Who makes the boutique guitars?

[lhrocker]

Are guitars such as Anderson, Surh, Melacon actually built and setup by the respective builder, or are they just using the name? I'm sure that there must be some QC that is ultimately done by the person whos name is on the headstock?

Any thoughts?

[The Eristic]

Re: Who makes the boutique guitars?

Are you asking if they're like one man operations, where the actual luthiers Tom Anderson, John Suhr, and Gerard Melancon build the guitars, or are you asking if they're farming all the labor out then sticking a different logo on each guitar, like Epi and Ibanez do with Samick and Cort?

[toejam]

Re: Who makes the boutique guitars?

I believe Bill Conklin builds and sets up all of his guitars. He's got import 7-string models called Groove Tools that are made in Korea to his specs, though.

[Greg Crowe]

Re: Who makes the boutique guitars?

Pretty much any "boutique" guitars that Ed Roman sells are junk he builds in his own shop after buying the respective names out so watch out for those.

[lerxstcat]

Re: Who makes the boutique guitars?

I'd call the respective builders and ask them directly. My guess is that if they do the work in-house, the boss is probably only building the most demanding or expensive or celebrity-ordered guitars himself, and his crew is building the "production" guitars, which the boss checks for QC.