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Echi -> RE: 1a vs 2a (Dec. 31 2023 12:40:13)
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It's up to the maker and it really depends.
In the case of individual luthiers often you pay less as the maker saves some work hours (for instance using a pre-made rosette) or makes use of less expensive back and sides (like a 3 part backs or using not expensive species etc).
There's no point for a maker to save on the quality of the top with is the main quality factor.
In this case you have to try the guitar and decide but usually the only drawback is the future reselling value: for instance José Rodriguez sells lovely flamenco guitars with a 3 part back for way less than his concert model, but the overall quality is similar. I could say the same for Javier Castano and other makers.
Stephen Eden or even Luca Waldner sell a very nice "2nd class" flamenco guitars making them in a kind of serial way and giving them a different brand name (Cadenza and Almedina): they are just simple hand made guitars with few optionals.
When you speak of brands or shops with more than one maker under the same roof (I think of Ramirez, Conde, Sanchis etc. here) you may have different reasons for a 2nd class model. The main one is that you want to make a special price to certain customers but in the meantime you seek to avoid to feed a 2nd hand market of your guitars competing with your own 1st class model. Ramirez used to make labels with a golden and then a red border instead of the regular blue. Conde used to sell guitars with an unsigned label or even a different headstock: these guitars should be less expensive in the 2nd hand market....
Then you have the real "2nd class" guitars or luthier made student guitars: in this case the price reflects less quality and yet the luthier wants to have a link with the student and ends up selling a guitar made with less care or with less expensive materials.
Eventually some shops sell also factory made guitars on their specifications... They are nothing but factory guitars: Ramirez, Conde etc in fact offer the 3 options.
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