Fender Custom Shop "Apprentice Masterbuilt"

Strat54 · July 2021

Seems this is the next stroke of marketing genius from the FCS, meet the Apprentice Masterbuilt guitars. In the beginning the original Masterbuilders like J.W.Black, Gene Baker, John English, Alan Hamel built guitars pretty much on their own and thus production numbers through the 90's were low. When management changed in late 90's in an attempt to ramp up production numbers the masterbuilders were assigned apprentices many of whom became 'masterbuilders' themselves. Over the last 15 years the amount of work performed on each guitar by the masterbuilders has been diluted, yet Fender would obviously not want you to know this as prices are now hitting £8k and everyone wants think they have bought something 'special' Now it seems they have found away to make these apprentices 'special' too. This is Nick Saccone's Tele...a snip at £4300...

https://reverb.com/item/42381934-new-fender-custom-shop-nick-saccone-masterbuilt-50-s-telecaster-relic-3-tone-sunburst-sparkle

https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--PKVHhv2q--/f_auto,t_supersize/v1627076511/qzofvy0mkyimwm23qcwt.jpg

Chuffola · July 2021

Company "charges seemingly ridiculous money for stuff people will happily pay seemingly ridiculous money for" shocker.

Can't blame them for wringing every last penny out of their marketplace if we're happy to pay it, really. I couldn't justify the cost so I'm clearly not the target market, but there'll be plenty who will. And they'll probably hold their value pretty well.

Seziertisch · July 2021

I wonder what will happen when Nick Saccone graduates to being a full-blown Masterbuilder? Will his apprentice guitars become more valuable? Will his post grad guitars automatically go up in price?

Also, considering that he seemingly built, finished and reliced a whole guitar on his own while still an apprentice, what exactly has he got left to learn before he becomes a master.

I’m waiting for the Fender Custom Shop O Level Woodwork Project model.

ICBM · July 2021

It's all a bit Mickey Mouse...

HandwrittenHero · July 2021

From Ron Thorn's mouth:
"There’s 4 Master Builder Assistants and I believe either 10 or 12 guitars have been built by them over the past full year.
I wouldn’t really consider this a marketing ploy or trying to fill a price range void.
Marketing has way bigger fish to fry than to worry about a dozen guitars a year. I’m actually chuckling at the thought of it."

"This has been a great program for the apprentices to gain experience in all the other aspects of being a MasterBuilder:
Designing, scheduling, interacting with dealers, administrative/organizing, ordering parts, etc.
It’s not just about fretdressing and wiring, they’ve got that dialed it, now let’s see how you handle everything else that’s part of the gig."

Doesn't seem worth frothing about to me

GoldenEraGuitars · July 2021

Eagerly awaiting the FSR apprentice tribute models from Mexico at £1695.

*not really

GoldenEraGuitars · July 2021

I wonder if the apprentices use the same templates as their “masters”

Seziertisch · July 2021

HandwrittenHero said:

From Ron Thorn's mouth:
"There’s 4 Master Builder Assistants and I believe either 10 or 12 guitars have been built by them over the past full year.
I wouldn’t really consider this a marketing ploy or trying to fill a price range void.
Marketing has way bigger fish to fry than to worry about a dozen guitars a year. I’m actually chuckling at the thought of it."

"This has been a great program for the apprentices to gain experience in all the other aspects of being a MasterBuilder:
Designing, scheduling, interacting with dealers, administrative/organizing, ordering parts, etc.
It’s not just about fretdressing and wiring, they’ve got that dialed it, now let’s see how you handle everything else that’s part of the gig."

Doesn't seem worth frothing about to me

As an end customer of a high end electric guitar you don’t really care about how good the person who made it is at paperwork

HandwrittenHero · July 2021

Seziertisch said:

HandwrittenHero said:

From Ron Thorn's mouth:
"There’s 4 Master Builder Assistants and I believe either 10 or 12 guitars have been built by them over the past full year.
I wouldn’t really consider this a marketing ploy or trying to fill a price range void.
Marketing has way bigger fish to fry than to worry about a dozen guitars a year. I’m actually chuckling at the thought of it."

"This has been a great program for the apprentices to gain experience in all the other aspects of being a MasterBuilder:
Designing, scheduling, interacting with dealers, administrative/organizing, ordering parts, etc.
It’s not just about fretdressing and wiring, they’ve got that dialed it, now let’s see how you handle everything else that’s part of the gig."

Doesn't seem worth frothing about to me

As an end customer of a high end electric guitar you don’t really care about how good the person who made it is at paperwork

But if I understand the whole masterbuilt thing correctly part of it is them interacting with the customer or at least the dealer re the spec and then their ability to translate it into the right build.

Otherwise...well yeah. In every job there's things you do that aren't directly something an end customer would give you money for as adding value to them. But it doesn't mean they're not valid required tasks.

RaymondLin · July 2021

Aren’t technically ALL assemblyman on the line Masterbuilder in training?

I mean how else do you work your way up?

Strat54 · July 2021

Yeah Ron Thorn....he's the guy when he joined Fender said in his video that he wasn't really a relic guy and ageing guitars was not really his forte...but they still charge you £6k for one, Great.....thanks, masterbuilt but not master relic'd.

"Its not just about fret dressing and wiring' - yep that's about all they do to a typical Masterbuilt guitar because we know they obviously don't cut the bodies and necks, they don't paint finish them, most assemblies are pre-wired. Dale Wilson was interviewed at NAMM a couple of years back and was talking about his relic Strat on display, he let slip mid conversation that he had an assistant and the interviewer innocently said 'So wait, you don't build the guitars yourself?' Cue an awkward silence and some backtracking....ouch. Its still on Youtube. Is it Masterbuilt or not?

This is why the guys like John Suhr left. He didn't want his signature decal on a guitar built with assistants. I had an interaction with a ex masterbuilder on social media the other day who still works at Fender. He put up a pic of a guitar on his page that was one of 150 that he masterbuilt but said it was one of just five. When I corrected him and showed him that they made 150 and sold them as masterbuilt he replied 'I didn't do those just the first handful maybe' Wtf?

liamon · July 2021

Seems a notch up from Gibson, who have the work experience kids on QC.

TTony · July 2021

Seziertisch said:

I’m waiting for the Fender Custom Shop O Level Woodwork Project model.

Gibson have been using that concept for many years.

They just don’t use that name.

GoldenEraGuitars · July 2021

TTony said:

Seziertisch said:

I’m waiting for the Fender Custom Shop O Level Woodwork Project model.

Gibson have been using that concept for many years.

They just don’t use that name.

Tom Murphy?

brooom · July 2021

Next year... apprentice to the apprentice!

ICBM · July 2021

Strat54 said:

Dale Wilson was interviewed at NAMM a couple of years back and was talking about his relic Strat on display, he let slip mid conversation that he had an assistant and the interviewer innocently said 'So wait, you don't build the guitars yourself?' Cue an awkward silence and some backtracking....ouch. Its still on Youtube. Is it Masterbuilt or not?

Personally, I couldn't care less. The idea of "masterbuilding" a guitar that was designed from the outset for mass production inherently rubs me the wrong way to start with, and then there's the fact that I've preferred every single 'Team Built' CS Fender to every 'Masterbuilt' one I've played, regardless of hype and price.

The only reason I can see for choosing 'Masterbuilt' would be to get a genuinely custom spec that isn't available off the shelf, and then I would only care that the guitar was built properly.

WezV · July 2021

I'm all for apprentice pieces.... but they should offer something different. Like a study into a certain technique or style. Not a run if the mill custom shop spec

francer · July 2021

Buying a masterbuilt Fender is like getting Michelin starred chef to make you a full English breakfast. Eric Cantona told me that

earwighoney · July 2021

ICBM said:

Strat54 said:

Dale Wilson was interviewed at NAMM a couple of years back and was talking about his relic Strat on display, he let slip mid conversation that he had an assistant and the interviewer innocently said 'So wait, you don't build the guitars yourself?' Cue an awkward silence and some backtracking....ouch. Its still on Youtube. Is it Masterbuilt or not?

Personally, I couldn't care less. The idea of "masterbuilding" a guitar that was designed from the outset for mass production inherently rubs me the wrong way to start with, and then there's the fact that I've preferred every single 'Team Built' CS Fender to every 'Masterbuilt' one I've played, regardless of hype and price.

The only reason I can see for choosing 'Masterbuilt' would be to get a genuinely custom spec that isn't available off the shelf, and then I would only care that the guitar was built properly.

Hello @ICBM ;

Sorry but I accidentally LOL'd this post, fat thumbs on an Android phone.

I was going to post up a thread asking for those who have actually tried Masterbuilt CS Guitars and what they were like to play.

Could you possibly answer what the difference between the CS Fenders and the Masterbuilt guitars were?

FTR, I own a 'celebrity' guitar maker well not really like the ones of the Fender Masterbuilders, but a Spanish guitar who's instrument I ordered the cusp before some famous Spanish guitarists bought theirs, and his demand/name/reputation blew up. Owning this particular instrument was quite a revelation as it made me appreciate how even though it was a very nice guitar, that's all it is. It's an instrument and it serves a purpose, to make music. I enjoy it and the factory built ones all the same.

In the Spanish guitar making side of things, a few makers will have 2A models which are either stripped down versions of their high end models or it's built under the supervision of the guitar maker by their apprentice (who often go to start up their own workshops, Stephen Hill of Granada has had a number of apprentices make his 2A instruments who have gone on to be very good guitar makers in their own right).

For Fender Apprentice Masterbuilt instruments, do the Masterbuilders have any guidance on their apprentices?

ICBM · July 2021

earwighoney said:

Could you possibly answer what the difference between the CS Fenders and the Masterbuilt guitars were?

Hard to explain, but the ‘Masterbuilt’ ones have all felt oddly not quite like real Fenders, but like a close approximation and somehow exaggerated too much - whereas the ‘Team Built’ ones have all felt exactly like I would expect a great example of a genuine old Fender to be like, just with the inconsistency taken out. The ‘Team Built’ have also been universally more resonant and just better-sounding too.

I know it’s not been a huge sample size - I’ve played about half a dozen ‘Masterbuilt’ and around twenty or so ‘Team Built’ - but it’s been a pretty consistent pattern.

(And I’ve played probably over a hundred original Fenders and owned about a dozen, so I do know what they feel like.)

BowynMadley · July 2021

This is not a new thing. You think Tom Murphy personally aged every gibson that carried that banner? Every intricate profession will endorse this model or you'll find it has a very short life span. Fender just so happen to be the people publicly announcing it. There must be a difference between custom shop employee and master builder therefore the "apprentice" has become a thing. What would you rather. Them train on guitars that never see the light of day or guitars that are reduced in price due to the nature of its build?

However I still think the money fender charge for custom shop, apprentice master builds and master build guitars is completely insane.

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Fender Custom Shop "Apprentice Masterbuilt"

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