I find that guitar strings stay in tune and have less initial stretch time than they used to when I was young. I suppose the automation has a lot to do with that.

Many years ago I owned the "holy grail" of saxophones, the Selmer Mark VI. Like all saxes of the era, it had poor intonation. No woodwind is perfectly in tune with itself, you have to learn the "signature" of your instrument and then use your ears and embouchure (lip) to play all the notes in tune. New saxophones, with their computer assisted designs (and probably manufacturing process) have much better intonation.

Yet there is always a certain nostalgia about those old instruments. The Selmer Mark VI which I bought for $600 new, now goes for over $5,000 40+ years later. Those pre-CBS Fenders and extremely old Les Pauls have done the same thing. And yet, I really don't think those ancient instruments are better than the top-of-the-line new instruments.

IMHO, the term "Hand Crafted" is just a marketing term, used to bring that old instrument nostalgia and reverence to a new product.

Robotics have greatly improved automobile assembly. When I was young, it was very rare for a vehicle to turn 100,000 miles. Now I regularly get over 200,000 miles on my vehicles, with many fewer repair jobs. But yet a still working 1947 Chevrolet still brings in more money than a new one.

There are some things that automation does better than human skills, and other things that humans do better than the machines. The wisdom to know which is which and use the proper method in the proper place will produce a superior product.

So if a human pre-selects and aligns the piece of wood to go into the computerized jig, IMHO you are marrying the best skills of each.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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