Everyone listens to music in some form or another. It's something that people worldwide share as a human race and a human culture. When the first instruments were made, and even before this, music playing was a relatively simple concept. The most important and wealthy people had access to this luxury and had an entourage of people to play exclusively for them. There was no competition for a musician's skill or recognition, there was no need for mass production, nor the demand for high skilled craftsman to build original instruments.
In our history, there was a time, like most crafts, when guitars were asked to be made for people, or commissioned, like in the Renaissance Era for instance. The individuals, or artisans, who were commissioned to make these guitars didn't sign their names to give significance and mark artistic individuality to the craft. But now, with the world (and more specifically America) revolving around buying, selling and ownership, the creation of the guitar is more dynamic, because it is profitable!
In this essay, I will be touching on the differences between a factory made guitar and a handmade one, with an emphasis on the business perspective of the market for guitars, given our current economic situation in the United States. This current situation of such corporate ownership and selfishness in my opinion, leaves any consumer who is conscious of this, a responsibility or duty to at least consider the benefits of buying a guitar from a small, locally owned business that hand-makes them. I will explain the building of both methods of the instrument, but most importantly, the true motives behind the two business sizes and how these motives determine the longevity of the instrument and the longevity of the consumers satisfaction.

Do you know when the first guitar was made? Well, many historians claim that as far back as 5,000 years ago, Ancient Egyptians illustrated first ideas of a guitar like instrument drawn on sculptures and pictures. They were drawn with bowl–like instruments with strings attached to a long piece of wood help represent their claim of the ancient history (Guitarlessoninsider.com). This representation morphed and advanced, and eventually, an instrument called the "lute", the "father" of guitars. This instrument favored by troubadours of the dark ages and the Renaissance, more closely resembles a modern bass than a guitar. Usually, it had four strings which would be plucked. It was not a loud instrument and could not be used in a band setting (Guitarnoise.com).
Fast forwarding to the 16th century, society was introduced to the "mother" of guitars, the vihuela. This instrument was developed in Spain in the 15th century. The vihuela has a slightly pinched waist, a smaller body than the lute and treble strings, in pairs, called courses, which were made to be strummed (Guitarnoise.com).
Essentially, today's guitar is these two instruments put together. This new powerful instrument is now one of the most commonly used instruments in the music industry. Because of the high demand, many industries mass produce guitars with unoriginal sound and design.

This is my question to you, is a guitar coming from a factory better than a hand-made guitar coming from a small independent company? Independent and big companies can both guarantee the customer their satisfaction. But originality, craft, customer care, and pricing are four key factors that make an independent guitar company respectable.

 

What is handmade, anyway? Both manufactured guitars and "handmade" guitars use power tools and the basic structure is the same. On Ervin Somogyi's website, Esomogyi.com, what makes a guitar "handmade" is the stylistic originality, freedom, and creativity when using the tools, and also, it is not mass-produced. In the end, it is up the buyer to make the decision.
When considering where to buy a guitar, it might be easy to choose a generic brand name, for the cost. According to the viewpoint of the factory, quality is measured by the efficiency that identical units can be produced and how fast this can be done. This reflects the quality of the factory's abilities itself, not necessarily the actual guitar.
Somogyi also says, that in the musician's point of view, quality is determined by how playable the guitar is, and how good it sounds. The musician's guitar can be compared to a painting. Critiqued in terms of beauty, design, color and material . In the opinion of the factory, the guitar will do what it was designed and built to do, every time, to be sold, and then discarded and or fixed eventually. For the Musician, these are all secondary concerns. This is why many musicians will do business with smaller businesses with individuals who have the craftsmanship necessary to make a "handmade guitar".
I visited an independently owned guitar shop ran by Tim McCoy in Palo Alto, California, discussing how he got into the fine craft of making guitars. When I met with him, I asked him what motivated him to get into this hobby/business. He replied saying:
"When I was a senior in high school, I took a classical guitar class up at Foothill College and the teacher I had at the time had a John Gilbert guitar. John was a premier guitar maker in the air at the time. I started doing carpentering for him over the years and he asked me if I wanted to build my first classical guitar. I built my first guitar in his shop. He gave me all the wood and tutorials on how to build a great classical guitar. My motivation to keep building is the interaction with John to tell me what I'm doing: good and bad, and to continue on building".
Smaller guitar shops often hand make their guitars to the customers exact liking, and this is what Tim does for a living. We all know big corporations are unfair in all directions and have lots of unknowns and loose ends. Factories making the guitars make the same one over and over, but McCoy caters to special needs.
Buying a handmade guitar, means going through small businesses. The musician, can choose their own artist to design it, and any small business that depends on big sales must have a solid team of very skilled and proud artists. Furthermore, you would know that the wood coming from a safe, fair, and reliable source and that it is being used as a building material carefully and mindfully. If you're a famous musician, sound and appearance are extremely important. So is your reputation. Which is why you can rely on smaller business to take care of you. If you choose this route, it is likely that they will continually take care of your guitar, and you as a customer.

Let's say you break your guitar. What now? This is where purchasing a guitar from a factory is beneficial, because it is easily replaceable. But if you had a custom, handmade guitar, could you expect from your supplier? First and foremost, a good character.
In my interview with Tim McCoy, I asked him what is a key characteristic in business to have in the guitar market. He responded:
" A good character to be would be a player and certainly test out your instruments and you have a community of players that you can have your guitar be known. Also it is good to have a good personality and good player, good craft, good craftsmanship."
Musicians don't usually have the opportunity, nor the time, to meet with big businesses like Fender or Gibson. When going through a small company, you are part of the family there, because they are a small business, and to keep them afloat, they need your business. And if you give them your business, they value it, and meet your expectations without a doubt. So if a guitar breaks, or simply needs a tune-up, it is only their pleasure to assist you. No 800 phone number can cater this kind of service. Staying with the small guys, you have the opportunity to converse and share stories, talk about music and bands, promote each other, etc. It is a great social network that a serious musician always appreciates; because he, too, started small.
If this kind of customer care and consistency is present in a local business, customers are likely to recommend the shop which even further benefits them. It would be only illogical to not treat a customer with high quality and kindness in a small business setting. One of Tim McCoy's most memorable customer service experiences illustrates this perfectly:
"The most satisfied customer was a very good player, Michael Partington who is both a professor of music and a recording artist, and that was the first CD with my guitar being used and it sounded fantastic and I got a lot of acknowledgement from the man that taught me how to build the guitars and he told me to continue building my great guitars."
It is a win-win situation. A Musician is growing, a business is growing, and craftsmanship/skill is being appreciated and acknowledged, which can often be the most overlooked aspect of any craft or art form.

 

Ervin Somogyi makes an excellent point about the amount of time it takes to actually make a guitar, in the factory and in a shop. He says:
"A handmade guitar will carry a price which reflects its real value in terms of labor and overhead more truly than a factory made one which carries the same price. The former may take 200 hours of someone's conscientiously invested time and skill; the latter may take 8 to 36 hours of intensely repetitive and automated work. Because factory instruments are made for wholesaling and price markup, and handmade instruments are in general not, there is much more room for discounting...than an individual maker can offer".
Sure, the pricing may be more, but your purchase is more like a package. You will get continued customer care, higher quality and you are supporting local business. An added bonus is acknowledging the sheer pride and artistic level of work. The skill I am talking of makes a huge difference in the overall design of the instrument. You are likely to see an obvious difference in playability, durability, long term increasing value of the instrument, etc.
This isn't necessarily true with big businesses. If a guitar made from a factory is being discounted, it could mean various things: that they overly producing, instruments have a low demand, or don't sell due to quality issues and or a slow market. Handmade guitars will only increase in value over time because they are made with a significant level of skill and pride. You cannot compete with this.
Another very important note that Somogyi makes is that in order to decrease human error when hand-making something, mindfullness and skill level is drastically increased. This, is what musicians who are deep rooted into their profession want.
Cost is worth it depending on your professional level as a musician, and your access to funding. For a successful musician, who also is an artist, noticing the utter pride that a craftsman has in his work is a necessity for justifying the cost of an instrument, or anything handmade for that matter! If the maker doesn't care, then what makes the consumer trust you in the long run?

It all comes down to the musician and what market, either big or small, fits the description of what they need with what they have. Musicians who consider a factory made guitar, know that there are limited editions, and vintage guitars, but this is only to make an extra profit for the models that aren't selling, or to make up for a slow market trend, or maybe to get people talking about them again.
In my opinion, handmade is better from the consumer standpoint. Besides the fact that supporting a local or small business does the consumers a favor, but it supports the artists behind making these fantastic sound machines. The people who make them are extremely skilled and proud of their work. This is very important to many musicians. You won't find this kind of pride for the entire duration of the existence in the corporate world. "Long, cumulative experience with the materials is not what [factories] are about, and neither are improvements and advances in design which conflict with profitability" (Somogyi). The motive that handmakers have is intended to please the musician on an individual and artistic level. Not to please the wallets of the CEOs. Supporting a local business, as I said before is a win-win deal. The consumer, and the universal consumer are benefiting, and so is the small business. In the even larger spectrum...the big corporations, too, are benefitting from this.

Charron, A-J. A Brief History of the Guitar. Guitar Noise. Online to On Stage, 2012. Web.
17 Feb. 2012. <Http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/brief-history-of-the-guitar/>.
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Duclos, James. Guitar Lesson Insider. 2007. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
<Http://www.guitarlessoninsider.com/acustic/acustic-guitar-history.html>.
McCoy, Tim. Personal Interview. 20 February 2012.
Simmons, Harry. Personal Interview. 1 March 2012.
Somogyi, Ervin. Some Thoughts on the Difference Between Handmade and Factory
Made Guitars. Ervin Somogyi. 2012. Web. 5 Mar. 2012.
<Http://www.esomogyi.com/handmade.html>.
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