If your shelling out a couple of grand plus

maltingsaudio

On a guitar why not get someone to build exactly what you want?

thegummy

Not sure how long it takes but I'm guessing significantly longer than buying one that is already made.

Also, even after giving the luthier what seems your ideal guitar spec-wise on paper, there's no guarantee that the actual guitar that's made in the end will feel perfect to you - then it's not exactly right to just say "nah sorry I've changed my mind" even if you don't pay up front.

If you try out guitars that are already made and you absolutely love one, you can buy that exact one you love.

Note - this, sadly, isn't based on personal experience, just from reasoning (and wondering before your exact question)

carlos

Easy answer would be resale value.

octatonic

... and many people don't really know what they want until they see it.

chris78

I’ve just placed a custom order with Fender for what on paper is my perfect tele. Pickups, neck shape, woods, switching options, the lot. 

I see it as a bit of a gamble. I’m dropping over £3,500 on a guitar I haven’t played. I generally try a load of guitars and pick the one I want. Probably more sensible

martin8708

carlos said:

Easy answer would be resale value.

Especially if it does not have a F or G on the headstock .

prowla

Well, if you want a particular factory one then you buy that.

dindude

For me, whilst I may think I know exactly what spec I want, I’m not a guitar designer and the right spec on paper can make a complete dogs dinner of a guitar. I did a Warmoth build earlier this year, all top class stuff - it turned out really average. Just a guitar that didn’t hang together, the individual Warmoth bits were fine btw.

I want a guitar that’s been “designed” and tested through some iterations to get that “more than the sum of its parts” vibe. Else your basically paying for a prototype.

I think there’s a sweet spot with guitars and amps where a small-ish company with quality reputation that isn’t going to go bust tomorrow is going to deliver a better value and consistant product than the one-man band and his band-saw, as well as the big hitters. And the wait time doesn’t extend by a year because someone got ill for a while. 

Having said that, in both big and small examples, I’d trust more if simply bouncing off a tried theme with great reputation and choosing finish / hardware etc, I.e. Fender CS at one end or Feline at the other.

p90fool

maltingsaudio said:

On a guitar why not get someone to build exactly what you want?

What if exactly what you want is on a shop wall in six different colours already, so you can pick your favourite? 

To be fair, I have to modify all be guitars to be exactly what I want, but it's just a capacitor here and a pickup there, there's really no need to start from scratch. 

Hattigol

Same reasons that if you had a stack of money to spend on a car, you wouldn't ask someone to custom-make one for you?

p90fool

Hattigol said:

Same reasons that if you had a stack of money to spend on a car, you wouldn't ask someone to custom-make one for you?

http://i67.tinypic.com/14uawbb.jpg

armitaan

If you are a serial flipper or are worrying about resale before you’ve got it then it’s probably not for you. As commented above you need a good idea of what you want, and you need to be very clear with the luthier exactly what you want as have seen a number of cases where scope for misinterpretation. On the flip side you can get something handmade by one guy who can be a genuine craftsman as opposed to something essentially coming off a production line, and something unique rather than being one of thousands of generic guitars . I had Alpher guitars build me a guitar, love it, unique to me and no intention of getting rid of it, it’s actually saved me money in longer term as have moved on a number of guitars since it’s arrival as it gets more play time than everything else. Also you gotta be the type who doesn’t give a monkeys what anyone else thinks, 99 percent of guitar players need an F or G on the headstock, or at least to look identical to one of their creations : you’ve only got to look at the love on this forum for all the hundreds of pretty much identical R8s that have flooded the market of late:) Seeing relic custom shop strats selling for > 3k new for a mass production line guitar should be incentive enough to see what’s out there, there are some fantastic craftsman in this country who could make you something by hand with love, care and attention that is truly unique to you, but if you’re likely to want to flip in 6 months, stay away unless you have deep pockets. 

TTBZ

I would absolutely get something by Feline if I had that kind of money to drop on a guitar. I know what I like and I'd rather the money go to someone like Jonathan where I know it's going to result in a quality instrument made to the highest standard, and in the case of his Lions, with useful improvements over the original design.

richardhomer

Sample variation....

I played a guitar made by a high-end US builder that I thought was stunning - except I didn’t like the colour - and the neck was too thin.

I placed a custom order and waited 8 or 9 months before receiving a dead-sounding, overly heavy guitar that I didn’t like, built to my exact specifications....

Moe_Zambeek

I did it recently with Probett, I recommend it highly *but* with Probett you’re buying a variant of his standard models, from a low production volume and with good quality materials, so in general you know it’s going to work.

That’s a different approach to speccing out a totally custom guitar to your own specs, where the risk is that your hollow ash bodied SG with carved Koa top and bolt on roasted mahogany neck with maple board and Flying V headstock turns out to be a bit of a dog, and different again from speccing a custom factory built guitar made essentially with pre-made off the shelf components bolted together for you.

Wazmeister

carlos said:

Easy answer would be resale value.

Bang on

armitaan

richardhomer said:

Sample variation....

I played a guitar made by a high-end US builder that I thought was stunning - except I didn’t like the colour - and the neck was too thin.

I placed a custom order and waited 8 or 9 months before receiving a dead-sounding, overly heavy guitar that I didn’t like, built to my exact specifications....

What a downer, what was it?

richardhomer

armitaan said:
What a downer, what was it?

Suhr 

armitaan

Moe_Zambeek said:

I did it recently with Probett, I recommend it highly *but* with Probett you’re buying a variant of his standard models, from a low production volume and with good quality materials, so in general you know it’s going to work.

That’s a different approach to speccing out a totally custom guitar to your own specs, where the risk is that your hollow ash bodied SG with carved Koa top and bolt on roasted mahogany neck with maple board and Flying V headstock turns out to be a bit of a dog, and different again from speccing a custom factory built guitar made essentially with pre-made off the shelf components bolted together for you.

Yeah, same with me and Alpher , only couple of actual model variants , more just spec’ing woods , hardware and finish. Very keen on the Probetts, the Pelham blue one someone posted on one of the other threads was a beaut.

Lodious

Biggest reason against it for me is that you can't hear / feel how the final guitar is going to be like until it's built. If you don't like it, it's too late. 

sweepy

Having a 59 reissue LP made for me by my old friend Anthony Ryder who has made a fair few for people on here. I have a love/hate relationship with Les Pauls but if it plays and sounds like the last one he built I shall be a happy bunny indeed. I agree resale on a custom instrument can be a pitfall but being able to spec and interact with your final guitar is a cool thing indeed