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Hand-made vs. Factory Built |
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We are living in what
is being called the 'golden-age of guitar'. Here are a few thoughts
from prominent builders on the difference between hand-made instruments
and factory produced ones. |
| "If
I had to find twice as much wood as I use now, I’d have trouble
maintaining the same quality; if I had to find 10 times as much
or more, I know I couldn’t. A luthier
building 3 instruments a month can select outstanding wood for these
in a way that a shop building 50 a month must struggle to do; a
factory building hundreds a month must find it just about impossible."
- Stefan Sobell |
| "[on the topic
of sound, handmade vs. factory] The study of the factors involved
in the production of tone teaches the instrument maker that small
variations in structure in the right places can make important, specific,
differences in response. Because there are so many places where one
can take away or add a little wood, and because the difference between
"a little more" or "a little less" can be critical to a specific aspect
of tone, this study takes years. This is the level of work a hand
maker engages in and strives to master. Ultimately, he will be able
to make guitars which are consistent in quality and consistently satisfying
to his clients. The factory approach, on the other hand, cannot spend
so much time on any one guitar: its entire operation is based on treating
all guitar assembly processes identically. Therefore all tops of a
given model are equal thickness, all braces are equally high, all
bodies are equally deep, and so on. Tone in a guitar is controlled
by paying attention to specific qualities in the materials. Yet, the
factory's focus on treating all parts uniformly bypasses these important
factors. Because dimensionally identical guitar tops and braces can
be twice the mass and up to three times the stiffness of their companions
in the assembly line factory guitars are, essentially and literally,
random collections of these physical variables. In consequence, their
sound quality will correspond to a statistical bell-curve distribution
where a few will be brilliantly successful, a few will be markedly
unresponsive, and most will be pretty good. To repeat: a factory work's
chief priorities and focus are production, selling and delivery. It
is off the mark to compare this to a concern with making a personal
best at something." - Ervin Somogyi |
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