I share those questions from SF. I perceive you asking about a factory special-order versus a handmade boutique guitar made by a single luthier.
The only serious wooden guitar I have ever bought that was not off-the-rack / pre-built was a 1990 custom shop Martin J-40. That was a leap of faith, but I had played a half dozen stock models first. I just wanted some cosmetic features that were not pure stock. (Coincidentally, several of those features like the abalone rosette became "stock" two years later, so I can only presume that they liked how mine came out). Not relevant, but that custom guitar had some manufacturing defects -- neck off center in the dovetail, bridge misplaced negatively affecting intonation, and others. That was really disappointing coming from the Custom Shop but was all corrected during the neck reset several years later.
