I try to judge guitars one at a time without regard to the maker or preconceptions about a particular brand name regarding tone and playability. Warranty and build quality might be reasons to consider one maker over another.In my case, I find that if you play enough different instruments the one you want will eventually jump out at you (bearing in mind that a new instrument might need a bit of playing in before it can be fairly compared to an older guitar so you might need to use a bit of imagination there). I recently heard and played a Martin HD-28 that really stood out in the presence of a bunch of other high end guitars and I found a Taylor 514 with a cedar top that I thought was a helluva buy at around $1600. Of course, one of the best OM's I heard was a Larrivee OM-10 which held it's own when AB'ed with a very ornate Brazilian Bourgeois. At any rate it's ears before eyes with me. Have fun. vl