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

Lewy

poopot said:

moreover I can’t comprehend how folk can still fall for the “masterbuilt” bluesky marketing bollox that these companies consistently throw out!...

said it before:

Don't believe the hype!!!!

And therein lies the crux of your apparent angst...the idea that someone who spends their money on a Masterbuilt guitar is a fool who has somehow been duped, a fate they could have saved themselves from if only they saw what you saw. As opposed to being someone who through whatever means has arrived at the position where they’ve got £6k of disposable income and want to spend it on something that makes them happy. Got to be honest, it really doesn’t come across as them being the ones with the problem here....

dazzajl

Sassafras said:

I'm surprised at how many people have owned dozens of masterbuilts and teambuilts. Weren't any of them good enough to keep?

Collections are fluid things and not everyone who likes to collect fine things can afford to keep everything that goes through their hands 

I try to remind myself I set out to try and play the thing, not collect them but I’m certainly not immune to lure of new toys. 

stonevibe

Brand loyalty and familiarity have a large part to play in the argument for buying either Fender or Gibson.

If you have the money for a 'Masterbuilt' and it works for you, then go for it.

Surely, the argument here though is what exactly does 'Masterbuilt' mean in terms of extra man hours spent building a guitar?

Since Leo's whole ethos was make them easy to assemble and yet still perfect for professional musicians that tour and play music for a living.

Then the 'Masterbuilt' branding of these Custom Shop models suggests the person that made them really knows what they are doing and can choose the best way to bolt together premium components, whilst making them aesthetically pleasing to the eye via a choice of custom, sometimes unique, finish options.

I'm not personally drawn to marketing hyperbole and so it doesn't appeal to me. However, plenty of buyers love that mystique and exclusiveness that they can buy into.

It doesn't hurt me in anyway, I'm pretty sure Fender enjoys the revenue and the purchaser will undoubtebly love their new instrument. 

terada

AllthegearNoidea said:

bgmartinsbridge said:

Interesting comments about Masterbuilts V team built/ custom shop. 

Having owned four masterbuilts, loads of team built and loads of custom shops, I can say that all the Masterbuilts were exceptional apart from a nos masterbuilt. 

My interpretation is that masterbuilt get the pick of the best parts to ensure quality. 

Don't get me wrong I've had some truly amazing team built guitars - that have been on a par with Masterbuilts. 

However I've had some very very average custom shop guitars too. 


As for templates used on Masterbuilts, it's the first time I've seen it and it does put me off somewhat.
I'd expect an individual relic design and have never heard of  similar ones before this thread (apart from the Ltd runs). 

I can understand them using partial templates but churning them out doesn't seem right, albeit I've not seem many the same. 

As above there are limited run Masterbuilts, which again I personally find odd - for me the whole point is an individual guitar that noone else has. And that includes things like the £10k Clapton Masterbuilts which are all absolutely identical. 

But then nos guitars are churned out ten to the penny by masterbuilders ;-) 

Totally agree. I’ve had two masterbuilt guitars and I regret selling both. They were both better than any teambuilt. 

And neither as good as an HB with abbey pickups 

Philly_Q

Sassafras said:

I'm surprised at how many people have owned dozens of masterbuilts and teambuilts. Weren't any of them good enough to keep?

I've never owned a Masterbuilt, but, FWIW, I've kept all the Fender Custom Shop guitars I've owned - and still own.  They're all "better" than the many USA, MIM and MIJ Fenders I've owned in the past.

poopot

Lewy said:

poopot said:

moreover I can’t comprehend how folk can still fall for the “masterbuilt” bluesky marketing bollox that these companies consistently throw out!...

said it before:

Don't believe the hype!!!!

And therein lies the crux of your apparent angst...the idea that someone who spends their money on a Masterbuilt guitar is a fool who has somehow been duped, a fate they could have saved themselves from if only they saw what you saw. As opposed to being someone who through whatever means has arrived at the position where they’ve got £6k of disposable income and want to spend it on something that makes them happy. Got to be honest, it really doesn’t come across as them being the ones with the problem here....

No jealousy here at all!!!! Ive spent similar sums on a guitar or two before!.


It’s not about if you have the funds or don’t have the funds...

it’s about a company freighting the price off of the back of a marketing idea and selling the idea that you are buying something special with the “masterbuilt” tag...0

Dan_Halen

Lewy said:

poopot said:

moreover I can’t comprehend how folk can still fall for the “masterbuilt” bluesky marketing bollox that these companies consistently throw out!...

said it before:

Don't believe the hype!!!!

And therein lies the crux of your apparent angst...the idea that someone who spends their money on a Masterbuilt guitar is a fool who has somehow been duped, a fate they could have saved themselves from if only they saw what you saw. As opposed to being someone who through whatever means has arrived at the position where they’ve got £6k of disposable income and want to spend it on something that makes them happy. Got to be honest, it really doesn’t come across as them being the ones with the problem here....

Whilst that’s a fair point and people can spend their money on what they hell they like, it’s perfectly reasonable to question what a company does to justify selling the same product at 4 times the price. A guitar forum seems to be a pretty good place to chat about this sort of thing as well. 

Dan_Halen

Anyone actually got the official marketing gumf that Fender put out? Surely it must be written down somewhere categorically what you get when you go masterbuilt?

Teflon

The blut

Dan_Halen said:

Anyone actually got the official marketing gumf that Fender put out? Surely it must be written down somewhere categorically what you get when you go masterbuilt?

The blurb on the Fender website states: " They’ll walk you through everything—body design, neck shape, tonewoods, pickups, hardware and more—to give you the look, feel and sound that you’re searching for. From start to finish the Master Builder will personally ensure that each guitar is built with the highest possible quality and to your exact specifications. "

This suggest to me that they get involved with the customer at the design stage, and then supervise the build to ensure quality is maintained. Note, it specifically states "......... the Master Builder will personally ensure that each guitar is built with the highest possible quality and to your exact specifications." It doesn't state that they build the instrument themselves (though for all I know, they may well do).  

Cliff

bacchanalian

All this discussion has given me a bad case of gas for a Masterbuilt tele.

Irony emoji.

(edited to add irony emoji)

edited again to say I am not interested in a Masterbuilt since seeing @StuartMac290 's Asher

GoldenEraGuitars

bacchanalian said:

All this discussion has given me a bad case of gas for a Masterbuilt tele.

The good news for you is that there are probably at least 100 identical Masterbuilt teles in the UK for you to choose from right now.... fresh off the line. 

bgmartinsbridge

@sassafras - yes they were. 

Dan_Halen

Teflon said:

The blut

Dan_Halen said:

Anyone actually got the official marketing gumf that Fender put out? Surely it must be written down somewhere categorically what you get when you go masterbuilt?

The blurb on the Fender website states: " They’ll walk you through everything—body design, neck shape, tonewoods, pickups, hardware and more—to give you the look, feel and sound that you’re searching for. From start to finish the Master Builder will personally ensure that each guitar is built with the highest possible quality and to your exact specifications. "

This suggest to me that they get involved with the customer at the design stage, and then supervise the build to ensure quality is maintained. Note, it specifically states "......... the Master Builder will personally ensure that each guitar is built with the highest possible quality and to your exact specifications." It doesn't state that they build the instrument themselves (though for all I know, they may well do).  

Cliff

That's about as much as I’d seen as well. Quite deliberately vague. The fact that they stop short of saying the master builder actual builds anything seems pretty damning.

If you can pick the guy and he actually assembles and finishes it then I can see why they’d be 6k or whatever they are in the current market. However, if they’re not actually building the things, let alone applying individual finishing touches then what the hell are you paying for?

Wazmeister

I must admit when I see CS prices at £3000 plus, and MB at £6000, I do wince...

The rise in prices over the last 3 years or so, has been terrifying.

My Masterbuilt cost me £2800 new, probably around 4 years ago...

guitars4you

Can't believe this topic is still going

Carry on much longer and there will be a few more relics reading it and typing comments

Adam_MD

Wazmeister said:

I must admit when I see CS prices at £3000 plus, and MB at £6000, I do wince...

The rise in prices over the last 3 years or so, has been terrifying.

My Masterbuilt cost me £2800 new, probably around 4 years ago...

See I'd expect to pay £2.5k for a luthier build so don't see much wrong paying £2.8k new for a MB.  £6k though is crazy money.  

dazzajl

What a lot of posts here are dancing around is the fact there are people buying Masterbuilt Fenders who wouldn’t know a decent guitar from a strung up shovel. And yes, they are morons. Buying off the top line on the spec sheet to willy wave and show off that they have more money than you. Lots more. 

I have a Squire Tele at the mo that I personally like the feel of more than the CS guitars I’ve played. It plays really well, sounds like a tele and is plenty solid enough to gig with. At £100 it
does throw light on the value of CS guitars as tools to do a job. 

None of which would stop me buying a masterbuilt Fender if I had the cash and liked the guitar enough to put that money in to it. If it brought me happiness to have it, that would be great. If it inspired me to spend more time playing then so much better again. 

When I had my Steven Stern Gretsch, it was a huge thrill to have such an exquisite instrument and I felt very lucky to call it mine. I never actually liked it that much because I don’t really get on with the big bodies, much as I’d like to. 

So does that make my Squier the better guitar???

lysander

To be fair the look and feel on the squier will never be near as nice - relic or not, a nice nitro finish will always look much much better than a thick slab of poly as found on most cheap to mid range guitars.

However in terms of playability and sound, there’s no doubt in my mind that a couple hundred quid in pickups / possibly hardware ( e.g bridge ) and some time with a good luthier to fine tune the frets, neck angle, nut and setup can turn a decent squier / mex fender ( there are lemons out there ) into something just as good as a CS guitar.
That is if you are happy with the factory specs like radius, nut width etc of course.

thebreeze

I think sometimes there is a certain "character" to the MB guitars.  I think the most obvious example is Jason Smith, they often just look like "his" guitars.  I wonder if this is the case for most of them i.e. you might be able to say (if you knew what you were looking for) this is a John Cruz or this is a Todd Krause or whatever?  I've never felt the MB's are so much better to warrant a purchase over a team built but if this is so (and I may just be deceiving myself) it suggests you're getting something extra/something of the builder.  It may then be more okay that some of them use stencils from time to time - like artists make prints, that kind of thing?   

Kittyfrisk

@dazzajl ;;  & @lysander ;;
I agree with your points relating to the 'real' playability & 'worth' of any good, well set up guitar, regardless of it's provenance  versus it's perceived value on the 'grown up' collector market.
 Be careful though, you may end up on the list of "idiots" to be ridiculed for such heresy/naivety.
On the plus side, don't worry, there are loads of us there already, still having real fun with our 'cheap' wannabe guitars & laughing like drains