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- Brook Torridge: was my main acoustic for a decade, played it everywhere, eventually sold it because I found another acoustic I preferred and it wasn't justified to keep it.
- Suhr Classic T: custom order spec, really liked it and faultless quality, in hindsight I'd made the neck a bit too slim. Ended up sold as I preferred other teles.
- A few Warmoth partscasters: not sure if these count, but always had consistently good results. Don't have them anymore but the experience of spec'ing and building was always enjoyable. Will never hold their value though...
- Eternal S-type: just got this one a couple of weeks ago, very pleased with it, ticks every box I was looking for so far. I wasn't trying to build 'one guitar to rule them all', but did spec it to be a versatile HSS with neck dimensions that I was quite specific on. So far, so good.
Summary: I've been pleased with them all and don't regret any of them, but the counter to that is that most of my favourite guitars (that I either still have or have regrettably sold) are completely stock models. The advice above is all good too, if you order anything that's overly 'custom' to you, you'll struggle to sell it and likely lose a lot on it.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/190691061@N05/51165514023/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/190691061@N05/51165513993/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/190691061@N05/51165276856/in/dateposted-public/
I guess I'd consider it I found the almost perfect guitar and I wanted a few tweaks to that design/spec to make it what I wanted.
Otherwise I'm not convinced my own knowledge would really get me the guitar that was right for me. For example much as I love my Les Paul, have lusted after one my whole life, the guitar that's most comfortable and I play the most is my Schecter super-strat type.
With Gordon Smith or Feline (etc), you know broadly what you're going to get. You can tweak some aspects of the design, finish, or components, but it'll essentially be a recognisable Gordon Smith or Feline guitar, with all of the benefits that brings, including the resale option given their name on the headstock.
Going for a completely one-off custom build from a less well known name/brand, and you've got a lot more variables (unknowns) to consider, most of which add more risk to the process.
Made in the USA, so no chance to try before buying. Every part of the spec was down to me (aside from the body and headstock shape). The luthier already had a great rep, though, and he's now a master builder at Fender's custom shop.
What I learned: if I have a very nice guitar, I don't like to leave it out, so I don't play it very often. D'oh! I have a LP DC Standard from 1998 that is my #1 player, simply because it never gets put away. There's a lesson...
Sounds like your experience is like mine with my Martin 00-21S.
So beautiful it lives in its case and I play my other guitars more!
https://flic.kr/p/2kMFqJM
Nice though!
Although in many ways I like the idea, I've always had reservations about ordering a custom build because (a) I wasn't really sure about what specs I wanted and (b) there's always the chance it just won't turn out as well as you hoped, as @richardhomer mentioned earlier.
The last few years I'm leaning more towards the possibility... I do now have much clearer ideas of what I'd want, and there are a number of builders, including several on this forum, whose work I really like the look of. I think you'd want to go to someone who builds in a style of their own which fits with your taste/ideas, not someone who says they'll "build anything".
It'd be expensive though, and there are still off-the-shelf guitars which come pretty close and carry less "risk".
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So I have largely a pretty cynical view of custom builds at least around my parts this was thorugh the 70's anbd 80's
These days we have a far higher quality of lutherie but despite now being able to afford if not justify throwing cash I truly struggle with the absurd business model of the current crop of luthiers. Many seem to produce a handful of guitars a year have a 24-36 month waiting list and that's fine if that's what they want but to me, that's simply a broken business model. So i sort of struggle with the idea of pushing upwards of 10k and the trust into a modern luthiers hands.
Paint job was an ode to my fave beer ... not to everyones taste but everybody remembers this guitar and loads of random punters have had their photo taken with the guitar.
Have to say, never seen a better paint finish on any other guitar and never seen a tougher finish. It's now done close to a thousand gigs since I got it and the finish is still immaculate. The volume pot has been changed because I wore the original out and so has the jack socket for the same reason.
I'm not the same player I was when this was commissioned though ... my tastes have changed pickup wise and I prefer the more organic passive pickup sounds. However the engineer who mixes me says that no other guitar cuts through like this one so he prefers me to play this. My own taste indoors is more standard Tele or Strat these days but playing live is a different thing and the EMG's are unequalled in their ability to be heard.
https://www.studiowear.co.uk/ -
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Facebook - m.me/studiowear.co.uk
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