Fender CS prices

p90fool

Sassafras said:

I only buy the most expensive guitars available in Cash Converters. That way I know I've got something special that few prols can afford.

FTFY

simonhpieman

I met the European manager for the Custom Shop yesterday, in a odd musical coincidence. He's also the guy who provides you with a quote when given your specs.

It was interesting to hear that for all the nerding out "we" do about tiny things like who winds the pickups or who polishes the finish or something that one particular client had specced up a near enough 9k guitar and when asked he "really didn't care" which guy built it.

Fools and money sometimes, I guess...

Simon_M

All my Fenders were made by Juan, José or Manuel (probably).

Whitecat

simonhpieman said:

I met the European manager for the Custom Shop yesterday, in a odd musical coincidence. He's also the guy who provides you with a quote when given your specs.

It was interesting to hear that for all the nerding out "we" do about tiny things like who winds the pickups or who polishes the finish or something that one particular client had specced up a near enough 9k guitar and when asked he "really didn't care" which guy built it.

Fools and money sometimes, I guess...

Tbf if I specced out a Fender CS MB I would let the builder follow the specs. Ask them who was best placed to build what I wanted, and go from there. I don’t really think any one of them is otherwise “better” at what is ostensibly partscaster construction. :-p

Kittyfrisk

simonhpieman said:

I met the European manager for the Custom Shop yesterday, in a odd musical coincidence. He's also the guy who provides you with a quote when given your specs.

It was interesting to hear that for all the nerding out "we" do about tiny things like who winds the pickups or who polishes the finish or something that one particular client had specced up a near enough 9k guitar and when asked he "really didn't care" which guy built it.

Fools and money sometimes, I guess...

'Fools and money sometimes, I guess..'.
Only sometimes?    

Lebarque

If I could justify spending that much money on an axe, I'd be buying a Novo for half the price of a masterbuilt. Amazing.

robmac5150

They are good but not that good.....I can't see it myself but obviously people are paying

ICBM

simonhpieman said:

I met the European manager for the Custom Shop yesterday, in a odd musical coincidence. He's also the guy who provides you with a quote when given your specs.

It was interesting to hear that for all the nerding out "we" do about tiny things like who winds the pickups or who polishes the finish or something that one particular client had specced up a near enough 9k guitar and when asked he "really didn't care" which guy built it.

Fools and money sometimes, I guess...

Why would it matter? The whole point of Fender’s designs is that they were to be assembled by factory workers, not luthiers. It makes no difference who does it.

Paying over the odds for one person to build one from scratch just proves the last bit.

If it mattered which one of Fender’s top luthiers assembles a guitar, that would presumably mean that at least one of them isn’t up to the job...

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

Judge it on the guitar, not whether a specifically named person sneezed magic fairy dust over it.

FTFY.

mattacjones said:

who said this, I wonder? ---   

"I can't believe the price of cheap guitars these days, bloody ridiculous the quality you can get for a not a lot of money. What with the pound devaluation and Brexit it's a nightmare.

I wish all guitars were as expensive as the Fender Custom Shop Master Built"

Was it Confucius.com?

Dominic

I was in a well known shop last week with a big stock of Custom /Masterbuilt
I don't go in guitar shops often so was quite enlightened.......
I wanted to laugh at the £6400 price for a Strat when my previous stop had been a 2nd hand car forecourt where I noticed a number of Porsche Boxters , Jaguar xf , BMW 5 series etc etc for less money ( sure they were older cars but they hadn't even been relic'd !)
 When you put these prices in perspective  v. other ways to spend the money it makes a bolt-on guitar with a distressed paint job look absolutely ridiculous irrespective of who wound the pickups .
As far as Fender marketing is concerned I think there is a lot of Smoke on the Water ......sorry ,I meant Smoke without Fire !

ICBM

You can buy a *brand new* Dacia Sandero for £6995. OK it’s a Dacia, which is hardly the most sophisticated car in the world, but compare the amount of design work, engineering and production cost in it to a couple of bits of wood, a few metal parts and some coil windings - not even any electronics in the proper sense - and the price of an expensive guitar looks like a joke.

RiftAmps

ICBM said:

If it mattered which one of Fender’s top luthiers assembles a guitar, that would presumably mean that at least one of them isn’t up to the job...

I disagree.

I like to go to Michelin-starred restaurants and try their à la carte menus. The Fat Duck (Heston) is widely different from Royal Hospital Road (Ramsey), and The Yew Tree (Marco). I don't go to these restaurants because I want the same food everywhere, I go because I want to choose who cooks my food and who puts their signature on it.

The option of choosing which luthier builds your guitar to your chosen spec is EXACTLY what the Custom Shop is all about, it's the entire reason for their existence, and why SME owners, Baby-Boomers, and Hedge Fund Managers pull out their credit cards.

Of course, ordering a guitar from the Custom Shop isn't mandatory but for those who want to, the option is there.

stonevibe

People always overpay for new guitars, especially with Custom Shop in the name. You are paying for something you feel is superior. So you pay a premium, that isn’t a bad thing.

So many good guitars out there, so go out and buy whatever you like/want.

Cost doesn’t equal better.

Advertising may want you to think this though.

GoldenEraGuitars

I’m glad my builds turn out equal to that of the custom shop. Saves me thousands of pounds and hours looking at (definitely not overpriced) bolt on neck guitars

ICBM

RiftAmps said:

I disagree.

I like to go to Michelin-starred restaurants and try their à la carte menus. The Fat Duck (Heston) is widely different from Royal Hospital Road (Ramsey), and The Yew Tree (Marco). I don't go to these restaurants because I want the same food everywhere, I go because I want to choose who cooks my food and who puts their signature on it.

The option of choosing which luthier builds your guitar to your chosen spec is EXACTLY what the Custom Shop is all about, it's the entire reason for their existence, and why SME owners, Baby-Boomers, and Hedge Fund Managers pull out their credit cards.

Of course, ordering a guitar from the Custom Shop isn't mandatory but for those who want to, the option is there.

I'd maybe agree with you about the small number of CS guitars that are *true* custom jobs. However the vast majority are simply assemblies of off-the-shelf components in combinations that Fender don't happen to make as standard production models... to use your analogy it's like caring about which chef runs the kitchen at Wetherspoons.

How many people have even played enough of any of the 'master luthiers' guitars to know whether they prefer one or the other?

I've played only about six 'masterbuilt' Fenders - actually all Strats - and not a single one of them was as good as *any* 'team built' standard CS Light Relic I've ever played, which is a lot more.

I've liked all the standard CS relics I've played. I could not care less who assembled them - the quality of the guitar is in the components, not who was holding the screwdriver.

terada

Twinfan said:

Masterbuilts at £6499 are what make me laugh - a complete rip off.

Child’s play... this one is £8429 

https://www.peachguitars.com/guitars/electric-guitars/solid-body/fender-custom-shop-private-collection-h-a-r-strat.htm

SouthpawMark

terada said:

Twinfan said:

Masterbuilts at £6499 are what make me laugh - a complete rip off.

Child’s play... this one is £8429 

https://www.peachguitars.com/guitars/electric-guitars/solid-body/fender-custom-shop-private-collection-h-a-r-strat.htm

HAR. That guitar is laughing at you. 

ICBM

terada said:

Child’s play... this one is £8429   

https://www.peachguitars.com/guitars/electric-guitars/solid-body/fender-custom-shop-private-collection-h-a-r-strat.htm

lol

That's almost £700 each for the stick-on H, A, and R letters.

dindude

ICBM said:

You can buy a *brand new* Dacia Sandero for £6995. OK it’s a Dacia, which is hardly the most sophisticated car in the world, but compare the amount of design work, engineering and production cost in it to a couple of bits of wood, a few metal parts and some coil windings - not even any electronics in the proper sense - and the price of an expensive guitar looks like a joke.

A Harley Benton is a better comparison to a Dacia - about as cheap as you get for that product, perfectly serviceable, makes me want to work harder so I never have to own one.

Fishboy7

terada said:

Twinfan said:

Masterbuilts at £6499 are what make me laugh - a complete rip off.

Child’s play... this one is £8429 

https://www.peachguitars.com/guitars/electric-guitars/solid-body/fender-custom-shop-private-collection-h-a-r-strat.htm

That's pretty hard to swollow.  Considering you could get something like this for less money


https://www.ivormairants.co.uk/mike-vanden-artistry-15-archtop-guitar-pre-owned.html