Custom Shop Fenders - Your Reasons

Tex Mexico

So I'm expecting to park a bit of money on a new guitar in the next month or so, not a huge pile but my budget will stretch to used CS Fender territory.

Of course, the responsible adult with a mortgage part of my brain has kicked in, asking me why I don't spend one half on a nice AVRI and sock the other half away. The part of my brain that knows how hard I work, however, is putting up a good fight.

I realise it's a very personal thing, but I wonder if your input might tip the scales:

Those of you who have been faced with a similar choice, which way did you go, what made you choose one or the other, and do you have any regrets or affirmations?

Michael84

Because £1k or so difference in price makes 0 difference in a lifetime. If you're buying used CS chances are you won't lose money if you decide to sell in the long run (prices of new have been going up). It will probably feel 5% better than the non-CS ones which might result in you being more satisfied and putting more time into playing. Also, if you want relic it's the only way unless you go Mexican. 

It's like why buy a Rolex when the Omega costs half the price

P.S I've got a 57' 2003 AVRI

Stemcor

Michael makes a very good point. My only Fender is a custom shop as it was the only version they made at the time. I’ve got my eye on something else but once again it’s a CS only instrument. The guitar that I have is (in my opinion) very well put together. I bought it used but would expect to get the purchase price back if I ever needed to sell.

Buy the CS - you won’t regret it !

Tenebrous

You only live once. If you can afford it & it's what you want then go for it!

chris78

Because if you get the American vintage/original you’ll always wonder what the custom shop was like. I had a lot of both, maybe with the exception of an av64 tele, I don’t miss the factory line stuff when I’ve moved it on. There are several cs guitars I’ve sold on for the next new shiny thing that I miss badly.

fretfinder

Michael84 said:

Because £1k or so difference in price makes 0 difference in a lifetime. If you're buying used CS chances are you won't lose money if you decide to sell in the long run (prices of new have been going up). It will probably feel 5% better than the non-CS ones which might result in you being more satisfied and putting more time into playing. Also, if you want relic it's the only way unless you go Mexican. 

It's like why buy a Rolex when the Omega costs half the price

P.S I've got a 57' 2003 AVRI

Because a Rolex is waaay cooler!  

More than 5% too in my experience of CS and others, but impossible to quantify really. And I do love Relics so I am biased in that regard. 

RaymondLin

chris78 said:

Because if you get the American vintage/original you’ll always wonder what the custom shop was like. I had a lot of both, maybe with the exception of an av64 tele, I don’t miss the factory line stuff when I’ve moved it on. There are several cs guitars I’ve sold on for the next new shiny thing that I miss badly.

This really.

If you can afford it, then often getting a CS and nip that upgrade bug in the bud is cheaper than move your way up the range one by one.

GoldenEraGuitars

Go and play a few before making your mind up. There’s nothing the “custom shop” can do that you can’t achieve with a cheaper model.

Winny_Pooh

The reason I'd do it is to get a modern radius and bigger frets.

Philly_Q

Custom Shop gives you a wider choice of neck profiles, fret sizes, fretboard radius, plus the option of a relic finish (from mild to extreme).  I know lots of people hate relics and don't care about neck shapes etc, but it's nice to have options.

Plus the fretwork and general attention to detail is that much better on the CS models.

Fifty9

So I’ve gone the other way on this.

I’ve opted for one high end guitar (2017 r8 in my avatar) and ‘downgraded’ everything else. Sold a CS 63 strat w Abbys and bought a lovely MIJ st-54 80am, replaced a CS 52 tele and bought a nice light Baja tele, also have a Peerless hardtail as my 335 (w Bigsby added). All fantastically well made guitars capable of the same sounds as the more expensive ones that are moved on and for at most 1/5 of the price. Put some money into a nice champ clone and a Marshall Astoria Dual and am happy as Larry with this setup. Also have the budget options on my acoustics - Johnson Carolina jo-27 as my ‘Clapton’ and a Recording King RD-36 as my Martin Dred. Am perfectly happy with my lower budget/high value for money options given I’m more hobbyist than pro, tone is in the fingers (& pups) and have extracted the thousands back out of the wood n wires previously scattered around the house. Tried the CS option, acknowledge that with unlimited funds they’d still be here but absolutely no regrets at the downsizing.

terada

I like custom shop stuff, and own a few Gibson custom shop guitars where I find the step up rather noticeable. 

But I’m yet to play a Custom shop strat that’s better than my 62AVRI, and I’ve tried!

of course if I were ordering a custom shop it’d have the same spec as a 62 AVRI (not current original series though). If I couldn’t get the spec I wanted from the off the shelf stuff I’d go custom shop for sure. 

But in pure terms of out and out quality, I don’t feel the step up on the fender side compared to a thin light nitro AVRI. 

Toms_Dad

I guess the question is whether the guitar is a tool to get a job done or an emotional purchase with which you want to bond entirely for the pleasure of playing it. 

If the former, then an American standard or pro will almost certainly get the job done, even to a very high professional level. If the latter, only you can know. I have an American Pro Strat. It’s a better guitar than I’ll ever be a player, but I do lust sometimes over a cs. 

Also if you gig regularly, would you be happy subjecting such a valuable item to the rigours and risks of live performance?

Interestingly, in a similar vein, I have a luthier made classical, which my standard of playing can also hardly justify, but it gives me great pleasure to own and play, even though it is really not necessary for me to “get the job done” either now or in the next life!

crunchman

GoldenEraGuitars said:

Go and play a few before making your mind up. There’s nothing the “custom shop” can do that you can’t achieve with a cheaper model.

You can find very good and not so good guitars in all the Fender ranges.  You are more likely to find a very good one in the Custom Shop range, but you can find great ones in the AVRI range, or even the Mexican range.

If you ask me which of my old Teles I would rather have back out of a CS Heavy Relic, or a Mexican made Baja, I'd choose the Baja.  Having said that, I've played other Baja Teles that were dead sounding and nowhere as good as that one.  In an ideal world though, I'd prefer a nitro finish.  A lot of the cheaper Fenders would definitely benefit from a pickup upgrade as well.  In general, the CS guitars will be better, but that particular Baja was better than that particular CS as far I'm concerned.  It had a much better neck, it sounded good, and it didn't have a ridiculous relic job.  With hindsight, I wouldn't buy a heavy relic with Godzilla sized frets and a skinny neck again.

Don't get seduced by the fact that it's go a Custom Shop logo on the back of the headstock.  If you were playing it blindfolded, would be feel and sound like a good guitar.

Winny_Pooh said:

The reason I'd do it is to get a modern radius and bigger frets.

Personally I like 7.25" but a lot of the factory guitars are 9.5" now.  The American Original is 9.5".  The American Original frets are taller than vintage ones as well.

Matt_McG

I’ve never owned a CS, so have no skin in the game. I will say that the nicest non vintage Fender I’ve ever played, by far, was a CS relic strat. I expect there are gems and lemons in every price range, but the platonic Strat sound and feel was right there. Didn’t have the cash, I was using it to test amps i was shopping for, but it was fantastic.

ICBM

I sort-of don't want to say this because it goes against my usual ethos of disliking the snobbery associated with up-marketing, but the best modern Fenders I've played - both the absolute best Strat and Tele, and the average quality of all of them - have all been Custom Shop, team built, light relics/closet classics. That's not to say there haven't been good ones from other ranges, but not with anything like the consistency of these. I haven't played one 'masterbuilt' as good, nor a heavy relic of any description. It's still a fairly small sample - probably only a couple of dozen - but the pattern has been really noticeable to me. Luckily, this is also the type of finish I like best as well, apart from 'as new'.

I do also like the AVRIs and the Mexican Classic series - if fact, I often like the Mexican ones better.

HAL9000

I don’t own one but the thing that stood out for me with the small handful of CS Fenders that I have played is how instantly familiar and comfortable they are. Best analogy I can quickly come up with is that it's like your favourite old shoes. Somehow they just feel right.

That said, as a hobbyist, I wouldn't feel comfortable spending more than about £750 on a guitar but I can absolutely understand why some would.

Dominic

fretfinder said:

Michael84 said:

Because £1k or so difference in price makes 0 difference in a lifetime. If you're buying used CS chances are you won't lose money if you decide to sell in the long run (prices of new have been going up). It will probably feel 5% better than the non-CS ones which might result in you being more satisfied and putting more time into playing. Also, if you want relic it's the only way unless you go Mexican. 

It's like why buy a Rolex when the Omega costs half the price

P.S I've got a 57' 2003 AVRI

Because a Rolex is waaay cooler!  

Depends which Rolex ..................some  blingy models have horrific depreciation whereas some like "the Hulk" have almost doubled in value in the last five years and the all steel Daytonas make incredible premium secondhand value ...they sell for far more than the mixed metal .

Schnozz

GoldenEraGuitars said:

Go and play a few before making your mind up. There’s nothing the “custom shop” can do that you can’t achieve with a cheaper model.

Don't get the lols on this - He's bang on.

G&L if you want to play it safe, otherwise try a few cheaper models until you find a gem.

The best strat I've played was a Tokai TST50, that just blew me away at random, as I wasn't looking for it and I didn't want one in that finish; however, I should have bought it at £650 and now regret it.

I have two quality cheapies now, one with a trem and one with a hardtail, but I used to have two strats coming to £3k - The latter isn't needed for a good Fender tone. 

Use the other £1k for an SA2200.

thegummy

We only live once - it's not like you'll have other lives where you eventually get a Custom Shop Fender; anything you want to enjoy will have to be done in this life.

When one day you're on your death bed you'll be glad of any happiness you got yourself in life and won't wish you hadn't spent money. Not true for every situation of course, but it doesn't sound like you're putting yourself in to hardship, just thinking you should "be sensible".

You won't really get any functions that you won't get with any other Fender but you already knew that, it's about the pleasure it would bring you and the CS will bring you more.

So to me, the suggestions to maybe buy a cheaper Fender plus an additional second guitar might be good, but cutting down on your pleasure purchase to be sensible with the rest - nahhhh.

jonnyburgo

Am I the only person in the world that cant tell the difference between jumbo or vintage frets or am not affected by neck carve? I just play em (And sound equally as shoddy whatever it is)