80% of guitars built by the Fender Custom Shop are relic'd. Only 20% of orders are for pristine or un-molested finishes.
The tragedy here is that Fenders best people and resources are catering for people who more often than not don't even play.
How long before that trickles down to producing instruments that play like shit but fulfil a required look ?

From what I've sampled in the last few years - it's already happening.