Comparison Exercise
Artisan guitars vs. Factory guitars
The manufacture craftsmanship and using of material are usually determine the value of a guitar. In the place of origin of guitar, which is Spain, the production of guitar is organized in three basic ways, such as independent artisan workshops, factory system, and journeyman system. In Spain, the most relevant distinction is between artisan guitars and factory guitars. Traditionally, all aspects of guitar production were governed by the Vihuela Guilds from twelfth the early nineteenth century. These old guilds had the force of law behind them. The guilds determined who could make instruments, what they were sold for, and the acceptable quality standards. Today, however, no such guilds exist anymore, only voluntary luthiers' associations and workers' unions. …show more content…
Artisan guitars are usually produced by whether independent artisan workshops or journeyman workshops.
In such a system like independent artisan workshop, the master artisan has full control over design, manufacture, and assembly. Moreover, the master works alone or with an apprentice, offspring or sometimes a partner. In another case, parts are manufactured by a number of people but a single experienced craftsman does all of the crucial assembly operations and modifies the thicknesses of parts according to his intuition and experience. Finishing and fretting are typically done by a number of people in the factory. There is little division of labor compared with the factory method. On the other hand, factory guitars, of course, are produced by professional guitar factories. Examples of world class makers in Spain are felix manzanero, archangel fernandez, and marcelino barbero. These guitar factories produce many copies from the same guitar plan. All of the production flow chart is done by skilled labors. Some workers make the parts and other workers assemble the
parts. The difference of manufacture craftsmanship is clear. For artisan guitars, thicknesses of soundboard, types, and number of bracings are determined by the artisan according to the master artisans’ evaluation of the properties of the particular pieces of wood. Woods are air-dried for many years. Therefore, the timbre of an artisan guitar is plump and full. However, those guitar factories’ goal is producing more guitars and earns more profits. Therefore, Woods are usually kiln dried in order to reduce the production time. The bracings and thicknesses of parts are standardized and are not altered to respond to the individual characteristics of the specific pieces of wood. Because of the difference of manufacture craftsmanship, each artisan guitar is an original and unique. Like the Dr. Wood’s slogan says: Every guitar has a life. Typically, the artisan guitars or master luthier guitars are signed and dated. In contrast, factory guitars are not normally signed and dated. Normally, an independent artisan workshop can only produce less than fifty artisan guitars a year. At the same time, a normal guitar factory can produce thousands of featureless guitars.