Have you ever heard of this rhetoric question...
"Can you hear the flames [in the maple top]?"
For me, a custom guitar is good if and only if the FINISHED PRODUCT satisfies you. Iba-iba naman ang level of satisfaction ng tao, kaya doon pa lang can of worms na ang topic na ito.
Although I think, there is such a thing as BARE MINIMUM. There is also such a thing as LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS when it comes to building a guitar. How much would one guitar cost to maintain a certain level of consistency and *nice tone* (which is again relative)? Consistency is NOT relative though. It is either a production line of guitars is CONSISTENT or LESS-CONSISTENT, to NOT AT ALL CONSISTENT.
What makes these boutique guitar-makers charge so high? It is the CONSISTENCY that these boutique manufacturers offer that you are after. As for the TONE, you may or may not like one of them (price factor aside). In a blindfold test, you may or may not like a Baker B3, not because the tone "sucks", but maybe because it is not your cup of tea. Timbre is what we are very receptive to. But as for "player response", I believe that this is less-subjective. IMO, everyone wants a playable guitar. Everyone wants a guitar that responds better to fingers. Everyone wants notes to bloom.
And imagine, the high-end luthiers reject up to 40% of the wood inventory. And when there is no available wood to their liking, they have moratorium on manufacturing.
As for Elegee, I do believe he is not yet at the level of the high-end luthiers. But for the price, should you be complaining? Everything is a hit and miss thing for any guitar, except that with a custom Elegee, you are guaranteed not to sell it for a good price should you not become happy.
