John Cruz Custom Guitars(Update from John Cruz)

meltedbuzzbox

bertie said:

how many ways can you bolt a strat/tele neck to a body ?    the original way seems to have worked pretty well for over 60 years 

they're strats and teles,   even £5k is way too much

Bolted or glued it's all cut out by CNC and slapped together whatever.

John Cruz appears to have shifted his first batch so there must be some demand. He is no different to suhr and Tom anderson really. All have left fender to churn out their "improved" versions of well known classics

Boromedic

In fairness Suhr and Anderson are an improvement on the originals, a standard Suhr or Anderson is very much a better guitar out of the box than a standard Fender as it's had more care and attention afforded to it during manufacture. I would also argue that they use better materials in the build than a standard Fender.

stickyfiddle

Boromedic said:

In fairness Suhr and Anderson are an improvement on the originals, a standard Suhr or Anderson is very much a better guitar out of the box than a standard Fender as it's had more care and attention afforded to it during manufacture. I would also argue that they use better materials in the build than a standard Fender.

Yep. Those both have fairly chunky mods - SS frets, different shapes, pickup combinations, fancy tops etc. 

These just look like Fenders with ugly headstocks.

Lewy

I like the headstock shape. It does look like a rip off of the Friedman but I like that one too. $8000 probably corresponds quite directly with Masterbuilt CS so I'm not sure there's too much to be scandalised by, beyond believing that no bolt on guitar could be worth that much.

TeleMaster

freakboy1610 said:

Shit! Now I can't decide whether to get one of these or the Fender Hot Wheels 

Can I suggest the Screamadelica?

TeleMaster

Boromedic said:

In fairness Suhr and Anderson are an improvement on the originals, a standard Suhr or Anderson is very much a better guitar out of the box than a standard Fender as it's had more care and attention afforded to it during manufacture. I would also argue that they use better materials in the build than a standard Fender.

Objectively you could argue that but as soon as you put two guitars in your hands you may well like the Fender more. It’s not like they’re cheap, or shabby instruments and Custom Shop guitars are excellent instruments with particular neck carves that you just might like more. 

matt_sefton

grappagreen said:

It's an 8k, 'designed for mass production' style guitar bolted together by a bloke with a reputation. It's been worked to look 'old' but is brand new and has no legacy.

It's just wrong on every level... 

Arrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

Perhaps it's just me.

Si

It’s not just you.

Philly_Q

It's interesting the number of times this forum manages to reduce all Fender and similar guitars to "just a neck bolted to a body" and therefore worth a few hundred quid at most.

It's as if all those other things like pickups, electronics, hardware, paint, fretwork and the actual construction of that neck and body are completely irrelevant.

fretmeister

Lewy said:

I like the headstock shape. It does look like a rip off of the Friedman but I like that one too. $8000 probably corresponds quite directly with Masterbuilt CS so I'm not sure there's too much to be scandalised by, beyond believing that no bolt on guitar could be worth that much.

I don't mind the headstock either. There's far worse out there.

I am in the 8K for a bolt on is too much camp though. Mind you, Fender managed to sell the £15,000 Lynott P bass - but that came with a studded wrist band!!

matt_sefton

Philly_Q said:

It's interesting the number of times this forum manages to reduce all Fender and similar guitars to "just a neck bolted to a body" and therefore worth a few hundred quid at most.

It's as if all those other things like pickups, electronics, hardware, paint, fretwork and the actual construction of that neck and body are completely irrelevant.

Oh come on! The actual cost of the parts of that guitar will be less than $500 to John Cruz. Construction of a strat body and neck is extremely simple for anyone with a modicum of woodworking skills. The fretwork and setup is a doddle for any experienced tech. The relicing isn’t rocket science either. You’re paying $1000 for the guitar and $7000 for the name on the headstock.
He’s hardly the first to do this and won’t be the last but as long as people want to spend money on guitars like that good luck to him.

Loobs

F*ck giving that bigot a single penny! 

fretmeister

Philly_Q said:

It's interesting the number of times this forum manages to reduce all Fender and similar guitars to "just a neck bolted to a body" and therefore worth a few hundred quid at most.

It's as if all those other things like pickups, electronics, hardware, paint, fretwork and the actual construction of that neck and body are completely irrelevant.

The R&D on strats ended decades ago. And most people wanting a custom shop just want something that looks like it was built in the 1960s.

Nobody has forgotten about the pickups and paint etc. But there's a massive chasm between even a pro level £1200 strat and £8000. Diminishing returns are mental.

People can spend their money on whatever they want, but an £8000 guitar is not 4 times better than a £2000 one, and it wouldn't surprise me if half the buyers couldn't tell the difference in a proper blind test.

Loobs

Agree with most on this thread but if you buy a really top-end bolt-on guitar you can usually see it in the attention detail and materials/hardware used. Not £8k, though. That's madness for a Fender derivative-instrument.

grappagreen

Philly_Q said:

It's interesting the number of times this forum manages to reduce all Fender and similar guitars to "just a neck bolted to a body" and therefore worth a few hundred quid at most.

It's as if all those other things like pickups, electronics, hardware, paint, fretwork and the actual construction of that neck and body are completely irrelevant.

I don't think I'm actually saying that at all. They all matter as does the fine tuning and setup by the builder. I'm all for paying good money for good stuff. What I personally am not into is paying an absolute and unjustifiable fortune for it Other opinions are equally valid.

Regards,

Si

Boromedic

TeleMaster said:

Boromedic said:

In fairness Suhr and Anderson are an improvement on the originals, a standard Suhr or Anderson is very much a better guitar out of the box than a standard Fender as it's had more care and attention afforded to it during manufacture. I would also argue that they use better materials in the build than a standard Fender.

Objectively you could argue that but as soon as you put two guitars in your hands you may well like the Fender more. It’s not like they’re cheap, or shabby instruments and Custom Shop guitars are excellent instruments with particular neck carves that you just might like more. 

I said standard Fender, not custom shop.... I have a CS Strat, it's tactile and very lovely, it's very high quality. The Anderson I have and the Suhr I've played are head and shoulders above any Standard Fender out of the box. You could make a better guitar out of the standard but you can roll a turd in glitter it's still a turd. The little refinements that TA and Suhr make go a long way.

idiotwindow

matt_sefton said:

Philly_Q said:

t's as if all those other things like pickups, electronics, hardware, paint, fretwork and the actual construction of that neck and body are completely irrelevant.

Oh come on! The actual cost of the parts of that guitar will be less than $500 to John Cruz. ...
You’re paying $1000 for the guitar and $7000 for the name on the headstock.

I think that is a bit of a gross exaggeration. Materials aside, there are plenty of other overheads to consider before you even get to the question of how much Cruz values his time? I've no idea, he might consider $500 per hour a reasonable return but, whatever the number, that is surely his call?

danishbacon

I’d be surprised if he’s netting $50k on 25 instruments if he’s not selling direct to consumer. 

Loobs

I mean, let the man do what he wants. If there are people dumb enough to pay that much for a Strat copy, so be it. 

Musicman20

Loobs said:

F*ck giving that bigot a single penny! 

Aye that seems to have been forgotten 

terada

These will be going for more than 8k in a few years.