[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by T-3G

Because I love the way Elipsa/Stradivari radiate sound, but couldn't afford the latter. Elipsa is a transitional product, a cross-over between Cremona and Strad, and retains the legacy Sonus faber signature sound, design, and DNA. Their more recent models are radical departure from the past in all respects, their designs look like they hired H. R. Giger as the chief designer. The new Sonus faber will win new customers I'm sure, but will lose a lot of us. That's all I'm saying.

I like companies when they're smaller, when they don't have to worry about distractions. Magic really shines through in their earlier models because they reflect the ideal and passion of the designer in their purest form. When they get big or get acquired, that original DNA is destroyed. Them expanding the spectrum of products and consequently having to build (or outsource) factories in China is a symptom of this change - their focus is ROI, not art. Every company will undergo change at some point, but since their change is something I'm not excited about, I simply walk away.

Ok this makes more sense.

Serblin does diverge from the example somewhat in that his greatest work was his last before selling the company.