I started playing a bit late, in 1971 at the age of twenty. I quickly learned that Guild was definitely one of the big three at that time. As the decade rolled on, I also quickly realized that Guild offered the best value for your money. Martins were expensive & not quite as well made during the '70s, and Gibsons were at their overbuilt low point in construction.
I owned four Guilds during the '70s, but as the decade came to a close, I eventually went to a small-bodied Martin & Gibson for the next twenty years. Along the way, every time I'd have the opportunity to play a Guild, it seemed to be dead as a doornail, and Guilds just sort of dropped off my radar.
In 2001, for my 50th birthday, I decided to trade in my old Martin & Gibson for a new Martin & Gibson. I still have both of these guitars and find them quite satisfying. Shortly thereafter, I transitioned seriously into electrics for the next twelve years, but also acquired some other Gibson acoustics that I highly value, along with another small-bodied Martin. All of a sudden in 2015, I decided to revisit the Guilds of my past to see if I could rekindle what I had liked so much about them in the '70s. What I discovered was a wealth of absolutely fine sounding instruments, both from the '70s and '90s, that can hold their own with anything now being put out by the current "big three." Don't know why I couldn't seem to get my hands on a good Guild during the '80s & '90s, but that indeed was the case.
The moral of this story is that one should never make sweeping generalizations about any brand. Just because a player has not personally come into contact with a Gibson or Taylor that pushes the right buttons, it doesn't mean that a winner isn't out there. These companies all make fine instruments. Tonally, each brand often get categorized into a corner, but if there's one thing we all know, it's that no two guitars are exactly the same. You sometimes might just have to work harder to find a hidden gem from the maker who isn't your preferred favorite, but chances are, it's out there just waiting to be discovered.