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Maybe it is a question of who can deliver something of the standard you were hoping for.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Sucks, but I've had this happen (when a Tele paid the rent one month). Took a bath (thank you Macaris) but rent paid and painful lesson learned.
think of Purple Ronnie as a gateway drug. He came on tour.
The allure of a luthier built instrument in this case is, knowing the work personally and already owning a set of hand built pickups, also having played the specific guitar in question. I'm not particularly fussed about having input in the build to be honest, trusting that the instrument is made with players in mind. If looking for something highly specific or unique, I may be in a different position altogether but it's not something I've ever considered seriously.
With respect to this guitar vs mass produced one, we're talking far less money new than a high end custom shop whatever. I cannot stand the custom shop logo on back of headstocks much like the les Paul hologram, and at the price range I'm considering, I think that the link between myself, guitar, luthier is a bit more solid on these lines than just another mass produced high end guitar. But that is something that actually matters to me.
"the guitars are top notch, and it is one of my guitars that doesn't live in a case"
"best you can get"
Guitar & case cost £1,100. Gave it a try out, and all seemed okay. However the troubles started after I got home and had the guitar for a short while. It had to get a service. And no I wasn't going to take a day off and drive across the country, or trust the couriers. It was then I discovered the bloke couldn't solder to save his life. Took a few bob to get that sorted.
Eventually discovered the bridge was cheaper than anything that Jack McCheap could knock out and kept loosening. Cost me a £££ to fix, and signalled the end of any faith in the guitar.
For all the issues one might get with a Fender of a Gibson, I'm in no hurry to trust a small builder again after all the hassle I had with the guitar.
Finally managed to sell it via Reverb for a fraction of what I paid. When I factor in all the repairs, servicing, strings etc, I lost about £1500 in just over two years. Don't miss it one bit.
Don't buy such a guitar thinking you'll get your money back - you NEVER will.
Caveat Emptor.
There are a lot of different skills involved in making guitars (soldering being one of them) but you do have to be on top of all of them if you are going to turn out a good product.
It does go to show that you have to choose your builder carefully though.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
2. To lose £1500, you must have spent close to £1000 on fixing it. For that sort of problems, I'd have been getting a refund, or getting him to fix it.
That sort of thing gets the small builder industry a bad name. No doubt the bad 'uns exist, but there are enough good ones around, with customer testimonials to support them, if you choose carefully.
Lessons: (a) not even a big name will necessarily save you from losing money on a sale and (b) I don't understand pricing! (c) er something wise about luthier built guitars but it's escaping me now.
You need an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
My feedback page: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/91654/
Of the £2399, the dealer received £1999 once they've paid the VAT to HMRC. They've then got their overheads to pay and a profit margin to earn before they pay Fender (who've then got all of their Corporate overheads, etc to pay). Scarily, the *intrinsic" value of the guitar itself (ie parts, materials and labour on the guitar itself) is therefore probably less than £1k.
Look at it another way. If you'd sold the guitar back to the dealer at £1399, they'd have resold it at £1399 +25% margin +20% VAT = £2100. Would you have preferred to pay £2399 for brand new, or £2100 for s/h? I'm guessing the former.
Coincidentally, the value to the dealer (ie what they'd have paid you) of the s/h guitar is probably closer to the £1k level again, allowing them to sell it on at £1500, covering their margin and VAT and creating sufficient gap between the prices of the new and s/h guitars. This essentially creates a benchmark for private sales. You'd not sell for less than £1k because the dealer would give you that, but no-one would pay more than £1500 because they can get one from a dealer (with guarantee, etc) for that. Hence your sale price between those two prices.
The above illustrates why buying from a small independent luthier can be a good deal, financially. No corporate overheads to cover, little of their direct overheads to pay, no VAT to pay (since most are below the threshold) and - as we all know - very little profit margin in their prices either!
Hence what you pay for a one-off guitar is going to be far closer to its intrinsic value - you're paying for the guitar itself rather than also paying a share of the costs of the colouring-in department (marketing), expense accounts of the sales team, Cecil/Cecily in HR, various layers of middle management, etc, etc, etc.
Still get hammered on resale though!
It isn't my go-to though - the PRS DGT has that accolade, because it's 90% as good but more versatile and lighter.
Interesting thing is that the Morgan whilst having a very different feel with that fat neck and snow-capped frets, I find it so easy to go back to, probably because I played it exclusively for a number of years, inc in my first gigging band (late starter ;-) )
As many have said, there is as good as zero chance of recouping money on a small-name custom (not an issue with mine, have never considered selling) and the other thing I think worth bearing in mind is that with zero constraints on spec it is easy to do something that seems sensible at the time, but isn't. It can be as simple as putting a control in a slightly awkward place through to making it look like Liberace's 'going out' handbag.
There are other people with very good reputations like Feline, Rob Williams, Damian Probett, and Martyn Booth who will not be cheap either.
Lower down the price scale, you have up and coming people, or people who aren't completely dependent on it financially - it's a hobby or sideline that brings in a little bit of cash. Some of these guys make really good guitars, but others in this price range cut corners. The problem is telling which is which.
If you do go for one the better known builders you will probably have better resale value than with the cheaper builders - although not as good as if you spent the same money on a Custom Shop Gibson or Fender.
You need an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
My feedback page: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/91654/