I would guess that many of these wonderful pieces seem mundane after a while, since everything they build is top-shelf and beyond. Most craftsmen I am aquainted with are continually looking to the *next* instrument as the perfect execution of their craft, and see each thing they've already built as another learning experience...
I'm curious what sort of instruments get built after-hours, like some of those Valentino posted a couple of years back. Comparing the concept of custom you get by sharing information with your builder with the concept of custom you get when you ARE the builder makes me think that there is some very, very creative and innovative work going on that we might never see..
John