Does a luthier built/fettled guitar sound better than a CNC'd machine built one?

merciful-evans

No

GuyR

British Leyland cars from the 1970s have a similar reputation to Fender guitars from the same era, in terms of quality, attention to detail and also design innovation (remember the Allegro’s square steering wheel)  
At least the guitars didn’t rust within two years.
in answer to the OP, no, once you go past a price point where the components are not budget quality, it’s largely luck.

prowla

The answer is clearly yes/no/maybe/sometimes/perhaps/dunno.

SlopeSoarer

Ignore the quality of the selected materials.

A good luthier and a well set up CNC machine can produce good products. A poorly set up CNC and rubbish luthier are unlikely to produce quality items

When a CNC machine is set up properly it will produce consistent results. On the other hand a luthier being human will struggle to be as consistent, especially on a Friday afternoon: )

Nikc

mbe said:

Wolfetone said:

I was looking at an old Morris Marina the other day. I noticed the difference in the panel gaps compared to a new car. The old Morris had gaps and shut lines varying from 7mm down to virtually nothing. I then took a look at my own modern car which had gaps the same dimension everywhere. 

The Marina probably had consistent bodywork lines when it was built but aging door hinges and the weird torsion bar suspension most likely bent it out of shape.

I doubt it they were crap when they were new I'm afraid 

fretfinder

I was arrested once whilst driving a brown Morris Marina.

What was the offence?

That WAS the offence!

Barnezy

Which sounds better, computer generated music with zero faults or human generated music? A techno head might say computer, blues fans would obviously say human.

If you're looking for the perfect machine, then CNC'd is the way to go. If you want your guitar to have soul and character then go handmade. Neither is better. 

On the car analogy though, why dont you compare a Pigani Zonda to your machine built car, might give a different perspective. 

p90fool

SlopeSoarer said:

When a CNC machine is set up properly it will produce consistent results. On the other hand a luthier being human will struggle to be as consistent, especially on a Friday afternoon: )

I've spent a fair bit of time with Rob Williams, there's no such thing as a Friday afternoon job.
With people like that quality work is an instinct and a habit, he'd struggle to do anything shoddy if he tried. 
The human element is definitely a factor for a dabbler like me, but real luthiers are extremely consistent. 

Philly_Q

Some comments make it sound like CNC is a thing which, in an evil corporate big-business kind of way, magically produces finished guitars with no human intervention.  They roll off the production lines, straight into their boxes, while the bosses watch from the thick plate-glass window of the Bond-villain control room above, cackling wickedly and smoking fat cigars.

Whilst elsewhere, kindly Geppetto-like luthiers with brown leather aprons and little half-moon glasses are lovingly crafting their guitars, freehand, using worn but carefully-maintained hand-tools which have been passed down through generations of luthier families.

But really... all guitar manufacturers, big or small, use a combination of a human workforce and some kind of labour-saving machinery.  The machinery saves time and adds precision and consistency.  Then the amount of skilled human intervention is what can turn a very good product into an exceptional one.  And the amount of skilled human intervention is also a cost element, which adds greatly to the price of those high-end guitars which we all moan about being overpriced when they're "just two bits of wood screwed together". 

All CNC actually does is make bits, very accurately.  I don't see how that can be anything but a good thing.  This is the truth:

ICBM said:

The final factor in whether a guitar sounds great, or only good, is largely pure luck - determined by the resonances of the particular pieces of wood.

The best guitars are probably those assembled by hand from accurate machine-made parts, by people who know how to choose the right combination of parts and put them together well.