It Seems I have Been Misinformed

[Special-K]

ON YOUR KNEES!!!



joke

[Robert Burns]

I wonder if we will ever know just how much the "Shipping Department"
has to do with wait times? 5 months?? Absolutely bullshit!
I wonder if some of the 14 month or more Charvel stories are actually
5 months waiting to be shipped? On quality... i feel like my latest
PC-1 is a bargain at under $2K in comparison with what Charvel has
done to pricing! As far as i can tell...in 4 days of having it, my PC-1
has no issues. Fit and finish..superb!

[guitarzan2]

Pin routers and old-school hand building are pretty much a thing of the past, unless you're paying over $5K for a truly hand built guitar or having GMW build your guitar(with bodies and necks made with a pin router and old school templates). Jackson USA(San Dimas/Ontario) was one of the last USA companies to use lots of actual hand building. Today, with Fender coming in and injecting $'s into the USA shop, these guitars are built with CNC machines. There is a much lower level of hand workmanship.

[slash]

I guess I need to jack up all the prices on my bodies since they are all built old school by hand!

[Ozz666]

Dude...that info is wrong...they don't build the guitars all by hand...Jackson does have CNC machines they use...the USA and Custom Shops are not considered hand built....there's alot of newer technology being used.

[wakeUPdead]

They still rock though.

[KLNowak]

I think you misunderstood, machines are still used, as jackson1 pointed out every guitar company and hell even most small production luthier's use machines for routing. I KNOW jackson does because we've seen pictures of them using said machines. They use machines and templates but they still do alot of work by hand, I know the archtop for my guitar was all done by hand for instance and my guitar is well worth what I paid for it. Its a shame its been completed since fucking December and sitting in their warehouse and nothing me or Matt does or says to them seems to have any effect. That and other serious QC issues is why I will probably never get another Jackson custom again. How hard is it to ship a fucking guitar. I mean I could see a month maybe 2 but FIVE?

In case you can't tell I'm frustrated

That is another reason I think their pricing is nuts, once it's done they can't seem to be bothered shipping it.

They've been using machines to build custom "hand build" guitars for the last... what.. 40 years...?

I wouldn't buy a guitar that was made without a pin router (machine) and templates. Hell, show me one that wasn't.



So, hand sawing the neck with a panel saw, chiseling out the pickup routes and neck pocket with a hammer and chisel?

A pin router is a machine and there's not much more to it. You move the wood on the base and the machine cuts the shape by following a template. "100 % built by hand"? You tell me

That is what I always thought.


Thanks you guys for the info, I figured they used CNC machines and when I would mention it be called an idiot like they never existed.

[Harry Krisna]

Its a shame its been completed since fucking December and sitting in their warehouse and nothing me or Matt does or says to them seems to have any effect./ How hard is it to ship a fucking guitar. I mean I could see a month maybe 2 but five!

I don't understand. You mean they TOLD you it is done and sitting there?They actually said its been done since December,and it's sitting in shipping?
Thats fucked up.....

[Rage]

All this info is great chaps... pre-Fender Jackson prices are gonna fly... keep it up, keep it up!! Oh yeah!

[Chrisb]

I don't understand. You mean they TOLD you it is done and sitting there?They actually said its been done since December,and it's sitting in shipping?
Thats fucked up.....

Nope, I actually saw a picture of it from a factory tour someone took in December. It has a hang tag on it and everything. My guitar is a a true one of a kind, no way anyone else came up with the same specs I did. Maybe they had to wait a month for a custom fit case or something but even so, its still insane.

[Zoner]

Talking about "hand-built" reminds me of a picture I saw recently with a bunch of guys sitting around in the old BC Rich shop in the late 70's with tools truly making those guitars by "hand". You want CNC and such with good QC, trust me. The closer to spec things are, the better your chances of getting a winner. Selecting primo wood and doing a good setup job is probably more important than any amount of handiwork when it comes to making a killer guitar. Just my $.02. Z

[demeyes]

I have no issues at all woth my guitars being built using CNC machines and other similar tools. Anything made by hand has way too many chances to get messed up. Inlays are supposed to be done to a much better precision with machines, so I prefer that. It makes no real difference to me how it was made as long as it rocks!

[DC_rhoads82]

I would have no problem with CNC machines and that sort of thing. I guess its argued that it is much more precise. i would say what's more important about the partially 'hand-made' experience that the Custom Shop offers is correcting imperfections. Machines are accurate but there's always a chance of a wrong calculation or slipped blade or whatever. So QC should be really important, doing the little things that make playing a high-quality instrument such a joy. Everything feels perfect and the finish is flawless and frets and inlays are done well and not just half a**ed

[goodwood]

The gains of being hand-built are in acoustic guitars. With electrics maybe some hand sanding but not much else aside from finish buffing. Acoustic guitars are often constructed using materials that machines could destroy so when a luthier is hand tapping a top and listening to it to figure out where to shave it (process called 'tuning') they are performing a process that a machine cannot (yet) duplicate.
So when a buddy sees your expensive axe and says "it's just like my BRAND X" then don't be too surprised if he's more right than the dollar amount might suggest.

Machines do not sacrifice quality when used to make solid body electric guitars. Moreover they offer consistency that would cost an unreal amount of money (if it would be even possible) to achieve by a true hand build. When you try a specific model you can be assured that the next one you try of the same model will be so close to identical in feel as to be nearly undetectable.