Does Diamond do Custom shop stuff

[eakinj]

Just curious if anyone knows if they do, or have any deals with them if they do? I've got to be honest I'm playing my Hailfire way more then any of my Jacksons anymore, so much so that if they do have a custom shop I think I may order something from them next year. spend the money I was going to shove at Carvin (or whatever they are calling themselves now) on a customer Hailfire instead. Well, i can dream anyway

[lepard]

The DBZ/Diamond USA Shop was only open for about 2 years and made less than 200 guitars. It wasn't profitable and honestly, the USA Customs were not any better than the WMI S. Korean guitars. The WMI guitars are that good. They could not justify keeping the USA shop open. Not many people wanted to pay 3 times more for a guitar that wasn't really any better than the standard production Korean models.

I have 3 USA DBZ's and they're cool but they don't play any better than the Korean WMI guitars.

The Venom models have been gone since 2013 and Diamond didn't even make any Bird of Prey models in 2016. Jeff Diamond tells me that he's bringing back the Bird of Prey in 2017 with 2 new colors. Funny fact, the last year of the Venom(2012), they only sold 8 Venoms the entire year !!!! Hell, I think I own 2 of them. Jeff said they only sold 24 of them in 2011. Finding a Korean Venom for sale right now is basically impossible ! Occasionally a Chinese 1st year one pops up on eBay but I'd stay away from those.

[eakinj]

I want a custom Hailfire with just the bridge pickup, made out of a different wood and different paint then the standard run of guitars. Nothing to do with the quality, I love my DBZ, it's about getting a custom built guitar to my specs and since Jackson won't build a Thunderbird and I really, *REALLY* love my Hailfire, I'd rather throw $ at them to get what I want, than Jackson and not get anything close. Also I am so impressed with my DBZ, if I'm going to spend 3 times the money (which is basically what I'd have to spend at any custom shop) I really wanted to give it a shot through them first.

Will likely end up going to GMW for a Firefox since there's no Diamond custom shop, not exactly a downgrade, everything I hear about GMW is pretty amazing.

But like I said, I just wanted to give Diamond first shot, and I can not say this enough, I really, *REALLY* love my Hailfire.

[lepard]

More stuff Jeff Diamond told me. He doesn't bother doing NAMM any more. It costs too much to do a NAMM show and he spends half his time fending off guitar players who want free guitars/endorsements. He is approaching the business a bit differently. He will not be releasing a batch on new guitars, models, colors, etc. all at the same time at the beginning of the year. He will be bringing new stuff out all throughout the year.

Now here's something interesting. I asked Jeff what was the minimum number of guitars he would have to order when placing an order with World Musical Instruments. He said he could probably get just a dozen built but tried to keep his minimum special orders around 20. He even tried to let a dealer come up with his own custom specs for a special order but the dealer couldn't get enough buyers to put down deposits to get it done. Now having said that, if there was a Diamond Guitars Forum, I'll bet people could get together and spec out something cool and Jeff would do it. Unfortunately, there is no Diamond Forum and Jeff doesn't really care for them. If you're wondering how Diamond stays in business with such limited production/sales, it's kind of funny. Jeff is an attorney in Houston and that's where he really makes his money.

[eakinj]

More stuff Jeff Diamond told me. He doesn't bother doing NAMM any more. It costs too much to do a NAMM show and he spends half his time fending off guitar players who want free guitars/endorsements. He is approaching the business a bit differently. He will not be releasing a batch on new guitars, models, colors, etc. all at the same time at the beginning of the year. He will be bringing new stuff out all throughout the year.

Now here's something interesting. I asked Jeff what was the minimum number of guitars he would have to order when placing an order with World Musical Instruments. He said he could probably get just a dozen built but tried to keep his minimum special orders around 20. He even tried to let a dealer come up with his own custom specs for a special order but the dealer couldn't get enough buyers to put down deposits to get it done. Now having said that, if there was a Diamond Guitars Forum, I'll bet people could get together and spec out something cool and Jeff would do it. Unfortunately, there is no Diamond Forum and Jeff doesn't really care for them. If you're wondering how Diamond stays in business with such limited production/sales, it's kind of funny. Jeff is an attorney in Houston and that's where he really makes his money.

Yeah he and the guy who does the Agile stuff are sort of the same in that, they make their money elsewhere. It is a shame there isn't a forum for Diamond, they are great guitars, and I'm willing to spend money. ah well. I will be buying some more Hailfires, I'll just have to look elsewhere to get the exact specs I want.

[lepard]

I just wish they made a Hailfire with a Floyd. This would be awesome with a Floyd.