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Basically my search for a Tele at £1k quite quickly had me looking at Custom Shop stuff - you’re driven to this if you want a 2-piece body of decent weight and decent spec and with a range of colours without a thick gloopy finish.
I’ve since had a word with myself and have decided to put together my own in the end.
There's no doubting that CS Fenders are excellent guitars but Fender definitely use aesthetic qualities (like available finishes) as a way of pushing you 'up' the range. I wouldn't go so far as saying you're "just" paying for different paint but its a definite sales tactic by Fender.
To me that seems to be what the question is - is that the kind of value that going from top-end mass produced Fender to a Custom Shop gets.
There's nothing objective that can't be scientifically proven so anything that can't be proven can't actually be better.
The truth is though that no one has tried to scientifically compare Fender mass produced guitars to Custom Shop so no one knows if there is anything that can be proven to be better.
Thankfully some things can be upgraded/changed by the player but annoyingly others can't be.
It's not just about aesthetics.
And as somebody said above, it you are willing and able to pay a certain amount for a guitar that you believe is worth the price difference, then the guitar is worth it.
Thanks for all the contributions to this thread. An interesting read.
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
I'm pining for a 72 Thinline Tele at the moment. There used to be one in the AV series, and the Classic/Vintera has variously come and gone but if you want one with decent pickups and tall frets you're in the CS instantly. I'm hoping they bring one out in the next round of AO versions as I'll be there on day one, assuming non-silly colours...
Say you wanted a reasonably light alder body, a six point trem, vintage-voiced pickups and a rosewood board with a 9.5 radius for example.
You can buy a US-made Fender anywhere with those specs, without paying an extra two grand for a back story about who built it under so-and-so's supervision.
Custom Shop Fenders do not correct faults made in the build or parts quality on American Original guitars. They do not use "better" components, it's the same stuff but with added romance and/or finish ageing.
Don't fall victim to the "it costs more so it must be better" line. Better than what? What's wrong with, or don't you like about a non Custom Shop guitar?
Custom Shops are supposed to be there so you can specify a guitar you can't get elsewhere, not so you can just buy a perfectly normal Strat except lovingly assembly by your new friends Abigail and Todd, who'll put a nice letter in the case.
At least give the cheaper stuff a chance if they tick all your boxes spec wise. It's a bolt on guitar, it's idea when it was created was to make an affordable guitar for the masses. The idea of the Strat isn't to make a guitar out of most people's reach.
Pick the spec that you want and see if you can get it outside the Custom Shop. I did, I found it in the Mexican line, albeit at the time it had to be discontinued so I bought used, so double win.
Having played and AO and CS Closet Classic in a shop last year it was very little in it for the ones I played (Both 60's double bound Tele) The CS had the slimmer neck and bigger frets that felt like it has been played in more and the AO just felt like a brand new guitar with a little fatter neck and narrower frets.
The CS set up was better assuming the shop hadn't touched it compared to the AO which needed a little work on the action and intonation.
Both were great guitars and not worlds away, just a slightly different spec and set up. I already had an AO 60's Tele and that experience hasn't made me sell it for a CS version.
But I think it would be really hard to tell apart 2 identical spec guitars 1 CS NOS and 1 AO set up the same way.
That said, you’d have to pick you’re AO/AV to compete. The hand finishing on my AV tele neck was heavy handed with over bevelled edges to the point where it was nearly conical so the strings slipped off the edges too easily. An expensive refret and re-radius helped but changed the feel. The “nitro” finish isn’t the same either. It chipped off in large chunks at the slightest bump. The finish was also applied a bit unevenly. That said, it was an unusually light tele under 7lbs and the pickups were great.
I guess, silly pricing aside, CS quality is either better (on average and beyond mere aesthetics) or it’s not. I believe it is. That decided, the question is whether it’s worth the upcharge. For many it won’t be and that’s fair enough. If they expand the AO line to include something more desirable I’d consider it in the future. But that would be a compromise to save money and not because I genuinely believe it would be equal to CS.
The radius and frets are probably the same - most CS are 9.5 radius and 6105 frets.
The finish is different. AO is poly undercoat, nitro top coat. NOS CS is nitro. In my experience, AO finishes are stickier. Can that be sorted? yup, but you don't need to on a NOS in my experience.
My favourite neck profiles are all CS - 10/56 v, 63 & 65 c shape. Can't get those on a factory model.
Fender are using more pieces of wood on the factory stuff now. There aren't as many 2 piece around now. Doesn't that affect the sound? Probably not, but it reduces cost. They're using finishes that hide the amount of pieces, but I've read about 4 pieces on AO models in some cases.
Neck woods - always flat sawn on AOs, generally quarter or rift sawn on CS. If rosewood, it's always AAA on CS. Does that affect sound? Again probably not, but it's more expensive to make.
Pickups - different people like different ones, but CS are now mainly hand wound, AO are machine wound.
Just a few examples of where the factory models cut costs to keep prices down in comparison to AOs. AOs are great guitars, some will be better than CS. Some are lighter than CS, some heavier etc. It's about sitting in a shop, playing a load and see what you fancy, but I'd suggest that if you picked up 10 of each, 8 NOS CS will win and 2 AOs will win.
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars