“Masterbuilt” or “guitar by stencil”...

dazzajl

Going back to somewhere near the neighbourhood of the original post....

One thing that seems very clear, is that for a hand build of a fender style guitar, Fender are not the people to go to. The only thing they offer over the quality cottage industry is resale value. 

crunchman

dazzajl said:

Going back to somewhere near the neighbourhood of the original post....

One thing that seems very clear, is that for a hand build of a fender style guitar, Fender are not the people to go to. The only thing they offer over the quality cottage industry is resale value. 

But you pay so much more in the first place.  A "Masterbuilt" is probably over £4 grand now.  You could probably get a really good small UK builder to build something for £2.5k (or a bit less).  Yes, you will lose on the resale - if you sell - but you saved the £1.5k in the first place.

Probably the best option is to wait for the small builder one to come up second hand.

Kittyfrisk

dazzajl said:

Going back to somewhere near the neighbourhood of the original post....

One thing that seems very clear, is that for a hand build of a fender style guitar, Fender are not the people to go to. The only thing they offer over the quality cottage industry is resale value. 

Exactly. The solution... (cue fanfare)  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-Shop-Handmade-SRV-Relic-Electric-Guitar-Free-Shipping/401859188800?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140725133649%26meid%3D0a446ef4e29146b6b582515054d6e6b2%26pid%3D100276%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D173972815253%26itm%3D401859188800%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2060778&_trksid=p2060778.c100276.m3476

Wazmeister

Asthetics aside, I'd love to know how many have actually played or owned a Masterbuilt ?

Criticism comes easy from afar, especially on this forum

Virtually everyone I've played has been superior to the already good CS;

Worth the extra ? It's the law of finite returns.

As I've siad previously, I don't feel the need to justify my purchase, and my MB Strat remains the best I've played. Anywhere.

RaymondLin

crunchman said:

dazzajl said:

Going back to somewhere near the neighbourhood of the original post....

One thing that seems very clear, is that for a hand build of a fender style guitar, Fender are not the people to go to. The only thing they offer over the quality cottage industry is resale value. 

But you pay so much more in the first place.  A "Masterbuilt" is probably over £4 grand now.  You could probably get a really good small UK builder to build something for £2.5k (or a bit less).  Yes, you will lose on the resale - if you sell - but you saved the £1.5k in the first place.

Probably the best option is to wait for the small builder one to come up second hand.

I think the smart money, for both quality and resale is to get a normal custom shop used.  I doubt it will take as long as finding a small builder one used as there are more of them around.

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

"no similar wear"?  Really?

That's not a good example of wear since it came about by the guitar being stolen when he hadn't had it long and then found after being dumped and spending some days lying in a ditch, so it's largely due to the water damage. It was already looking pretty much like that as early as the late 60s.

Wazmeister said:

Asthetics aside, I'd love to know how many have actually played or owned a Masterbuilt ?

Never owned one, but played about half a dozen. Also played about a couple of dozen 'team built' CS.

Every 'team built' has been better than every 'masterbuilt', without a single exception. In fact every 'team built' has been just a really good guitar, and two of them probably the best Fenders I've ever played, old or new. (Both very light relics, if it matters.)

Not saying that you couldn't get the odd 'masterbuilt' that may be better than some 'team builts' though - they all vary.

soma1975

Well now I don't know what to think. 

prlgmnr

I fell of my motorbike and the resulting tears to my jeans were extremely unaesthetic compared to an artificially distressed pair.

Sassafras

It's a wonder they bother painting them at all. They should just give you a little pot of paint and a small brush so you can do it yourself.

dazzajl

Wazmeister said:

Asthetics aside, I'd love to know how many have actually played or owned a Masterbuilt ?

Criticism comes easy from afar, especially on this forum

Virtually everyone I've played has been superior to the already good CS;

Worth the extra ? It's the law of finite returns.

As I've siad previously, I don't feel the need to justify my purchase, and my MB Strat remains the best I've played. Anywhere.

I’ve played quite a few CS shop fenders but no Master built ones. The ones I’ve played have been nice but none have wowed me, or been as much to my taste as other hand built guitars I’ve owned or played. 

I have own a Steven Stern built Gretsch and that was as fine a made instrument as I’ve ever experienced. The Gretsch CS is a much much smaller affair than the huge Fender operation it takes up a tiny corner of, so I don’t know how fair a comparison that is?

CloudNine

The Masterbuilts I have played in the past were. pretty much on a par with the Team Builts I have played/owned. Not better, not worse, I just couldn't find any tangible differences. They are generally all great guitars, I really think Fender have good quality output from the Custom Shop, it it is unquestionably mostly about marketing though with Masterbuilt in my opinion.

I have a much cheaper Strat that is at least as good build quality, and better sounding than pretty much all CS guitars have played, which may be a lot about the pickups. All just my opinion of course. And I also recently acquired a pretty expensive old Strat, which if you analyse in detail probably isn't as well built as any of them, but is the best sounding I have played, but that's a whole different thing. Whilst it was a lot of money, I definitely feel the value in owning vintage guitar, it has real mojo, and like I said, sounds incredible, probably retains its value, etc etc.

But I just do not see where the the value is in Masterbuilts, it just seems like way too much money for what it is, i.e. a bolt neck guitar, fettled by some dude that Fender are trying to portray as a 'rock star' of luthiery, but in reality have only a relatively small part to play in the overall guitar. Seems like these dudes spend most of their time on photo shoots of them 'building a guitar', or out doing PR, or practising their signatures. Not sure where they get the time to have anything to do with the seemeingly large numbers of MB guitars that seem to be produced each year. I don't know the numbers at all, so I could be wrong, but seems there is a lot.

And this was before I found about the relic templates, Jesus wept, that is embarrassing stuff....

OilCityPickups

Just in respect of 'wild picking' ... my own ash bodied Tele is finished in Tru-oil because touching up damage is easier. I'm an extremely hard and percussive rhythm player, and when the guitar is on a strap (ie live or at rehearsals) I never look what I'm doing. Precision in chord work (and lead work for that matter) mostly comes from my left hand, and  selective string damping. I end up with scratches and swirls all over poly finishes, gouges in oil finishes, and I can trash nitro finishes to the wood in fairly short order. I also have sweat that would make the alien queen's blood seem tame ... Oh I can even wear through Strat pickup covers ...

Should I get a job at Fender? :-)

springhead

OilCityPickups said:

Just in respect of 'wild picking' ... my own ash bodied Tele is finished in Tru-oil because touching up damage is easier. I'm an extremely hard and percussive rhythm player, and when the guitar is on a strap (ie live or at rehearsals) I never look what I'm doing. Precision in chord work (and lead work for that matter) mostly comes from my left hand, and  selective string damping. I end up with scratches and swirls all over poly finishes, gouges in oil finishes, and I can trash nitro finishes to the wood in fairly short order. I also have sweat that would make the alien queen's blood seem tame ... Oh I can even wear through Strat pickup covers ...

Should I get a job at Fender? :-)

Yep, there's a staff job waiting for you.  'Masterthrashed' !

Wasn't there a cunning wheeze by a band a few years back who advertised a relic'ing service.  You gave them your guitar and paid them to use it on tour, and not be very careful about how they looked after it! 

terada

To me it really doesn’t matter what hair he had, dreadlocks or not. He’s just a bloke that’s done well out of his passion, and good for him. 

Oh wait 

ToneControl

To me, relic'd guitars seem "fake", which is why I don't want one. I've played many old guitars with only light signs of wear, so to me, relicing adds no authenticity, in fact I'd expect a discount on a beat-up genuinely old guitar

lysander

I’m not too bothered about the stencil thing, but the bit I don’t really understand is people giving Fender several grands for guitars which are extremely standardised and mostly made by CNCs with zero innovation.

Either buy a standard model, or if you really want to spend on a special instrument, go see a smaller luthier / shop that will put 10x more care into it, and may actually have some special touches or improvements to bring to the classic models ?

Judging by the fact that the classifieds on this board seem to be 80% custom shop guitars, I can’t be the only one to think that the emperor is scantily clad.

TeleMaster

ToneControl said:

To me, relic'd guitars seem "fake", which is why I don't want one. I've played many old guitars with only light signs of wear, so to me, relicing adds no authenticity, in fact I'd expect a discount on a beat-up genuinely old guitar

It’s very definitely contrived in my opinion. 

Schnozz

TeleMaster said:

ToneControl said:

To me, relic'd guitars seem "fake", which is why I don't want one. I've played many old guitars with only light signs of wear, so to me, relicing adds no authenticity, in fact I'd expect a discount on a beat-up genuinely old guitar

It’s very definitely contrived in my opinion. 

"I done that"

https://www.crazyparts.de/images/img_3139.jpg
...Said the tragic sad act.

Kittyfrisk

Ah yes, the legendary short lived 2 screw blackguard. Carved from a full thickness toilet seat lid cover.

bgmartinsbridge

I've had 5 Masterbuilts and several dozen custom shop strats (standard custom shop and team builds). 

All Masterbuilts bar one were stunning and beat the best team builds hands down. 

Amusingly the Masterbuilt that didn't cut it was a 69 nos. And it just didn't feel, play or sound like a great guitar - Friday afternoon and not a top builder.

I've had amazing team builds and I'd say all the newer ones are superb.

Where quality seems to be hit and miss is pre 2008 custom shop. You just get absolute planks of wood.


The key more me is that the masterbuilders get to choose the wood and assemble the guitars. 

As for relics - works of art and should be individual and look like light, mid or heavy vintage relics.

My opinion is templates is too far and sort of cheating to save money on Masterbuilts. 
Sure use it on a team build or a chilli peppers limited run. 

Oh and no one who buys a relic is trying to fake wear to appear like they have an old guitar to other people. It's so they can own a cool looking guitar and to them nos is a tad boring or bland :-)