Martin Guitars = Crap?

Brad Kozak, on novelidea.com, recently wrote about going to a music store and seeing a Martin guitar, complete with laminated back and sides, which is a departure from Martin's historically very high quality guitars. The NovelIdea blog is geared towards marketing and branding, so the post is targeted towards that audience. However, it's an interesting argument. For example, Brad says:

What does this mean for your brand? It means that cutting corners and trading your brand’s value for a “quick-fix” mentality is sucide. Martin will never again be able to claim that they only make great instruments. They don’t.

I used to own a low-end Martin several years ago, but "low-end" Martin at the time meant the same as most other manufacturers high quality guitars. Will putting out laminate guitars ruin Martin's brand? I wouldn't go that far, but it's sure to dilute the brand, at least somewhat. Read Brad's full post here.