People buying custom guitars and sellign them a few weeks after?

[church2224]

Today I was browsing through the classified section on another forum I am a part of, looking for some good used USA Soloists or Adrian Smiths, to no avail....

Low and behold a lot of custom built guitars people had made for themselves were up. Bernie Rico Jr., KXK, Daemoness, Elysian, Strictly 7, Jaden Rose, ect. all up for trades and sales. One guy was even asking $2,950.00/trade for a barely used BRJ I kept thinking for some of the prices these people are asking for I can get anywhere from one to three great new production guitars or even get my own custom.

Some of these people on this forum I am mentioning have slammed me for my love of some bigger manufacturers like Jackson, ESP, Ibanez, EBMM, ect. and told me to get one of these "Be all, end all" guitars, basically saying that "I support the corporate clowns who make production guitars with no soul" and "all big company guitars are crap, period!" "Buy a work of art from a small builder!" Well if you do not like the fact my favorite guitars I have played are production guitars and I plan on getting more, then that is your problem, not mine. To me a damn good guitar is a damn good guitar. Made in a factory in the thousands or hand build by the tens or barely hundreds in a garage, a good guitar is a good guitar no matter what.

Yet here is the hypocrisy I find. Some of these same people are willing to trade their customs for production guitars!

Now I am NOT slamming these smaller builders at all. I have seen and played many a Suhr, Melancon, and Tuttle that were simply amazing and have had my eyes set on getting a Stinnett and a Mcnaught one day. Plus I have seen some of Sully's work and it looks phenomenal.

I am not slamming this other forum either. Some great people there that are very knowledgeable and informative on the guitar and music industry. An overall great community, just once you get some of these kids mixed in there....

On the reverse side of this, I see people here buy CS and USA Select Jacksons and seem to keep them for MUCH longer periods of time. Note the demographic may be a bit different, on this other forum most people are around my age (20) or slightly older or slightly younger. Here most people are older and I guess they can afford to keep these instruments.

Some of these people selling these customs may have been falling on hard times, which is a shame and my thoughts and prayers go out to them. But from the looks of it many of these people want trades for something else.

So my question is why are so many people putting hype on getting a custom instrument and when they finally get them they get rid of them? Why not keep your "dream guitar" forever? What is the point of getting your very own guitar and NOT keep it? Buyer's Remorse, internet hype by kids and young adults....?


-Church

[jacksonaxes]

Because when you order your dream guitar, you never know how you will bond with it until you get it in your hands.

[DalyTek]

I agree. Personally, I love my one and only USA Jackson. I would love to have Sully build me a custom, but just not in my budget.
Maybe someday....

[Chad]

Not sure which specific forum you're referring to, but I occasionally visit a couple forums that have a younger crowd and the members act mentally retarded for the most part. On said forums, I've seen them order custom guitars based on looks more than anything else, which is really dumb. It's crazy to order a custom guitar if you don't know exactly what you want down to the finest details. So anyway my guess is that perhaps they are mentally retarded.

[church2224]

Not sure which specific forum you're referring to, but I occasionally visit a couple forums that have a younger crowd and the members act mentally retarded for the most part. On said forums, I've seen them order custom guitars based on looks more than anything else, which is really dumb. It's crazy to order a custom guitar if you don't know exactly what you want down to the finest details. So anyway my guess is that perhaps they are mentally retarded.

I think you are a member of the forum I am mentioning. A few other members here are also members of this forum and I think might understand what I am saying, not going to name names here, but the ones who are members of both are some of the better members I know...

But you are correct a lot of these kids do not think. They will dish out thousands on a guitar just for cosmetic reasons or features they do not even use for their own "special" guitar. Granted I was once like this, had two Carvins. Needless to say one is for sale and the other I am keeping because I like it. I will also admit I only bought them for cosmetic reasons. It was not until I tried other guitars did I realize I was missing out on playability...

Now I do have a couple people I know who want or have customs for legitimate reasons, mainly for things like non standard specific pickup routings and combinations (i.e. H/S), different bridges types, neck carves, fretboard radii, and scale length. But most of the time...it is just the aesthetics.

[djpharoah]

Lots of band wagons on that forum you're a member off - people used to play hundreds of guitars and then after years or so of playing and owning a variety of guitars, woods, trems, pickups etc finally figure out that this is my custom.

Now you have kids who are looking to make their first/second guitar a custom shop build which is nuts. They don't know what they want yet, don't have the money, the sense of the tone/woods etc, just buy because things look good, don't realize how long a custom takes, etc etc.

[Trem]

Not sure which specific forum you're referring to, but I occasionally visit a couple forums that have a younger crowd and the members act mentally retarded for the most part. On said forums, I've seen them order custom guitars based on looks more than anything else, which is really dumb. It's crazy to order a custom guitar if you don't know exactly what you want down to the finest details. So anyway my guess is that perhaps they are mentally retarded.

^ lol

Yeah sometimes it takes awhile maybe years to figure out what exactly suits you as a player.
Seems like some of them are just trying to one up the other guy with the most epic wood choices or whatever...and then when they get them it feels like... a guitar, and maybe not much different or better than a guitar 1/4 of the price to them, and then they are thinking damn i think i'd rather have 3k back.

[church2224]

Lots of band wagons on that forum you're a member off - people used to play hundreds of guitars and then after years or so of playing and owning a variety of guitars, woods, trems, pickups etc finally figure out that this is my custom.

Now you have kids who are looking to make their first/second guitar a custom shop build which is nuts. They don't know what they want yet, don't have the money, the sense of the tone/woods etc, just buy because things look good, don't realize how long a custom takes, etc etc.

lol will I be getting Banned Mesh ?

This is the main issue I am addressing. Many of these kids have only owned say a couple guitars and think they know what they want, yet do they really know what they want?

Now I know people there who have owned and play many guitars and know exactly what they want. They have every rite to buy their own guitars

I think I am more focused on these kids having a "holier than thou" and snobbish attitude when it comes to gear...Seeing their custom built guitars as in every way superior to what everyone else and berating those who think otherwise...

Trust me other members and I have discussed these same issues. The way some of these kids act sometimes is ridiculous....

[straycat]

My Stinnett is a fantastic guitar and will never be sold.It gets played almost everyday.
I have a lot of really nice guitars but this one has a quality about it that none of the others have.

[Ward]

Damn, I know we're talking about playability vs cosmetic reasons for getting a guitar, but that is cosmetically awesome, Stray.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I suspect these people are on the quest for the "perfect guitar." The thing is, that is just never going to happen, so people order these customs and they get them and they are disappointed.

[markD]

i ordered a custom guitar once - a jackson. it was awesome!!! the only reason i don't still have it is because i wanted to buy a nice engagement ring for my wife. even though it was a custom, i had other guitars that easily filled the void - so it went.

after my many years of playing i have discovered that there is no single "be all" guitar. i'd rather have a bunch of "crappy" production guitars to fill certain needs (see my long post in the "gibson/prs is better than my jackson" thread) than blow several thousand on a single guitar.

another reason i don't order custom guitars is i realized that all i'd want are tiny tweaks to production models. those small changes don't equate huge price increases for me.

[Hellbat]

another reason i don't order custom guitars is i realized that all i'd want are tiny tweaks to production models. those small changes don't equate huge price increases for me.

This pretty much sums up my RR1T order. Yeah I would have loved to have a CS with a 1/2" maple top and some other tweaks but comparing the price of the perfectly servicable USA select to a CS guitar it wasn't worth the difference to me. Maybe if I had more mad money or if my instruments were my means of support then I would go as deluxe as I could but sitting in my computer room plugged into my combo or DAW the USA Select is all the guitar I relistically need.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Yeah, I prefer to have a few different things and if they are too nice then I just don't want to play them. I have a Warmoth that came out really nice that has sat in the case for about a year because I'm afraid I'll scratch it.

My two favorite guitars right now are this pre-painted/routed black Strat body from the Warmoth showcase with a black Korina neck that I put together, and a Gibson LP Standard 1960's reissue that I put locking hardware and a Tusq nut on. Neither is a particularly exceptional example of... Anything, but they're the ones I pick up the most.

[Trem]

I have just gotten by with production guitars. The last one i had that was even close to what i want in neck shape and feel ect was my 80's fernandes revolver. The specs that are more standard today went a lot away from that old style, now mostly wider flat radius necks. I've tried to find an old revolver or similar on ebay like old yamahas and fernandes or aria pro's, but being over 20 years old and still not quite right anyway i've come to the conclusion i'll just get what i need built and be done with it.
I just sold my last Jackson, my grail RR1 was my prize in name and looks only. It's not what i need playability wise so i never played it, and that's all that really matters i guess, i'd rather have 1 that does it than a bunch of awesome wall ornaments - that is unless i could afford a bunch of awesome wall ornaments, but just to decorate my walls with.. nah. I can live vicariously though other peoples ngd threads.

And i'd like to say that since i been waiting 20 years for Warmoth to offer proper 24 fret necks and bodies, Fuck Warmoth. I been saying that for as many years, actually it's just my problem really not fuck them, but basically because they are close and i could have drove up the road 20 years ago and had these problems solved it irritated me and always has... I'd probably been playing a Warmoth for 20 years, except i actually made that drive and the guys or the guy there was Mr. No Man, no, no, no, LoL. Maybe it was just that i was disappointed, but he also seemed like kind of a dick, lol. I haven't bought anything from them since that day, lol. Well they haven't stepped up, I can't imagine there is not a market for what they refuse to offer, but ok.