J/C Custom Shop List Prices - No Longer Available to the Customer!

[neilli]

Exactly my thought Kev - I can see people just submitting the same specs to several dealers to see what comes out. That's just going to add more of an overhead at the factory, and if as I understand, Kotzen handles all quotes then the delays are just going to get worse....

[~K~]

Well I don't think they will quote the same guitar across multiple dealers now .. so it isn't likely to happen in this manner.. I'm hoping it is just a price adjustment thing to be honest ...

I wouldn't buy a car from a dealer without knowing MSRP etc ..

[shreddermon]

Any way you look at this (from the customer's perspective), it just plain sucks:

- Customers will have to submit several different orders with similar-but-different specs to figure out if their dream guitar fits within their budget. What a freakin' hassle.

- That will drastically increase the number of custom price quotes that Kotzen and dealers will have to handle. (Which, as Neilli mentioned, these are already taking waaaay too long to turn around.) So even longer turnarounds will result.

- And many more of those price quotes will "die on the vine", because the customer never knew beforehand that, no matter how many options they leave off, their price expectations were unrealistic. For instance, lots of "newbies" - not knowing any better - will wrongly assume that their custom will just be a little north of USA Select pricing! Lots of wasted time/effort.

- Will lead to more crappy dealings with less reputible / smarmy dealers. Kev, your car buying analogy is a good one. The skuzzy ones will refuse to even let you know what the list price of your order is, so you'll never know how much a discount you're getting. Are you getting a good deal or a shitty one? Many folks will never know until they shop around to several different dealers and find a good one who talks straight up and gives you all the info. needed.

Geez. I could go on and on. It simply blows for so many different reasons.

Man, I am just so disappointed with what's been happening with J/C lately, on several fronts. I've been with the company since the early years - through good times and bad - and this is the first time I've ever felt that way. It just flat out hurts to even have to say that.

[withmyshadow]

it's amazing they want to make a "killing" with a CS guitar with the new system.
I mean a CS order is a great deal for a dealer as compared to regular items. you put money down first and when the item is done there's no shelf time. They don't have to invest, so to speak. It's money in the bank for the them.

[~K~]

That's not a true statement .. the idea behind a CS order is paying a guy to build 1 guitar to your specs .. not a bunch to a set spec ... it is cheaper to build a bunch of selects VS paying a master builder to build one .. you are comparing apples and oranges..

I think the issue of trying to figure out what is in your budget and how options can affect the price, be able to see if you have an honest dealer etc are a lot more valid

[withmyshadow]

the difference between CS and production lies in the builder side not the dealer's.
on the dealer's side what's the difference between a CS order and a USA select order? lead time. 12months vs. 3-4month vs 2 weeks if they happen to have that finish in stock in the factory. you give money to the dealer at the beginning and pay in full ASA the dealer gets the finished product. The dealer doesn't have any money tied in the process. so the new practice as a way to give dealer's more profit is really strange. Unless the thinking is for dealer's to make more money on CS orders so they have more money to invest in stocking standard models.

one problem I see now is CS dealers have a lot of CS stocks based on the factory's specs or dealer's specs so they sit in the store with a 3000 price tag for a very long time but on the other hand there's not enough stock choices for usa select models. at current usa select price 1500-2000, they are good deals if dealers can stock a lot of them like PRS.
I am just speculating obviously. there's so much we, cusomers don't know to see why.
I am just happy I got my wine red SLS soloist for a good price two months ago. kicks PRS CU22, Gibby SG and Carvin CT asses it's not even funny.
bottem line is these guys are really good compared to most other companys so the ball is on their court.

[shreddermon]

P.S.- One more thing to mention. ESP - the company that is probably Jackson's #1 competition as far as custom shops - still provides online price quotes for custom instruments. It's laid out pretty nicely, actually.

http://www.espguitars.com/custom_quote.cfm

It takes a bit more of a simplified approach, in that it only provides a bottom line total list price for your guitar's selected specs. So, while they don't give you the upgrade prices for each and every option, you can still pick and choose from those options and it'll give you a good sense of bottom line total before talking to a dealer. So you can play around with the options in their online generator, try and fit within your budget, get a reasonable sense of what kind of discount your dealer is offering, etc.

So J/C pretty much just gave something up to the competition.

[withmyshadow]

ESP's quote prices are much higher than Jackson's. I config'ed a soloist equivalent with all standard options and the price I got was 5400!!!
so like I said, jackson custom shop is currently the best in terms of quality, price and number of options. the only one that's close is washburn custom shop. they are on par in terms of quality and price but not as many things to choose from and the CS pieces they run each year is limited.
search "idol wi68" on eb@y and you will see some awesome setneck idols for around 2300 ordered by boogiestreet guitars.

[Chrisb]

Well I'm just glad I got my guitar ordered before this went down. As it was the process took awhile. I hope this is just a price examination thing. It still isn't the end of the world but as I see it, this can only complicate what can already be a confusing process. So why do it? Seems puzzling to me.

[TommyD]

J/C Custom Shop List Prices - No Longer Available to the Customer!

> As big a fan as I am of J/C guitars,I cant see letting them rape me on a simple instrument either. Even if I had an unlimited bankroll to spend on a CS,it still would be exactly this,and minimal as it is.

Bolt-on Dinky body,in Korina,finished in satin black or possibly just oiled,2 hum direct mount,top and bottom horn scalloped with the neck joint.

24 fret maple w/ebony,offset dots in cream,reversed head,cream Charvel logo,maybe black binding but undecided.

Cream/Black Duncan Invaders,with a 5 way switch,volume and tone.

OFR,with black saddles,all other hardware is satin chrome. All other features are totally stock.

Sounds pretty simple,huh? The last time I got a quote off the site,it was something like 3500,so even with a generous street price,you're probably looking at 2000. Body/fretboard wood aside,there are import Dinkies just like it floating around here guys would line up to sell for 600,and I don't have to wait who knows how long for it. Now,I'm seeing on here where they've gone up 25% on CS orders,making it more likely I'll be contacting someone eventually about buying the aforementioned Dinky,or the parts to build it myself. I'd probably be looking at 3000 street on this. Or,I can settle and take a DX/DKMG or DK1. Ibanez makes a few models pretty close to what I want too,as bad as I hate that. Tommy D.

[xenophobe]

FMIC accountant looks at JCMI's logs... it takes X amount of days more to complete a custom Jackson than a custom Fender, and the custom Jackson is X times cheaper.

So, like I feared when Fender bought Jackson, the comparison of what you get for the amount you spent with Jackson was probably compared to Fender custom shop production, and this would be the direct outcome. I'm actually surprised it took this long for them to figure out an $8000 Custom Stratocaster is 10x easier to make than a $3500 Custom Jackson.

[mattsmusiccenter]

From what I understood, pricing would eventually be on the custom shop options form. I think they're still trying to revamp their prices. Last time I discussed this stuff with the higher ups, they were attempting to cut down on the amount of tire kickers... not increase it.

Not sure who made the comment about a dealer being able to price something in 5 minutes, but up to this point that couldn't be more wrong. We don't have pricing either.

[toejam]

From what I understood, pricing would eventually be on the custom shop options form. I think they're still trying to revamp their prices. Last time I discussed this stuff with the higher ups, they were attempting to cut down on the amount of tire kickers... not increase it.

It would be nice to know exactly how much we're paying for all the options instead of just getting a quote and not knowing how much option X is. For example, how much extra is a 3/4" maple top compared to one that's 1/8", how much extra is if for a 5-piece neck instead of a 3-piece neck, etc.? With the prices on the old form, at least we had some idea what the list would be without having to submit the form and wait for a dealer to come back with it. I would think that would cut down on the tire kickers big time.

[skorb]

I would NEVER buy a guitar from any mfgr who had this "you can't see the price of options" policy.

I'm astounded that they think this is going to in some way help their business. all they are doing is running customers off in droves.

just my .02.

[slayer]

I would NEVER buy a guitar from any mfgr who had this "you can't see the price of options" policy.

I'm astounded that they think this is going to in some way help their business. all they are doing is running customers off in droves.

just my .02.

+1 bro. The CS price increases alone have pissed me off, then no see them retail prices have pushed me even farther away to a small luthier. I will wait and see, but I am not to hopefull. Jack.