He has a valid point.
At the low end of tubing, 4130, 520, Verus, Thron etc. are all pretty much the same material. They don't differ greatly in strength. And they're all steel, so they obviously all weigh the same. The only difference is in the tubing shapes, diameter and butting profile. (well, and the sticker on the seat tube)
A "generic" 4130 tube and a Reynolds 520 tube shaped and butted the same way will weigh/look/ride identically.

Note how he says that the tubes are "custom drawn to their specification". There are a number of excellent tubing companies in Taiwan that do exactly this. Draw tubes to whatever diameter and butting profile you want. Even in small batches. Kogswell makes extensive use of "Eco" brand tubing (which you would call "generic" 4130) which they have butted, in small batches to whatever spec they want. Kogswell runs really small batches from the Maxway factory, and Eco draws them tubing with frame-size-specific butt profiles in tiny, tiny batch sizes.

This is the type of customization you can get with a taiwanese tube factory - with tubing that is just as good, but *cheaper*

I spent the weekend swapping parts over from a KHS to my new Steamroller.
I wanted a frame with much more tire clearance than I already had for riding on these crappy Boston streets. So far I'm loving it. 28's + fenders with clearance to spare.
Sure the $400 New frameset price is a bit high. But pretty much every Surly frame is unique (or was when it first was released). That's why I didn't buy it new
What other "track" frame offers that much tire clearance?
What other horizontal-drop steel cross frame is there (available as a frame-only)?
What other SS 29er existed when the Karate Monkey came out?
Will there ever be anything else like a Pugsley? or the Big Dummy?