The wood should be proud of the metal. You are too used to seeing worn old guns to apprciate what best new workmanship looks like.
Hmmm. I dont know. I just spent some time in Mr. Hodgins shop and examined a Purdey O/U that he freshly stocked...I didnt see any proud wood there and he has a brand new H&H .410 O/U in his shop and again...I didnt see
any
proud wood on that gun either. Those certainly qualify as best guns. I recently looked at a David Mckay Brown that was void of proud wood as well.
The worst "best" gun in terms of wood fit that I have ever seen was on a Famars O/U. It actually had gaps where the head butts up to the reciever and the wood was very proud....it was fugly and its $40,000 price tag was even fuglier.
Dustin