nicely and have very nice tonal balance and life that can only be achieved by applying an ear and a pair of hands instead of the generic consistency that numbers produced brings.

    I don't think there'such to worry about for anyone with a good number of guitars under their belt and a level of skill that fits their price range.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Wow... what a great thread....

I think that there has never been a better time to be an independant luthier. The public is starting to become aware that we are out here, that there is an alternative to Guitar Center, and that there is usually a custom built option within a price point that most (serious) players can afford.

However, I think it is PARAMOUNT to realize that we are not selling guitars. We are selling romance. We are selling the consumer the process of interviewing / selecting a craftsman to work with, selecting the woods, answering a zillion questions about preferences etc, and the "right" for a very personal experience. The concept of having a HUMAN BEING build something as personal as a guitar is very alluring.    

THAT!! is what need to understand is the soul of our product. If we simply make it about the final deliverable we really can't be competitive.... Forget the Chinese... Martin, Taylor, Gibson etc. can all eat our lunch. For better or worse, they all make a respectable product that they can get into the marketplace efficiently.

So, therefore, people buy from luthiers for entirely different reasons. We have to know that and learn to exploit our differentiation.


With respect to how many people are now building. It is funny you say that, because I hear that a lot from the older builders who have been at this for 20+ years (I think referring to 'my generation'). I have only been at this 7 years but have seen a huge explosion of new builders.

My hunch is though that few ever really get good at it. To build a great guitar it takes a set of carpentery skills and the knowledge of how to make a good instrument. I personally see almost everyone focusing on the carpentery side of things (which is to be expected), and fewer focusing on how to make their instruments sound and perform better. This is not a critisism, simply an observation. As a result, I doubt that many will ever really rise to a level where they aim to make a serious challenge to the professionals. They will be happy selling to friends, family, and a local market enough to keep building.

However, for the more serious builders I see a "semi-professional" category developing. Guys who are very good builders but really can't afford to do this full time. Never in a million years could lutherie pay anything close to what I make in my day job, and I am very happy to build 8 - 10 guitars a year that I can sell AND work a day job (plus I love what I do). I think you will find some very talented people in that group. Look at John Osthoff as an example. IIRC he is a teacher by trade. I think this offers the best of both worlds.

Good thread Don.... Lots of fun things to think about.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

This is a great discussion.
I think the elite builders have nothing to worry about. Let's say there are 50 of them and they make on average 20 guitars a year. That 1000 guitars is just a drop in the bucket.

The scenario of too many mid range and lower priced builders flooding the market and keeping prices low is what I see s very likely.
My plans are to build about 4-6 guitars a year for the next 10 years and then retire into lutherie part time as something to supplement my income and keep me busy.   I think I will be able to sell those 4-6 per year, but to ramp up to selling 24 per year has me worried.
I think the competition will be fierce. I am glad that this community is so helpful and professional when speaking to and about other luthiers. I see this changing with competition. I hope I am wrong, but I suspect the pressure of competition will bring out a few bad apples that will talk down other builders in order to make more sales.
I don't see build-it-yourselfers as drawing a lot of money out of the market. These people are often looking to save money, which is not a very good reason to build a guitar.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I am excited about the concept of the growing luthierie business...

It means people like me with a lowish income can build guitars, something I have always wanted to do, and especially with the availability of different types of wood. GAS is a strong condition that, for me, can be cured by making guitars...



A friend from eight years ago was showing me his custom made guitar..I then proceeded to enquire of the price, and he snorted, saying "You'd NEVER afford to pay what I paid for this!!" (then he proceeded to hug his guitar protectively, as I drooled...) I was then DETERMINED to make my own guitar, but unable to find much information.

I think in modern times, the "elitism" of various artistic disciplines has been destroyed by the leisure lifestyle: people have more time on their hands, with more machines taking the grunt. Look at the booming digital photography industry...professional photographers are miffed at the amount of quality photographs that can be taken by ametuers with high street digital SLRs....



But the expert luthier, the professional will always stay on top. I am sure the value of custom guitars won't change...bear in mind that the ameteur builder may produce instruments with poor intonation, bad construction leading to an instrument that will last half the time as a pro-made one.



Sam Price38938.5898842593

Actually, I started building partly to save money, but fooled myself. I wanted an Olson, but couldn't afford the (then) base price of around $3000, nor did I want to wait the 3 years or so on the backlog. I figured I could outfit a shop for less and get into building on a more serious level than my first attempt.

Boy was I wrong about the cost....

I suspect a lot of folks would like to try to build one just for themselves for the fun of it, but get hooked. It would be interesting to poll the OLFers to find out why they got into building, and whether the considered it a potential career change from the get-go, or whether they plan to always be a hobbiest, or whether they went into it as a hobbiest and ended up trying to make money at it.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Good discussion Don, didn't know Kevin was teaching a building class (I may have to sneak in just to see how he does things )

There has certainly been a surge of builders in the industry in the last few years, and IMNSHO the market will become more fickle and the surge will pass. I have seen a lot of hand built guitars, and most people do like Kevin says and build one time and are done. I don't know how to say this without sounding like a jerk, but there is a HUGE gap between someone at Kevin's level and someone who is building for a hobby, I'm not dissing anyone here (I almost bought one of Mr Hows guitars at healdsburg last year but the wife gave me 'the look' , too bad because he makes KILLER guitars ) but there's more to building a guitar than just getting the parts tight and shiny.

A good guitar is a complicated mix of Tone, Construction, Fit, Finish, Setup, Neck Feel etc etc.. I can build a guitar that looks good but doesn't play or sound right (in fact I've built a few like that ), it takes time to hone your skills and senses, to understand what players want. It's not easy to get to a level like Kevins or any of the 'High End' builders, it's not all name recognition. Play one of Olsons guitars and tell me it doesn't just sing in your hands!!

I also don't think that the imports will kill this industry, like Kevin I've played some of those imports and they are nice but they are factory guitars and it shows. They don't have the spark that a good builder can impart to an instrument... I think a great parallel is the custom car industry, years ago there where only a few small shops building custom cars, now it's exploded and taken off and shows no sign of slowing down. Detroit still is putting out consitent product but nothing can touch a good custom. *But* and here's my main point, the consumer is getting more and more savvy and imposters fall by the wayside, while the great builders continue to grow and expand. I see the same thing happening here, players are becoming more and more savvy and as they do so they will become more demanding than they are today, it will in some respects make it harder to get started but it will also weed out the industry a bit.

The internet and the information age has taken out some of the mystique of building, but in the end information will only get you so far. You still have to hone your chops, doing a good setup it still hard to get right for any builder, you can read about that all you want but nothing replaces having setup interaction with players. I learned a ton from the people who play my guitars, I've made all kinds of changes to better accomdate their needs, I've also now had a couple out with working musicians and thankfully they've held up. But when I get them back I've learned a number of things I need to modify to make them more road worthy, I never got any of that from a book or the net, I had to learn it the hard way.

One last comment, Kevin makes a great point about price, not everyone can afford a high end Olson (I would not even think of getting one, they are way out of my price range). I have talked to a lot of players who just don't have much money, there is money to made if you can cut prices and supply to the standard player. It's something my wife and I discuss often, I think Hank Mauel had a great idea in that he was offering his stuff for a lower price because he could, I've considered doing the same thing. Also how many times have you talked to someone and when you give them the price they make 'that face'? I'm actually builing a new fanned fret for a friend and not charging him one penny, the reason is simple he's a working musician and I got more traffic from his first guitar than I did at Healdsburg so I figure it's an advertising investment, but anyone that calls on that one I'm going to try lowering my price a little and see what happens.

Cheers

-Paul-Sprockett38938.5927893519

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Wow what a runaway thread. How am I gonna get any guitars done today

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Don you must be all caught up at work eh

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Support the OLF! Bookmark our STEWMAC link Today!
Lance@LuthiersForum.com

No, I got another week behind starting this thread....
But when something is really on your mind...sometimes you have to just do it. Besides, I type faster now than I used to.


I was talking with someone a few months ago about the handmade market, and that person felt there was a real gap in the market. They said that a lot of people would choose a handmade guitar with a lot of feautures over a Martin or other high-end factory instrument if you could keep the price under $3000. Well, that sounds reasonable, until you start doing the accounting. Cost of materials, cost of labor, and all the other tangible as well as intangible costs make doing that a very tough thing of you actually want to "make money" at it. The time you put into it alone can rarely be made back at that price level. Breaking even is probably more realistic. Makes you stop and think...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Many good points made here. When it comes down to it, in my mind, there are 3 types of people.

1st type - The person that would rather build than play.
2nd type - The person that would rather play guitar than build them.
3rd type - Those who enjoy both equally.

As long as there are people who would rather spend the majority of there time playing, there will be people who would rather buy. Lets face it, building a guitar is no easy or quick task. Many players do not want to invest the time that they could be investing in their playing.

Just MHO, not being a professional either....

Don,

Regarding price points, I gave this a lot of thought beginning last year. I decided I had to be realistic. I'm just a guy with a few years of experience building (but over 40 years as a player), with a small reputation. I decided that my skill level was barely beyond being an "experienced novice," and arrived at a per-hour labor amount based on my skill level. Fortunately, I thoroughly documented my first several builds, including the number of labor hours I spent on each instrument. This gave me a ballpark figure for a total hours amount. I padded it somewhat to allow for variances (and "oops" moments). Then I added in the cost of materials and the case, rounded the figure up to an even amount, and that is where I priced my guitars. Which, as it happened, are far below this apparently benchmark $3k figure. My labor costs allow me to make enough to get by, albeit barely. Thankfully the wife works too.

I would rather sell my guitars and build a reputation so I can start charging more for them, rather than see them sit around here or getting shopworn on the racks at guitar shops. I'm taking the long view, working on improving my technique with each guitar, with the goal that, if I stick with it and continue to strive for excellence, I can derive a decent income from it. Hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

Best,

Michael

_________________
Live to Play, Play to Live

I have seen a few comments with the tone of "... it is a production guitar and it shows." I would be careful about that kind of thinking. I don't agree that simply because a guitar is hand built it is "better" (by definition) than a production guitar.

A GOOD hand built will probably best a production model 95% of the time, but that is simply because you are building one-off and can spend the time voicing each guitar, and sweating the details. But this presumes you know how to do this correctly (again, not a dis, just an observation).

And... understand that "good" is subjective in the mind of every consumer. What is "good" to one person not be "good" for the next.

This isn't a dis, but I think we tend to fall into this thinking that handmade is "better". And that goes back to my original comments about knowing what you are selling.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Don, you bring up a lot of good points. The main issue that I think is overlooked, is that consumers will drive the demand for handmade guitars, not luthiers. I think the market for handmade guitars is increasing, and the opportunity to develop a niche and ride that horse home is better than ever for a luthier. More choices in a market economy is a good thing, for buyers and sellers. It forces the serious luthiers to really refine their product and find their place, while the less serious ones will fall by the wayside--and the buyer will be presented with more options than ever. It's a great outlook if you ask me, but building the guitar is much less than half the battle. I think Brock hit the nail on the head..."we're selling romance, not guitars." I'd like to see a couple business plans from successful luthiers. I bet there isn't much in there at all about how to actually build a guitar.

Cheers!

JohnJohn Elshaw38938.6628009259

Good points all...

Michael, part of the factors in question would be how you value your time, and then what is a fair hourly labor rate for that time. Understand that this is not "profit" because it is paying the labor of the grunt-worker you hired to do all that.
That's part of your Cost.

So let's run a quickie scenario into cost:

Let's asign a dollar amount to the wood and materials that go into the actual guitar, including a good case.
Let's say that they come to $750.00. We know this isn't realistic considering higher end tonewoods, but it's a conservative starting place.
Now let's say you want to make <cough> $15/hr as a labor fee.
So roughly 100 hours in labor, not counting finishing might be an average. Lets do the math.
That's $1500 in labor, and $750 in materials for a total of $2250.00.
Now, you have to heat and air condition your shop for all those hours, right? And pay for the electricity etc too, right? How about all that sandpaper, and the cost of those tools? Then the other consumable supplies....
Then if you want to pay Tony or Adam to spray your finish, you've got close to $500 (?) betweeen the finish and shipping costs.

See what I mean? It adds up real quick. Then once you have your "Costs" added up, anything you sell it for above all that can be considered profit.

Where's David Bland when I need him?

You get the idea.

So the information about the gap in the market at under $3K exists, because those of us selling our guitars for under that are probably not making any money on them. I suppose they can be construed as "paying your dues", but many of us will never get beyond that.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Interesting discussion... and a subject I have thought about over the years. Personally, I think a bigger problem is the eventual loss of the baby-boomer generation. I suspect it has been in large part the increasing disposable income of the boomers, who grew up with guitar-oriented music, that has fueled the growth in a market for high-end guitars. After all, it isn't just the field of hand-made instruments that has flourished, just look at Martin, Gibson and newer companies like Taylor and Larivee. Will this demand drop off as the children of the 50's and 60's start to go? I hope the demand stays strong - I sure see lots of young people in guitar stores - but I wonder...

Then of course there is the decreasing wood supply... but that has been trumpeted for a long time, and the only result I have seen has been a widening of the varieties of acceptable guitar woods. The trinity of acceptable woods that used to be - mahogany, rosewood and maple - has expanded, much to my personal delight.

Just my 2 cents....

Hesh,
   I agree and hope that i didn't sound biased toward a factory produced gutiar in any way. Man, I've played and have owned some killer guitars out of all of the big houses....Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Guild and others.

   I love building and have built nearly 500 acoustic guitars and several thousand of electric guitars, but I've been a player for more than 40 years now. I love to play and ave always been very critical of tone and response and all that is important to any player who has played enough great guitars to actually be able to tell the difference. I guess that puts me in that third group of people who love to build and play equally.

   I am a pretty regular visitor to the Martin factory and really appreciate their implementation of b new technology in exciting and creative ways. CNC and automation takes the human factor out of production on two fronts....it eliminates the inconsistency of the people and their typical variation according to mood and the quality of their day, but also take the human factor out by eliminating the ear and touch that can only come from human interaction with the woods as they're worked and assembled. Both affect the final outcome, one in a great way from a business standpoint and the other by the results that can vvary more broadly than we small builders can afford to allow to leave our shops.

    That's why all Martins or Taylors may look great and play very well when they leave the factories, but a few out of every group will exhibit outstanding tone and response that is onviously greater than the rest.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars