Custom Shop turn around time.

[bombtek]

It's gotta be a combination of the queue, the "give the customer time to come up with the money", and the all-important fact that Customs are not being built by the same people that build the USA Selects anymore, so that means you're getting MasterBuilt stuff, not "Freddy the newbie".

Plus you've always got NAMM stuff to build, Artist models, small batch runs for dealers, and you've got stuff you just WANT to build like the Benetton Racer, the Pablo Extreme stuff (from which they stumble upon new innovations, techniques, and processes).

As well, there's the simple fact of marketing: most people think that high price = quality. Grover stated that was his pricing motivation back in the day. The more you pay for something, the better you expect it to be.

With that, time = quality.

Look at Rolex: takes 5 guys 3 months to set 12 jewels into a watch that cannot keep accurate time.

Awesome, more stuff that I didn't take into account that would add up the weeks for a guitar delivery. Thanks Newc.

But I take back my forgiveness of them having to take time out of CS guitars to build the USA Selects if what Newc says is true.

[Tekky]

Hold on a second. If I understand correctly, you're saying that you aren't waiting for a custom shop guitar, right? But you stated before that people are waiting 2 years for a guitar? Where did you get that 2 year number?

If it's arbitrary, which I'm guessing so because you've not ordered a custom shop guitar, let's make sure you're not misinforming the lurkers here. From what I'm understanding the CS wait time is 6-8 months. (Realistically it's a little longer than that)

[rjohnstone]

Look at Rolex: takes 5 guys 3 months to set 12 jewels into a watch that cannot keep accurate time.

How true.
The average Rolex is off by as much as 30 minutes over the course of a year.
My Seiko never misses a beat. Accurate to within 20 seconds over the course of a year.

[bombtek]

Hold on a second. If I understand correctly, you're saying that you aren't waiting for a custom shop guitar, right? But you stated before that people are waiting 2 years for a guitar? Where did you get that 2 year number?

If it's arbitrary, which I'm guessing so because you've not ordered a custom shop guitar, let's make sure you're not misinforming the lurkers here. From what I'm understanding the CS wait time is 6-8 months. (Realistically it's a little longer than that)

I got that number from members here on this board stating their wait time to get their guitar from the CS. I do not remember specifically who it was nor do I remember how long ago, but I do remember very clearly him stating that it was worth the two year wait to get it.

Hell it might have been prior to the Fender buyout. But I am not mistaken on the 2 year quote.

If it is 6 to 8, months then I'll eat crow, because then I will admit I have been throwing bogus info out on this thread. Not my intention at all. I sincerely do remember quite lucidly members complaining for having to wait 18 months and one member saying his took two years from the day he ordered it.

[Grandturk]

How true.
The average Rolex is off by as much as 30 minutes over the course of a year.
My Seiko never misses a beat. Accurate to within 20 seconds over the course of a year.

Huge difference is what's going on inside the guts of a mechanical watch and what's going on inside a quartz/atomic clock regulated watch.

[Jack Napalm]

I waited 18 months for two of mine. Both of which had order processing issues. Once they both were in the queue and being worked on they were made in about 9 months or so. One I think was about 6 months. I have heard of longer wait times than mine though.

[bombtek]

Here it is, two members that waited two years to get their CS guitars from Jackson

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82204

And this was only a year ago that he posted.

[bombtek]

Whew glad I found that thread I HATE eating crow

And ToneZone's looks like it was over a two year wait time. 1st post on that thread was from May 18th 2008, and he received the guitar on about Sep 28 2008. so if the guitar was ordered 2 years prior to the 1st post, it would have taken Jackson somewhere around 28 months to deliver his guitar.

[Newc]

My 2 Customs took 18 months each. Ordered them within 2 months of each other and got them 2 months apart.

It doesn't matter if it only takes 6-8 months to BUILD them - the only thing that matters is how long it takes to get to the customer, presuming the customer isn't the reason for the delay (i.e. not able to pay for it fully, etc).

If it takes 6 months to build (2 weeks to build and paint, 5 months for the paint to dry and 2 weeks to get the case from G&G) but 12 months after that to get to the customer, then it took 18 months to get the guitar.

That's what everyone wants to know - how long will I have to wait to get my guitar. No one cares/needs to know that it takes 2 weeks to build and 5 months to cure, they only want/need to know how long between placing the order and receiving the goods.


And yes, last I heard, part of the Fender takeover was that all Custom Shop models that are ordered through dealers would be built only by the most-experienced builders - Pablo, Shannon, and a couple of others, IIRC. They were not being made by the same people who made the USA Selects, nor were Custom Shop guys building USA Selects.

Makes sense to me. I'm sure you'd rather have a USA Select built by Mike Shannon than one built by Jose Jimenez or Joe Smith or Tom Finkle, right? You'd probably also be able to tell the difference simply because Shannon has way more experience.

On one hand, you're getting a deal, but on the other, Mike's years of experience are being sold short, so you put him building Custom Shop "you want top quality, you pay what it's worth" models and let those other guys do the other stuff.

[shreddermon]

If it is 6 to 8, months then I'll eat crow, because then I will admit I have been throwing bogus info out on this thread. Not my intention at all. I sincerely do remember quite lucidly members complaining for having to wait 18 months and one member saying his took two years from the day he ordered it.

Do you eat crow with a spoon or a fork? My last two customs took well under a year.

On average, I would say most of my customs took somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 months. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But I've definitely seen a pattern in the past year or two of them turning most custom orders around more quickly.

At least, that's been my own personal experience. Not something I've read second- or third-hand on the interwebs.

[Newc]

Remember also that they stopped taking CS orders so they could clear the backlog and get back down to lower turnaround times.

However, I'm sure that once they opened it up again, they were instantly flooded with orders.


But they CAN turn things around quickly - the Dweezil run came back in what, 6 months? Shannon saw the spec sheet and bumped it up the list, IIRC.

[bombtek]

Do you eat crow with a spoon or a fork? My last two customs took well under a year.

On average, I would say most of my customs took somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 months. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But I've definitely seen a pattern in the past year or two of them turning most custom orders around more quickly.

At least, that's been my own personal experience. Not something I've read second- or third-hand on the interwebs.

I'm not going to eat crow at all. I'm glad that yours took such a short time. The fact remains that there are significantly longer wait times for some.

And yes all of the info that I've said on here is absolutely complete heresay. I have zero experience with the custom shop. I was just interested in it.

So eat some crow yourself and have fun with your guitars.

[TVTiZtiK]

I don't think the wait time is THAT bad. I've heard a couple stories of guys waiting 24 months for a CS (I think Guyver waited 24 months for his KV?), but from what I've seen most peoples orders are in the 4-8 month range. Pretty sure somebody recently got a Rhoads done in a little under 4 months IIRC.

I'm waiting on a CS right now myself. I ordered it 1/1/09 so it's been about 5 months now. If I get it within the next 3 months I'll be happy.

[bombtek]

I don't think the wait time is THAT bad. I've heard a couple stories of guys waiting 24 months for a CS (I think Guyver waited 24 months for his KV?), but from what I've seen most peoples orders are in the 4-8 month range. Pretty sure somebody recently got a Rhoads done in a little under 4 months IIRC.

I'm waiting on a CS right now myself. I ordered it 1/1/09 so it's been about 5 months now. If I get it within the next 3 months I'll be happy.

That's cool man. Hope you get it soon. I wasn't saying that every CS order takes two years, just that some CS orders have taken that long for a delivery. A page back I posted a link to a thread that shows this.

[fullmetalguitar]

I just ordered a Carvin today. I'm looking forward to receiving it in about 4-5 weeks. And this is with me specifying the color, type of bridge, reverse headstock, birdseye maple board, etc.