Opinion only ahead.........
Now I totally get hand made guitars, I love Andersons, suhrs etc but.....
I think the whole custom shop thing is laughable,
Fenders were never ever originally designed to be a hand made item, it was mass produced.
It's like Roland releasing a hand built version of a vintage tr 909...just because the originals have gone up in value, I owned a custom shop strat and it was...... A good strat, that is it.
I would totally understand them hand making new guitars with mad designs but custom shop reissues.. ..
A complete waste of money and to be honest nothing like an original at all because it was built worlds apart,...... Marketing at its finest.
What do you think?
Comments
The best Fenders made since the pre-CBS days.
I'm more into the Anderson/Suhr thing myself, although it should be said they are not handmade.
They just have slightly smaller CNC routers.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
and as @richardhomer states, the best Fender's since the pre-CBS days - and better than many pre-CBS models
Anderson and Suhr's have there fan club and make great guitars
Incidentally, what was mass produced in the 50's and 60's for Fender was fairly hands on labour intensive - And Suhr and Anderson today use plenty of CNC as per Fender
There is nothing inherently wrong with CNC and many benefits- the number one of these is safety and the second is repeatability.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
When I hand make a neck there is always going to be a degree of difference between them, no matter how much I try to make them the same.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
CS Strats looks old on a surface level but they aren't and you know they aren't.
It is a bit like the new 'retro' styled motorcycles from Triumph or BMW- they look authentic right up until you put them side by side to the 'real thing' and then they look a bit mickey mouse.
I'm of the opinion that the player does most the work anyway and that any good player can get the tones they need out of an instrument they have confidence in.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
All the pictures I've seen of them look so very similar to mine that I would just love to do a side by side comparison and see how it stacks up against the original. It's the same colour, same tort on the guard, same fingerboard nut width, the lot..
Most of all, I would love to know if you can tell by feel and tone alone which one is which...
I own a CS 60th anniversary 1954 Strat (which will also have to be sold). I played an original (refin'd) 1954 Strat in Denmark Street. Hand on heart I couldn't discern any difference in playability and sound. The reproduction is absolutely spot on. Incredibly impressive. Maybe a '54 is easier to replicate than other years but I was bowled over by similarity.
I can understand OP's thinking but if you rate original models then the Custom Shop models do hold up, they just need to age a little.
I take objection to the OPs comment that they are a complete waste of money. Great guitars at a premium price, not at all a waste of money. If you can afford the best then buy the best if it makes you happy. I can and do.
The plastic is plastic, the trems still standard trems, only difference is the wood, but even then it's standard strat wood covered in paint and lacquer.
If they started to use their skills on more exotic pieces say a strat with rubbed down exotic woods and a bubinga neck I could totally see it but in all honesty what they're making at the mo for me it can't be any better than a great strat, as the other bits are totally industry standard.
Just buy a usa reissue and you have 99 percent of the custom shop........ And don't get me started on yabarra pickups!!
I a/b'd mine with the American Vintage Strat I owned before it - the CS guitar sounded a LOT better - which is why I swapped. To be fair, it was 10 years old when I bought it - so it's probably seen plenty of use.
There are plenty of decent playing, decent sounding Strats at all price points - but a good CS one is far closer to the best vintage guitars than (say) an early 70s CBS Strat that these days seem to be more expensive.
I don't doubt Fender make a very handsome profit on each one they sell - but so do makers of any premium product.
The American Standard was good, don't get me wrong, but it was no where near 99% of either the custom shop, or the pre-CBS. I would say the Custom Shop was possibly 95%+ of the pre-CBS. Maybe more.
The American Standard was just very different. Tone, playability, feel, everything... a very good bass, but discernibly different to either the CS or the pre-CBS
I'm not sure what you mean old on the surface but not old 'under the bonnet' - They are not trying to reinvent the wheel or to create something fresh - they have studied enough good old models to see what makes a good old one magical and the C/Shop guys use these good vintage models as a bench mark as to what they are trying to achieve - I feel they can't improve on a good old one, but many old guitars are not good - Granted chunkier frets and a 9.5" radius enhance the playing performance
I do agree you need confidence in how a guitar feels and plays in order to get the best out of the tone - But just playing a big open E acoustically I feel a C/Shop is more organic and less pure
maybe I'm spoilt as are Doug at Coda, John at Peach and maybe a few other dealers in that many of our C/Shop models are Limited Edition, Special Run, Custom order models and less 'of the shelf Time Machine models' and as such select woods and other upgrades ensure we get many C/Shop models that are a cut above - Yet even Time Machine models today are higher spec'd than 5 years ago - IMO C/Shop models are superior in many ways than a AVRI model, as they are superior to a Mex Classic reissue - The grade of wood you use has an impact on the tone and the C/Shopguys get first dibs on the best pieces regarding weight, tonal character and a vibrant acoustic voice
I can only voice my opinion and I can't expect everyone to agree - Suhr and Anderson have their place