Boutique acoustics revisited....

[foo]

I can only speak from personal experience.

The 000-2H that I own was fairly tight when I bought it.
Now - seven years later, it absolutely sings. It is really 'live'.

I think the Martins of the world make some excellent guitars (I have one). But when you are making thousands of guitars a year, they tend to be not so carefully put together, and the maker does not spend any time on the selection of woods to put together - he just grabs the next back, side, bridge or whatever.

The individual maker, however, gives some thought to which piece of wood should I put with this one to make the best match.

. . . and in the hands of a skilled luthier, it makes a difference.
If you can't hear the difference, then it doesn't matter to you. But if you can hear the difference, then (if you can) you are going to pay the extra to get it.

In the overall scheme of things, it is the last 5% of quality that is the most difficult for the luthier to attain - and that is what you pay the money for.

In my not-so-humble opinion.

 

[HapiCmpur]

The 000-2H that I own was fairly tight when I bought it.
Now - seven years later, it absolutely sings. It is really 'live'.

If you can't hear the difference, then it doesn't matter to you. But if you can hear the difference, then (if you can) you are going to pay the extra to get it.

So this raises a new question: How does the buyer determine what a given guitar is likely to sound like in the future?

 

[faderbug]

Of course I know what the word means, but it is thrown around a lot to mean anything from a small run at a factory to a lone specimen built by an unknown guy in his garage. "Boutique" does not unambiguously mean quality.

second that!!!