JaySwear said:
...everybody here loves their exotic woods and burst finishes.
Isn't that most of the reason the majority of Warmoth's customers buy into their solution? If their customer base simply wanted a pedestrian guitar put together by political prisoners or disgruntled and careless minimum wage workers, they'd just order one from the usual suspects and there'd be nothing to be proud of, nothing to show off. You can go into any Guitar Center/Best Buy or any online e-tailer and see/buy jillions of those any day of the week, often for less money. That's fine for parents who want to discourage their kids from ever playing guitar, or those with more money than brains, but I think we're dealing with a different class of player here.
Even those who do lust after a typical wood species construction with disgusting obsolete GM paint colors get to enjoy a level of quality that is rarely seen outside of boutique guitar builder's offerings, and for substantially less money. Plus, they get to have pride of ownership because they put it together and set it up themselves to suit their unique needs. It's a formula for success that I'm sure has Ken Warmoth living in a pretty decent house with a variety of interesting toys of his own, and he's probably not as worried about his retirement as many of us are <grin>
