I think for freelance professional musicians, especially studio musicians, a large part of the value in owning one is being able to offer a genuine vintage instrument to their customers, regardless of whether it's better/same/worse than a modern instrument. Also they are insured and tend to appreciate in value, maintenance is deductible, so in many/most cases will make be a sound economic choice.
PS I am in the camp that thinks there is some magic in an instrument that has been played a lot beyond the feel of it, and I think some of the work done on vibration treating instruments bears this out.