Anyone ever ordered an actual custom guitar from the Fender Custom Shop?

mellowsun

Last time I checked on AllParts a Strat body cost over 300 quid and a neck over 200 quid. So even a partscaster from unbranded, generic bits is going to cost you the best part of a grand before you factor the time to put it together.

So two grand for a custom shop Strat doesn't seem too bad value to me in comparison.

Philly_Q

UnclePsychosis said:

At the risk of asking a stupid question, given the number of Fender licensed parts out there, and the likes of warmoth, custom pickup makers, custom body finishers etc, surely you could make your own truly custom Fender-a-like for significantly less than £3k?

This is certainly true, but you're likely to be ordering a body from one place, a neck from another, parts from somewhere else, then possibly sending them off to be finished with no guarantee that they'll turn out as you hoped or expected (especially if you want a relic guitar - I've bought "aged" parts which turned out to be so over-done they were on the verge of just collapsing into piles of rust).  All those costs really add up.  And at the end of all that the guitar may be considerably less than the sum of its parts.

A custom-ordered guitar is also not guaranteed to meet hopes and expectations - I've always been wary of going custom for that very reason, amongst others.  But the Fender Custom Shop has a very good reputation and at the very least you'd be getting a completed guitar, assembled by professionals using parts which were always intended to go together!

crunchman

@koss59 is right.  I'd always want to play it first.  I don't know if you could get together with a helpful shop to order a dealer select one that they give you first dibs on, but if you don't like it when you play it they could sell it as normal stock.  It would have to be something reasonably mainstream though that they wouldn't have a problem selling.

Brize

I've just ordered a Custom Shop Strat from @DougCoda. NOS, round-lam maple board, 22 x 6100 frets, 9.5" to 12" compound radius, HSS with Seymour Duncan pickups, Floyd Rose and a contoured heel. The price was around £2,700.

blueskunk

Right I'm off to look for 2 bags -

blueskunk

MattFGBI;673930" said:

I based the one I spec'd on this JC Strat: 



I will get one eventually but there are so many choices! We had one in a while back - a black '69 with a Floyd that I think I saw in a NGD post recently - it was fantastic.  I'd be tempted to get something very similar. 

Well if Jesus played a guitar ....

fretfinder

Brize said:

I've just ordered a Custom Shop Strat from @DougCoda. NOS, round-lam maple board, 22 x 6100 frets, 9.5" to 12" compound radius, HSS with Seymour Duncan pickups, Floyd Rose and a contoured heel. The price was around £2,700.

Interesting, I wonder how they do the compound radius with a round lam board - compound radius on the top surface only presumably? Or is that a really daft question? Having thought about it I believe it is... 

jd0272

blueskunk;674864" said:

[quote="MattFGBI;673930"]I based the one I spec'd on this JC Strat: 



I will get one eventually but there are so many choices! We had one in a while back - a black '69 with a Floyd that I think I saw in a NGD post recently - it was fantastic.  I'd be tempted to get something very similar. 

Well if Jesus played a guitar ....[/quote]

Played a wooden cup apparently, canny at it too as folklore goes.

WezV

Philly_Q said:

UnclePsychosis said:

At the risk of asking a stupid question, given the number of Fender licensed parts out there, and the likes of warmoth, custom pickup makers, custom body finishers etc, surely you could make your own truly custom Fender-a-like for significantly less than £3k?

This is certainly true, but you're likely to be ordering a body from one place, a neck from another, parts from somewhere else, then possibly sending them off to be finished with no guarantee that they'll turn out as you hoped or expected (especially if you want a relic guitar - I've bought "aged" parts which turned out to be so over-done they were on the verge of just collapsing into piles of rust).  All those costs really add up.  And at the end of all that the guitar may be considerably less than the sum of its parts.

A custom-ordered guitar is also not guaranteed to meet hopes and expectations - I've always been wary of going custom for that very reason, amongst others.  But the Fender Custom Shop has a very good reputation and at the very least you'd be getting a completed guitar, assembled by professionals using parts which were always intended to go together!

@philly_Q  is that stock of fender parts still under the bed.     

Teetonetal

I looked into getting a custom paisley tele and iirc it came out around 6k, way too much.

DougCoda

Teetonetal said:

I looked into getting a custom paisley tele and iirc it came out around 6k, way too much.

We've done quite a few Paisley Strats and Teles, its a Masterbuilt only option and off the top of my head will normally be about £4000 for an NOS to £4400 for a relic depending on how you spec it and there are lots of options..,one of our customers ordered one and took it home today, the picture is on our Facebook page as the main picture, it was a seriously lovely guitar...

. I spec up most of our stock as its fun and we get something a little different to everybody else. Any good Custom Shop dealer will be able to get a price for you... of course I'd only really recommend one dealer but others are available... 

BigMonka

How does the process work? Do you order through a dealer who has samples of the different neck sizes/shapes, fretboard radii, finishes etc - or is it all a bit of guess work based on previous experience? We're talking some serious money on a guitar which you haven't played.

Philly_Q

WezV said:

Philly_Q said:

UnclePsychosis said:

At the risk of asking a stupid question, given the number of Fender licensed parts out there, and the likes of warmoth, custom pickup makers, custom body finishers etc, surely you could make your own truly custom Fender-a-like for significantly less than £3k?

This is certainly true, but you're likely to be ordering a body from one place, a neck from another, parts from somewhere else, then possibly sending them off to be finished with no guarantee that they'll turn out as you hoped or expected (especially if you want a relic guitar - I've bought "aged" parts which turned out to be so over-done they were on the verge of just collapsing into piles of rust).  All those costs really add up.  And at the end of all that the guitar may be considerably less than the sum of its parts.

A custom-ordered guitar is also not guaranteed to meet hopes and expectations - I've always been wary of going custom for that very reason, amongst others.  But the Fender Custom Shop has a very good reputation and at the very least you'd be getting a completed guitar, assembled by professionals using parts which were always intended to go together!

@philly_Q  is that stock of fender parts still under the bed.     

Mostly still Warmoth @WezV, which will probably be there forever, but I still have that Fender neck you reliced for me and will definitely assemble that guitar one day (.... only 16 years now to retirement). 

DougCoda

We, and I would suspect most other dealers have guitars available to try with different neck shapes and radius so you can get a feel for what you like and can spec the neck shape to be like your existing Fender.

We can through Fender supply measurements of their necks so you can compare them to your guitar..we've had most neck shapes through and I personally am pretty familiar with what they feel like and can make suggestions about how they'd compare to a different make..again a good Custom Shop dealer would be able to do this so I'm not here to sell my services, rather let you know how you can get as close to what you want. 

You need to get into a conversation with a dealer about what you want and fine tune the options...get a price and see whether you want to proceed..it doesn't cost anything to price it up... 

Philly_Q

@DougCoda  It would certainly be good to try the different neck profiles.  

I know all the measurements of the different Custom Shop necks, I know what shapes I think I like but that's no substitute for trying them.  For example I've never tried the 10/56 V profile, the measurements say it's pretty chunky, in photos it doesn't look like a "hard" V shape so it seems quite appealing, but I know I've never got on with a V neck in practice.... so certainly not something to buy blind.

fretfinder

Philly_Q said:

@DougCoda  It would certainly be good to try the different neck profiles.  

I know all the measurements of the different Custom Shop necks, I know what shapes I think I like but that's no substitute for trying them.  For example I've never tried the 10/56 V profile, the measurements say it's pretty chunky, in photos it doesn't look like a "hard" V shape so it seems quite appealing, but I know I've never got on with a V neck in practice.... so certainly not something to buy blind.

The 10/56 neck is my favourite for a Fender. It's not a hard V at all on mine and nice and chunky further up the neck, but not too big anywhere. Really comfortable to play. Ymmv of course. 

DougCoda

10/56 V is in reality pretty comfortable...measurements make it  look chunky but the soft V takes the chunky feel away.

 I think back in the early 90's when necks were slim and string gauges even slimmer some found it a bit large but here's been a move away from that type of neck over the years..(super slim still available if you want it though)..

Our most popular neck shapes are..'60's oval C, Large C(not that large, feels similar to an LPR9 neck) 10/56 V(generally on one piece maple necks) '65 C and 69 U. I can play them all comfortably.

Personally I struggle with Nocaster or 52 U necks after about 5 minutes and am not mad keen on super skinny.9.5" -10" radius, compound or 12" work for me and I'd go medium jumbo on a Fender rather than the ubiquitous 6105's as they're a touch lower  and slightly wider...nicer feel...

I can get a bit nerdy on Custom Shop...

Philly_Q

DougCoda said:

10/56 V is in reality pretty comfortable...measurements make it  look chunky but the soft V takes the chunky feel away.

 I think back in the early 90's when necks were slim and string gauges even slimmer some found it a bit large but here's been a move away from that type of neck over the years..(super slim still available if you want it though)..

Our most popular neck shapes are..'60's oval C, Large C(not that large, feels similar to an LPR9 neck) 10/56 V(generally on one piece maple necks) '65 C and 69 U. I can play them all comfortably.

Personally I struggle with Nocaster or 52 U necks after about 5 minutes and am not mad keen on super skinny.9.5" -10" radius, compound or 12" work for me and I'd go medium jumbo on a Fender rather than the ubiquitous 6105's as they're a touch lower  and slightly wider...nicer feel...

I can get a bit nerdy on Custom Shop...

Well @DougCoda since you're being nerdy... 

I do like the bigger necks, basically a fat rounded shape suits me but I don't like necks which are roughly the same thickness all the way along, I prefer a bit of taper from 1st fret to 12th.  

So for example the '69 U feels good at the first fret but isn't quite thick enough at the 12th, whereas the Nocaster is fine at the 12th but too thick at the 1st.  The early/mid '60s shapes have the taper but seem to be a bit too shallow at the 1st fret.

The profile that's appealing to me most at the moment is a bit of a non-standard one - the '54 U on the 2014 60th Anniversary 1954 Strat.  I'm only going by what I've read - haven't had the chance to try one, unfortunately - but I understand it's approaching Nocaster dimensions but not so deep at the nut end, would that be about right?

 

DougCoda

large "c" .875-.950 may work...69 U is .850-.910..nocaster is ,990-.990 possibly ,990 to 1000 seriously hefty at the nut end..

you can spec a 54 U . I don't have the dimensions but could get them for you. I really like the large C. I spec'd it on our dealer select early 50's Teles as its got a bit of 50's chunk but not so much as to make it unplayably large, its a C rather than the 54 U though, shoulders aren't as steep...

Philly_Q

I would certainly be interested to find out the '54 U specs, thanks! 

The large C sounds interesting too, I must admit wasn't sure if that was a separate profile or the same as the '65 C.