Factories using computerised machinery can, of course, build much faster still, but without the ability to match and suit each process and each piece of wood to the preceding one that is so important to the construction of a really good instrument. A luthier building 3 instruments a month can select outstanding wood for these in a way that a shop building 50 a month is unlikely to be able to, and a factory building hundreds a month wouldn't even try to. I make a nuisance of myself at the local hardwood importers, picking through stacks of mahogany boards, asking them to pull out twenty and then buying one. Before building any instrument, I like to talk to the prospective owner, finding out exactly what they want and generally discussing the options. I can then adapt the construction and choose the wood accordingly.
Materials Deciding on the best wood for a particular instrument is a complex business.
Different woods emphasize different qualities, change the tone in different ways, alter the balance, and perhaps most important of all, change the way an instrument ages. Through the 1970s and 1980s I built many of my citterns and bouzoukis with western red cedar soundboards. Cedar topped instruments have an immediate appeal, with their warm look and sound, but it is my experience that although they play in quickly and sound their best after a few months, they can then lose a little of their crispness and clarity over the following years. I also feel that cedar has such a strong tonal character that it can dominate the music and make it hard to achieve different moods - a bit like playing everything in the same key. European spruce takes a couple of years to reach something approaching its full potential, and then opens out into much greater warmth and power than when new, without losing its clarity and ring and sustain.