I chose controversy by trying to answer this...

ThorpyFX

gatheredinsong said:

robinbowes said:

Boutique == "expensive"

Paul Cochrane's TIM and Timmy were not expensive for what you got, yet he would definitely be "boutique" to my way of thinking.

bill finnegan and the klon would also fall into this category.

David Barber. Marc Ahlfs?

yes

menamestom

I think the water is really muddied now in that the blue collar effect companies seem to have increased their prices to boutique prices and taken the ethos of the smaller makers as a marketing ploy.

Waza for example, with pedals getting on £200 or more.   MXR as well to a certain extent.

BillDL

"Boutique" should really mean the same as "Artisan" is supposed to mean in other fields, but sadly "artisan" is another of those words that is now heavily misused.

slacker

Who cares?  The term served its purpose when all one could buy was multifx or Boss.we are now post boutique with high quality pedals and more importantly choice, so hail Mike Fuller, Zachary Vex Bill Fiñegan Mike  Analog Robert Keeley and anyone I forgot.

downbytheriver

It’s quite easy to give clear examples (Reeves Electro, Nocturne) but actually defining the term so that one can be objective about it feels like a hopeless task - there’s a lot of fuzziness. Is there really any point any more? You might as well say anything you have to wait for… 

Gadget

I think 'boutique' is a largely meaningless term in 2022. It stemmed from a time when all you had available to buy easily in the shops (pre-internet) was mass-produced (and quite possibly sub-standard) mainstream offerings. If you wanted something better built, better sounding, more unique, more road-worthy, then you delved into your deep pockets to have someone like Pete Cornish build it for you. Now there are so many choices available at all ends of the market, that it really is a case of 'you pays yer money, you makes your choice'.

TeleMaster

To me, it means small scale, kind of bespoke pedals, built in house, with a particular style of design, normally with an identifiable person in charge who appears to do a lot of the building themselves or with a few other people.

hywelg

Roland said:

Nice piece of work. Well above the standard of journalism in many of these articles.

To answer the question - for me boutique is about the personal contact. The fact that you know there’s someone who cares about the product and it’s use. Someone who concentrates more on these than on sales targets and management scorecards.

Yes, if you rang the company you wouldn't expect to speak to Mr Boss or Mr TC. But if I rang Menatone ( a favourite pedal company for me)I would very likely speak to Brian.