Renesongs wrote
One thing I have to wonder about these exotic guitar designs is how good it for your public image. Imagine you and your band play your gonads off at the next concert. Your fans are all like awesome guitar dude that is some sweet ride you got there gee must cost you plenty of clams, and pass no comment on your playing.
The question is how many people in the audience will be paying attention to that kind of stuff.
I did a gig at TJs during which I played the Smoothtalker - not the sort of thing one sees everyday. Several people came to give me their views later on, but none of them asked about the guitar. I had one guy ask me about after the soundcheck, but he was clearly one of those people who are interested in all the technical goings on.
I have joked that the cool thing about having a Smoothtalker is that you can play really badly and nobody notices because they're too busy trying to figure out what kind of guitar that is or even if it is a guitar, but the reality is that I don't think most people notice. Obviously the people who have an interest in guitars and gear will notice, but they'll also notice if you're paying a Guild, a Martin, a Takamine or whatever.
My wife has learned over the last couple of years that there are different, distinct, brands of guitar. She is now quite good at spotting Martins and Morgans (Jackie Leven, one of her favourite musicians, plays a Morgan) and will often ask what various people are playing, but this has nothing at all to do with her appreciation of the performance. When we saw Martin Simpson she noted that he was playing a make of guitar that she hadn't seen before, but her main comment was that he was a good storyteller.
So executive summary
1) Most people won't notice and don't care
2) Of those who do notice most of them will not equate kit to playing
