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

DougCoda

65 c is .820-.974...will probably be next week before I can get the dims on the 54 unless I have something at work which will be Saturday. The Custom Shop sales manager is out in Corona at the moment(I should be too but we've just opened our acoustic showroom so its all hands on deck) You can email me at doug@coda-music.com and I'll get onto it as I don't always log on here..I browse generally..my plan tonight was to plot out a nice long bike ride on strava for tomorrow over a few glasses of wine...but my guitar nerdiness got the better of me...

Philly_Q

I hope you still had time to drink the wine and plan the bike ride!

Thanks very much for your help Doug, I was hoping you'd visit this thread and you've given some very useful information (and a couple of new neck measurements for my nerdy spreadsheet...).

No massive rush for the '54 specs but I'll get in touch soon to see how much my "dream machine" might cost!

fretfinder

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...

I don't know if the dimensions of the Large C neck have increased over the years but I've got two CS Fenders from 2009-10 with that neck and I wouldn't say they were nearly as chunky as an LPR9 neck personally. They feel more medium to me. Lovely guitars though! 

MattFGBI

@Philly_Q The '54 U is .900" at the 1st and .990" at the 12th. 

SteveGV

The problem I find is it's very easy to get carried away if you're going through the blank option spec sheet (available on the CS website). As well as ordering loads for shop stock over the years I also ordered one for myself a few years ago and ended up with things like Abby handwounds, birdseye maple neck and other little bits that do all add up. If you're sensible and stick to something fairly "standard" then there's not much of a premium compared to what you'd see on our shop floor.

Just to give you an idea on how the prices can get out of control, all the staff here have recently spec'd out their own models for the shop (listed here if you're interested) and one of the lads chose a 63 Relic Strat but he's put some wacky changes on it (contoured neck heel, AA flamed maple neck, 9.5"-12" radius, custom wiring and handwound pickups, just to name a few!) and that's going to be on the floor for £3k, team built. We've got another 1963 Relic Strat in stock with fairly standard features and that's £2499.

xmrchi

As much as I like Fender, and I have owned a Custom Shop strat which was great, It just seems wrong to be spending that kind of money on a product, that when conceived was meant to be cheap, mass produced and designed to have replaceable parts.

I Find these prices really hard to take for a bolt on with an Alder body, plastic scratchplate etc.etc. 

I had a USA deluxe and a CS Team Built , apart from the Pickups which were Josephina hand wounds, there was no real difference in real terms, A plastic scratch plate is a plastic scratch plate, Fender Bridge ...a fender bridge etc. 

Dont get me wrong they are great guitars but I feel there is only so much you can do with a design and materials originally designed for the cheap. 

bingefeller

@MattFGBI are any of the fretwires stainless steel?  Which one is the biggest fretwires -  6105?

MattFGBI

Dunlop sizes: 

6000	Super Jumbo
6100	Jumbo
6105	Tall & Narrow Jumbo
6110	Tall & Wide Jumbo
6130	Medium Jumbo (American Standard)
6150	Vintage Jumbo
6230	Vintage

Super Jumbo / 6000 is the biggest.  6105's are quite tall and good for getting under the strings for bends etc. 

They are not stainless steel but you can request stainless steel fretwire. 

Philly_Q

MattFGBI said:

@Philly_Q The '54 U is .900" at the 1st and .990" at the 12th. 

Thanks @MattFGBI!

@SteveGV ; I saw on your website about your staff-designed models, very much looking forward to seeing how they turn out.  I was surprised to see how many had gone for the Modern C neck profile!

 

fretfinder

Philly_Q said: @SteveGV ; I saw on your website about your staff-designed models, very much looking forward to seeing how they turn out.  I was surprised to see how many had gone for the Modern C neck profile!

Clearly they are youngsters who haven't yet learned that fat necks are better! 

DougCoda

fretfinder said:

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...

I don't know if the dimensions of the Large C neck have increased over the years but I've got two CS Fenders from 2009-10 with that neck and I wouldn't say they were nearly as chunky as an LPR9 neck personally. They feel more medium to me. Lovely guitars though! 

I compared it to a '14 LPR9 in the shop and it felt pretty similar.. I'll check again tomorrow when I'm back in work...hopefully I wont be serving myself up up a large slice of humble pie...

Bogwhoppit

BigMonka said:

How does the process work?

You have a dream about a Fender

Write down all the details

Take it to Doug

Pay deposit

Wait.....

Get call to collect

Pay the balance

Smile all the way home

Wife claps eyes on credit card bill

Divorce sequence initiated

Become single

Pay divorce settlement

Pay the CSA for kids

Sell Fender Master Built to pay CSA bill

Sit in corner and rock

Meet new woman

Back to start.

Philly_Q

Bogwhoppit said:

BigMonka said:

How does the process work?

You have a dream about a Fender

Write down all the details

Take it to Doug

Pay deposit

Wait.....

Get call to collect

Pay the balance

Smile all the way home

Wife claps eyes on credit card bill

Divorce sequence initiated

Become single

Pay divorce settlement

Pay the CSA for kids

Sell Fender Master Built to pay CSA bill

Sit in corner Stand in front of mirror and rock out (silly old fool...)

Meet new woman

Back to start.

Should be a bit simpler for me.  And (possibly) cheaper.

bingefeller

Thanks @MattFGBI.

I think if I was going for a Strat I'd go for a Jimmy Herring influenced Strat with 12" radius, 6000 stainless steel frets, 22 frets, and I'd have a hardtail bridge .  

chrisj1602

Although it's still a lot of money, you can get a CS Fender built to your spec for way less than a Gibson True Historic, which will then be replaced the year after with an even more accurate Truer Historic.

And with a Fender, nobody will laugh at your less historically inaccurate pickup rings in 2016.

Philly_Q

chrisj1602 said:

And with a Fender, nobody will laugh at your less historically inaccurate pickup rings in 2016.

That's a good (as well as amusing) point - no one moans about Fender CS guitars having, for example, 9.5" radius boards or slightly bigger frets, or nitro finishes when the originals (late '60s onwards) might have been poly.  They're aimed at players more than collectors.

DougCoda

fretfinder said:

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...

I don't know if the dimensions of the Large C neck have increased over the years but I've got two CS Fenders from 2009-10 with that neck and I wouldn't say they were nearly as chunky as an LPR9 neck personally. They feel more medium to me. Lovely guitars though! 

Just checked with a 2014 LPR9 and the neck is very similar at the nut to 5th fret, the 59 is a bit thicker at the heel so it feels similar but is a little different as you get up the neck...and the radius changes the feel of the board. We had an R9 in this morning for a setup from 2004 and that neck was quite a lot bigger..

XWulfhere

Philly_Q said:

chrisj1602 said:

And with a Fender, nobody will laugh at your less historically inaccurate pickup rings in 2016.

That's a good (as well as amusing) point - no one moans about Fender CS guitars having, for example, 9.5" radius boards or slightly bigger frets, or nitro finishes when the originals (late '60s onwards) might have been poly.  They're aimed at players more than collectors.

+1 absolutely. I think if you look at Fender's proposition to players and customers vs Gibson at the moment they're winning hands down. I'd be right in thinking that for the price of s stock R8 you could go to Fender CS and get a guitar made the way you want it to your own spec? (unless you want something particularly 'out there' ?)

koss59

You'd probably be able to spec your own and buy an off the shelf one. The new R8's are 5 grand I think?!

Philly_Q

Having said no-one worries about historical inaccuracies on Fender Custom Shop stuff....

When thinking about how I would spec my own Custom Shop Strat (were I to buy one), I do find myself fretting about period details. Flatter radius, bigger frets, no problem, but say I go for the '70s big headstock and bullet truss rod.... part of my brain's telling me I "should" therefore have a 3-bolt neck, even though I'd really prefer a 4-bolt.  And should I restrict myself to '70s colours - which basically means black, white, sunburst or natural - or do I dare go for something you'd never actually see on a '70s Strat?  It's a bit of a dilemma, even though it really shouldn't be!