Wouldn't be interesting to have an allwood koto - kiri combination?

hipnotic said:

Yeah, unfortunately people don't recognize that a custom made instrument is very often much better than a commercial one. But there is also a big factor, which is resale value. Custom instruments are much harder to sell than big brand guitars. I have made and sold a few guitars, but i was only in it for the fun, if i were to account the labor, there would be some money lost.

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I'd love to see your guitars! I'm just about to start making a dulcimer which I've had on hold for about 6 months!

langel said:

Thats interesing, what is the price range of such guitars, aproximately?

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It depends on the maker. I bought one of a luthier in England when he first started out and he made a 'deluxe' model for a fraction of what he charges now. This happens frequently, when their name gets more well known their prices go up. I am sure you could have got a Ross Leidy or a OSP much cheaper when they first started out than you can now. I suppose it all depends on demand and if and when it moves from it being a passionate hobby to a nascent business.

hipnotic said:

Yes, that's the definition of custom. Of course if i build a guitar for me other people may not appreciate it as i do, and i'm ok with that. But what i was trying to say is that a builder can make a copy of a commercial guitar with much more quality than the original, and still be worth much less in the used market. Most people don't care about quality, just the name on the headstock. As an example, one of Gibson's most famous guitars, Slash's LP, is in fact a copy, not a real Gibson.

But i think we are getting a little off-topic

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Thats ok and I appreciate your statement.
And yes - its kind of off topic, but not too much, as I think that the basics of the OP are very similar to this discusion.
So, regarding the price of custom guitars - I asked you about this, because I have very different experience. I play the guitar just for a joy, but my son is a very good classical guitar player, though not a pro. For me a mainstream Stagg is just enough, and he plays with a bulgarian factory build Kremona Artist for 2000 euro. We have tested and listened to a lot of craftmans' guitars and some are very good and sound better, but the price is usually between 10000-50000 usd/euro. I have a friend a pro classical guitar player with an astonishing custom instrument for 8000 euro, made upon his request with his personal requirements. He gave me the contact of the italian luthier when I planed a family trip through Italy. And I was very surprised when I saw exactly the same instrument at the same price in his workshop. The only difference was that my friends' original have a maximum deviation of 2 cents all trough, but this instrument had more than 5. Yes, most of the best custom guitar builders really make more than one instruments for every single order, in order to be able to offer the maximum best of their craftsmans mastery, and such instruments really cost a lot, but be carefull with the not so good doubles and triples. Bt the way our bulgarian Kremona guitars a re very well known all over the world and many musicians use them, no matter that the most expensive Kremonas are arround 2000 euros, they sound great, gor my ear - even greater than many 10-20000 usd custom guitars.