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

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I've heard that. My (misinformed) buddy was talking to me and said "Oh, yeah. Warmoth will build exactly what you want."

I looked at him and I said, "No, they won't. They will build what THEY want. And if you want it, great, and if you don't, someone else will buy it, so fuck you."

They do have this new 7/8 series thing that is a "proper" 24 fret neck, but it's short scale and only comes with one (ugly, non-licensed) headstock.

Lucky for me I just want a 22-fret Strat with a Floyd and a Strat headstock, and they do those just fine.

[Ward]

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.

I still have my Fernandes revolver (FR-55 HSS) that I bought new in 86. It was the second guitar I ever owned, and the only Japanese guitar I've ever bought. I still pick it up and play it quite a bit. Great guitars with a great feel to them.

[Nightbat]

I suspect these people are on the quest for the "perfect guitar."

Actually these are people that have money to blow on a GOOD guitar, not needing or willing to start out on some chipped, beat up, 'relic-ed' PoS

...and what can surpass a Custom Shop guitar in that line of thinking?

So it's somewhat logical thinking concluding that buying a CS is buying a very good guitar

But since guitars aren't all about buildquality, but very much more 'feel' and (dare I say it?) 'Mojo' it ends where they can't mesh with their instrument

and look over here on the boards, where many reply goes along the lines of:
"I had one of those,... Great guitar, but it just wasn't my thing"

[chrisolson]

I try not to worry about what other people do with their money & gear. It's their business. Who cares?

Live your life; do what makes YOU happy.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Actually these are people that have money to blow on a GOOD guitar, not needing or willing to start out on some chipped, beat up, 'relic-ed' PoS

...and what can surpass a Custom Shop guitar in that line of thinking?

So it's somewhat logical thinking concluding that buying a CS is buying a very good guitar

But since guitars aren't all about buildquality, but very much more 'feel' and (dare I say it?) 'Mojo' it ends where they can't mesh with their instrument

and look over here on the boards, where many reply goes along the lines of:
"I had one of those,... Great guitar, but it just wasn't my thing"

I think we are thinking the same thing. Maybe.

You can find any number of non-chipped, unscratched guitars made from the same sort of wood as a Custom Shop guitar that are production guitars, and they are "good" guitars.

But you expect the Custom Shop guitar to have that certain mojo that just makes you want to NEVER put it down, because it is supposed to be a cut above. And whatever "that" quality is, you expect the custom shop to somehow put more of "that" in there.

In the end, it's all in your head, and the guitar is probably a let down in part because it's just a piece of wood and also in part because your expectations are not realistic.

Have you not picked up a guitar and sayd "YEAH! Now THAT is a guitar!" and then a week later you are kind of "iffy" on it? I sure have! Lots of times. I play a guitar and I go "Fuck yea, now THAT is what a guitar should sound like!" and I play the shit out of it and I love it, and then two weeks later I am playing some other guitar and I go "Nah, I want to play the SPECIAL one!" and I pick it up and I think "What the hell was I thinking?"

Or maybe you have a guitar that you got a great deal on, and you were like "Well it will make a good beater guitar for in the clubs" but then after a couple of weeks you can't put it down?

The mojo thing is mostly bullshit IMO. To a certain degree, some guitars are going to feel better than others, maybe one just appeals to you for whatever reason, but IMO for the most part it's all in our heads - it comes and goes for me, anyway.

So, a Custom Shop guitar is a good guitar, it's usually a "great" guitar, even. But is it going to be a guitar that consistently gives you that "Fuck yeah, THAT is how a guitar should play!" feel EVERY TIME YOU PICK IT UP?

Because I've have a lot of guitars, and none of them have ever done that.

[eakinj]

This is my take on a small portion of it.

A lot of what makes the Be all End all guitar for some people is the trend of it, the "I have one and you don't" factor. Since I started playing in 84 I have run across a lot of people who think that by buying a really expensive guitar that it one ups them to the next level. A popularity contest where having a custom shop boutique guitar is how you win. I think what happens for a lot of them is they hear how this guitar is the be all end all but yet they've never even been in a room with a guitar made by *enter name brand here*. By the time their custom shop is done (4 to 6 months later or more) all the heat they had going into the build is gone. It's no longer "look how cool am I" because everyone has already heard you've ordered one and no one cares anymore. Then the guitar arrives photos are posted, people compliment the guitar and then forget about it. Then said guitar person realized that they aren't going to suddenly be the internet darling they thought they were for buying a guitar and suddenly the shine of owning a custom shop guitar fades.

That and I think by buying a custom shop guitar some players think that their actual ability is going to some how improve. Sure the guitar is nicer but if you don't put in the time to practice that 3000 B Jr might as well be a 99 dollar Douglas.

On the flip side of all of this, you buy a one of a kind guitar and there's no backup for that guitar, it's it. You can't check musicians friend and have one quickly overnighted to you if this one goes down. Also for that kind of money on a one of a kind or custom shop some times the fear of damaging it can hold a guitarist back. you can beat to death a Jackson Soloist because they make them they are out there you can replace them with ease, it takes worry out of the equation.

[Trem]

I still have my Fernandes revolver (FR-55 HSS) that I bought new in 86. It was the second guitar I ever owned, and the only Japanese guitar I've ever bought. I still pick it up and play it quite a bit. Great guitars with a great feel to them.

That's the exact one i had, loved that guitar.
More props to Henrik and Audiozone, and i also found another resource of tons of Fernandes cats. They made a lot of really nice guitars back in the day.

As far as customs, to me the only reason to get one is because there is nothing out there that suits you. I'd play any american/jananese/korean/indonesian/ or chinese made 400 dollar guitar if all was right in the feel/sound department, and as long as it's not bright red... heh. Put the pickups or parts i want on it and be happy as shit i spent under a grand for a guitar i will play the shit out of. There's only a few things i think that matter in a build of a guitar that make it a good guitar, everything else is detail and looks. If it's built right and the wood isn't a dog, it's a good guitar and no 2 thousand more dollars makes another guitar really any better for it's purpose. I'd rather not spend thousands on a guitar if i don't have too. But that's cool if that's what someone likes to do, just keep posting pics so we can look at em

Case in point this piece of shit.

[diablomozart]

exactly...at the end of the day the player makes the guitar...not the other way around...d.m.

[horns666]

Strickly 7 are good friends of mine.. Jim and Paul. If you contact them mention Bill Z.

Shhhhhh ..Paul plays Jems...but don't say I said that!!

[tonemonster]

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.

Do you own a tank too?? I wanna party with you.

[straycat]

The tank is not mine sadly LOL.

[QuantumRider]

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.

Back when Jackson Stars used to do semi custom's, I ordered a soloist with two tiny tweaks (no tone knob, and 5 way PU selector instead of 3 way) to the production model. They built me a guitar to my exact specs, and the upcharge was 10,000yen (about $80 back then, maybe $120 or so now).

I'd play any american/jananese/korean/indonesian/ or chinese made 400 dollar guitar if all was right in the feel/sound department, and as long as it's not bright red... heh. Put the pickups or parts i want on it and be happy as shit i spent under a grand for a guitar i will play the shit out of.

Out of all my guitars, my $148 SG knockoff gets played the most. I swapped the bridge PU for a Duncan Custom, changed the electronics from 2 volume/2 tone to a 1 volume, and switched the location of the volume knob and the PU selector. I felt absolutely no qualms about widening the hole for the volume pot with a rasp to accommodate the PU selector, as the guitar was so cheap to begin with! I bought this guitar when my daughter began walking, so as to be able to keep a guitar on a stand in the living room that I wouldn't mind getting drooled on, etc. She's actually pretty good about not knocking guitars over, but recently my sister gave her a sticker book with about a 1000 WonderPets stickers...

[KingVee]

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.

THAT.

You must agree though that if money wasn't an issue, we'd get that tweaked production model either way.

EDIT: This thread actually reminds me of my own situation. I own a KV2, which I have qualified for years as being my dream guitar. It's superb and expensive and it does NOT, under any circumstances (well, maybe one and that's the Jackson playability) make me any better of a guitarist than I really am. I'm not a professional musician, I'm not in a band and so I don't gig; and I never intended to be - I'm just a bedroom guitarist. However I felt the need to get that "perfect guitar" which only turned out to be 75% of that while having cost 100% of it.

I think about selling it often, actually. Reason being I would love to go with a string-thru Jackson (because I'm not a Floyd user/fan by any means), but that would mean going import this time (looking at SLSMG's and DKMGT's) and I'm afraid the downgrade would be too noticeable, thus making me regret the decision. On one hand however, why would it matter, right? Do I really need a $3,000 handmade in the USA on-order guitar when my abilities and actual use of it does not do it any justice? Let alone being actually capable to setting it up properly...

[surfreak]

I don't buy custom made guitars any longer for a very simple reason: I've been let down too many times. The pattern is aways the same: you work with a builder to spec your dream guitar exactly the way you want it. You pay a lot for it and wait for what seems like forever. The guitar finally arrives and it's honeymoon. It's everything you've ever wanted in a guitar, and it's special, it was made just for you.
Then the honeymoon is over. There's a little dead spot on the G string, 14th fret, no big deal, but when you play For the love of God and rest on the A note at the end of the melody it doesn't sustain as much as it should. That gaudy flame/quilt top is, well, a little too gaudy. It is too pretty to play live. It could do with a pickup swap, but how can you improve on a guitar which was meant to be perfect?
Next thing you know, it's on ebay and you've got a net loss.

So for me, I am resolute not to buy any guitar which I haven't had a chance to play first.

[holycross1]

I have played the jigsaw puzzle game for a while with Jackson parts I have collected over the years. And I can say that I have yet to spend more then $900 on a guitar. And I have turned the heads of many a tone snob with my guitars. They look just fine. They are assembled proffessionaly. I try new electronics and technologies at every chance I get to afford. I show up to gigs, and the client or band automatically starts crushing on my tone.
The secret?
Its in my fingers.
I hope to have a couple of custom shop Jackson's oneday. But I have what feels perfect to me right now. My guitars would floor you for how well they play. And I use medium to jazz guage strings.
I have heard these folks talk like they are serving a higher purpose by spending thousands on guitars just to trade them in little time. Meanwhile I am still playing the same axes with consistant results years later. From church gigs to satans flame thrower.
Its in the fingers.