A new acoustic guitar!

[ed]

aww now you've done it........I just had Cleveland in my head saying 'oooh that's just nasty'

[simon]

Wimp box or not, this is gorgeous!

So I know next to nothing about guitars, what makes this one worth £11k? Appreciating worth isn't the same as value, what does this one do that one at £5k, or £1k, or even £100 doesn't. Genuine question, I could guess things about tone and playability but I really don't know. (It does start to make golf look like a cheap waste of time...)

[ed]

controversy alert!

IMO diminishing returns starts in earnest at £1000.....
IME there are differing flavours between £1000 and £2000
badge snobbery gets in on the act above £1000
stupidity starts to appear at £2000

the rest is art
ars longa vita brevis or somesuch

[The Stratmangler]

Apart from building the instrument, which is largely done by hand (they use CNC wherever possible), they use the finest tonewood they can lay their hands on.
The have stocks of timber going back decades, which is all stored in a humidity controlled, temperature stable environment, which costs a lot to keep stable.

The inlay work is done entirely by hand, and this is where most of the cost is incurred.
The guitar pictured is one of fifty, so a limited run.

The second one is currently the only one.
They will accept special orders on the model.
Price for the one pictured is £32500.

[Nick]

The inlay work is done entirely by hand, and this is where most of the cost is incurred.

So given that CNC is regarded as good "(they use CNC wherever possible)", why not the same for the inlay?

I would go with ed's breakdown.

[andrew Ivimey]

Poor old Ed. I hope gets better soon... snicker...

[The Stratmangler]

I've been having fun trying to get the following Youtube videos to show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8XiARYirro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY-dvPRrfeg&t=241s

The CNC aspect of Martin's production is limited (I didn't say it was extensive in the first place).

[simon]

£32.5k...

Nothing wrong with art. I understand some people like Rothko even.

[andrew Ivimey]

Even Rothko has a place!

[andrew Ivimey]

Not much of one but then if there's nothing else on a grey wall then, and only then, Rothko's your man. I say this one bottle into a case of pinot noir.... I could change my mind.

[simon]

I like his black work in particular...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=rothk ... =536&dpr=3

[andrew Ivimey]

Speaks to the inner man you mean! Yeah I thought that.

[pre65]

Speaks to the inner man you mean! Yeah I thought that.

Were you up early, or finishing orf the Pinot noir ?

[The Stratmangler]

£32.5k...

Nothing wrong with art. I understand some people like Rothko even.

That's the way I view the guitars shown.
Art.
Functional art, but art nonetheless.
They're pieces that are quite possibly never going to get played, which is a shame, because they'll not mature as instruments unless they're played. It's a paradoxical situation, but hey ho!
Whatever floats your boat .....

Someone ended up buying this for £2500000.00

[IslandPink]

Nothing wrong with art. I understand some people like Rothko even.

Yes ! Strange stuff, if you've every spent some time in that room in the Tate London.

I know John Fahey wasn't a fan of fancy guitars. There's a good TV clip of him playing 'The death of the Clayton peacock' on a "cheap crap Hawaiian guitar" as he describes it t the lady interviewer. Great sound, although he was playing it on his lap with a bottleneck.