It kind of is the same way with everything else... If you want the best, you have to pay for it. I can't afford the high end Taylors but I do have a Taylor Big Baby... and it's one of the best sounding acoustics I've played. I've also played just about every other model of Taylor out there, and they ARE worth the money. If you can afford them, I'd say go for it. If you build guitars you might know about some of the woods that they use... Rare woods cost money... lots of it. Especially when they get the highest quality possible. Think about it... For a Koa top they need atleast a 20-30" x15-20" square piece of wood. Koa is expensive as it is... but they use a piece with the tightest grain and absolutly no knots or irregular grain. It'd be similar to a jeweler picking out a diamond to put in a ring for....say... the queen of England. He's not going to use anything but the clearest diamond he can find. If it costs a ton, who cares. They're going to charge as much as people will pay. I think the quality of their guitars justify the prices... BUT... I myself cannot justify spending that much money for a guitar. I got other things that I can drop 3 grand on.