Rob's Standouts:

I'm only posting guitars here that really standout and are just incredible examples.
I realize that normally guitars are not set up ideally by the manufacturer.

In many cases I find:
ridiculous string slot height above the first fret...almost always way too high.
Throws the guitar out of tune just by pressing down on the string.

High spots on frets, very common on new guitars. Can't lower the action appreciably without hitting so many high spots.

(they don't even bother to lock and stretch the strings so that the guitar stays in tune)
Something that almost nobody will do.

But I also see that setting the guitar up as ideally as possible would cause the guitar to sell much faster.
Surprisingly, many manufacturers seem unconcerned and never really set up the guitars.

Guitars that come without setup - that's normal.
 
It baffles me that most people are afraid to setup their own guitars. I had a guitar setup professionally and was astounded by how much better the guitar was. I spent some time reading books and watching YouTube then tried setting up my own. It took some trail and error but over time I learned how to setup my own guitars. I can’t do it as well as a skilled pro who does it every day but I can make my guitars better players. The best part is once done you can easily and quickly make changes when the weather changes. Once a guitar has a good setup it is easy to keep it that way.
 
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If I post them here, they are very near as perfect as humanly possible.

Playing Devil's Advocate: shouldn't they all be that way? I would understand there would be some variance but how much? I mean in your limited end of line experience so far, what comes to you as bottom 33%, middle 33% vs top 33%?

Maybe you aren't at liberty to say.
 
Playing Devil's Advocate: shouldn't they all be that way? I would understand there would be some variance but how much? I mean in your limited end of line experience so far, what comes to you as bottom 33%, middle 33% vs top 33%?

Maybe you aren't at liberty to say.

Ok,

Some guitars just have that "something" and everything is just "right."

These are the guitars that stand out to me in terms of build quality, finish, tone and things like having perfect intonation at 3rd, 5th, 7th and 12th fret....

Only those exceptional guitars make this thread.
 
I realize that normally guitars are not set up ideally by the manufacturer.

In many cases I find:
ridiculous string slot height above the first fret...almost always way too high.
Throws the guitar out of tune just by pressing down on the string.

High spots on frets, very common on new guitars. Can't lower the action appreciably without hitting so many high spots.

(they don't even bother to lock and stretch the strings so that the guitar stays in tune)
Something that almost nobody will do.

But I also see that setting the guitar up as ideally as possible would cause the guitar to sell much faster.
Surprisingly, many manufacturers seem unconcerned and never really set up the guitars.

Guitars that come without setup - that's normal.

I sometimes level a few frets, 1st fret action height is always cut to spec and I dial everything in to make it a good, playable instrument.
 
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