In the old days manufactures could spend time on writing an instruction manual as the instruments were simple, and the costs involved where not great, (They could also easily charge more for their instruments as competition was minimal, (No Internet or online sales)) however these days instruments are so comprehensive it would take a lot of hours (And cost) to go into every detail, however this additional cost could not be passed on to the consumer as if they did it would no longer be competitive with their competition, (Consumers these days want the cheapest price they can get) thus there is no incentive.

Printing cost and paper are also expensive, this is why most manufactures no longer supply a printed manual (Except a quick start guide) and provide the manual on a disc or make you download it online.

Before the internet, communication between owners was small, now any owner can get help from any other owner, which again reduces the incentive to the manufacture.

Finally (And only the consumer can take the blame for this, in spite of all the moaning they do) while some users would be prepared to pay a little extra to get a comprehensive manual, (As an add on) it would in a very short space of time be uploaded to the net so that nobody would have to pay for it, thus all the work done by the manufacture would make them no profit, which is a big disincentive to anybody. (The same happened with styles (Bought or manufactures styles) which are banded about free of charge on the net (The users saying I’ve bought it so I can do what I want with it) thus creating a disincentive for manufactures to produce more. (These same users also complain that manufactures are not producing enough styles for their instruments, whereas in reality they only have themselves to blame)

Bill