Notably you can't please everyone .. some choice comments:
"lesser tone woods" umm .. I wouldn't call either maple or walnut that. My first build was maple b&s, and I find her remarkably expressive. If my SCGC OM has a beautifully exotic voice, this guitar can deliver a broader range of tones.
"God save us from the MBAs. And their lawyers" .. juxtaposed with "If they had done a SWAT(sic) analysis"
I've been a practicing engineer & scientist for 40 years now (worked as a machinist before that). Along the way I learned managerial and financial accounting standards because if you don't understand the rules of the game you're at a disadvantage. I would rather die than practice accounting or marketing, and I'm none too fond of the reality that most operating decisions at the university where I work today are made by accountants.
On the other hand, if I had to rely on me to do the various things MBAs do, I'd starve. I can make new things, make new science because someone is doing those jobs.
Don't even get me started on SWOT .. or go watch Jared, Dinesh and Gilfoyle making absurd fun of this "analysis" tool in Silicon Valley.
I don't see Martin stopping production of EIR or mahogany guitars anytime soon, and like the exclusively custom small shops and solo luthiers, they've got inventory of old / exotic woods for custom work. This doesn't mean they can't also plow new fields.
Otoh, for a guitar maker that was actually driven to bankruptcy by really bad management, look no further than Gibson (KKR the owners of Gibson are quite clear they're calling the shots until they get their desired return on investment).
For my part, I am looking forward to laying hands on the SC-28/18s and GPCE Inception models. I truly don't care a whit what other people think of them, there seem to be some good ideas in these. There don't seem to be any in local shops for now, I'm sure in time there will.
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