Gotta agree with you, Rod. When I first got established in my career and saved enough, I went for a 40 series custom shop Martin in 1990. It has had numerous problems over the years, with Martin sorta and reluctantly standing by their lifetime warranty. All issues are finally fixed now. Raised on Martin as the "holy grail" of acoustic guitars (had four at one time) I have now been totally converted and only one now remains. Unfortunately the CF Martin Company of old is nowhere to be found anymore, and it's just not the same. They seem to be living off their legacy, IMO.
My experiences with Taylor have been the opposite - not really needing warranty support, getting prompt and cheerful answers to questions, etc. This why I have multiple Taylor guitars, and a warm fuzzy feeling about their quality and support.
As my tastes in tone have matured, I grew to prefer the crisper and more articulate Taylor tone over than the "boomy" Martin tone. Each has their place, but for my playing and tastes, Taylor wins.
