The Most Common Misconception About A Custom Guitar.

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Published on Thursday, 05 July 2012 03:11

Written by Frank J. Pasquale

Recently I was completing a project for an artist on an underground  Christian Metal Label. He was so excited about his new guitar that he brought one of his label mates over to see it before it was done and of course we started to talk  about a possible project for him and also possibly getting  a sponsorship for all the bands on the tour. 

He was excited and relieved that he could express exactly what he wanted in a guitar and that someone would not only listen to him but also tell him  that it was surely possible. As the conversation progressed he started to get more and more exotic as most people do and the guitar evolved into a top of the line guitar with exotic woods and the finest hardware and pickups available. It would be all handmade and shaped and contoured specifically to his requests.

As things progressed I told him that he was probably looking at a price tag somewhere in the $2200 to $2400 range and that I would be happy to get started for a deposit of $1000.
His response was what I consider to be the greatest misconception about a custom made guitar and it is more common than you think.

He got a little angry and said “That’s crazy! I can go out and get a brand new Jackson for $1700. I thought getting one made would be cheaper than that!” 

The reality is that this is what most people think. When it comes to a custom guitar the client is usually an experienced player who wants something more from a guitar than what he finds on the shelf of  his local music store. They are usually quite specific about what they want but aren’t prepared for the cost of achieving their goals.

In the situation above I took some time to unpack the response and I asked him why he thought my custom guitar would be cheaper than a new Jackson. He said that he had seen some factory tours on You tube with all of their automated machinery and equipment.  He could understand the cost of those machines and all of those workers driving up the cost of the guitars but I was just a one man shop outside of Chicago so it shouldn’t cost as much. Plus he was certain that the Jackson was a much better guitar because he saw ads for them in every major magazine and their guitars have been endorsed by major players for years.

I actually took the time to explain to him that the machinery and equipment at the factory did drive up the costs but that the price he was paying was for the machinery and the employees not for a better guitar. I also explained that a large portion of that $1700 price tag was going to pay for those ads that he saw in all those magazines not to mention that HE was paying for all those  endorsing artists to get free guitars. So the reality was that he was getting much less guitar than he was actually paying for.

Automated machinery, particularly CNC machines enable a guitar to be made in minutes, yes minutes, not hours. I read somewhere that the average guitar that hangs on the wall of a major chain music store takes approximately 8 minutes to assemble and prep for shipment once all the components are manufactured. If you are curious as to which type of guitar  these may be go to you local Guitar Center or Sam Ash store and look around at all the guitars, if you can pick it up then it probably fits the bill.

There are always guitars that are in reach at a local music store that range from $200- $800 dollars  and then there are the true gems which are safely displayed above the heads of the cash register which usually have a price tag that ranges from $2500-$4000.  These are the guitars that are made of the best woods and materials. The $2500 guitars are the entry level “top of the line” guitars while the $4000 guitars usually have an artist name attached to them. By the way, these are often made in the same factory as the $400 guitars.  

Now I write all of this not as a way of knocking guitar companies. They exist and do what they do to create product. A factory must continually put out “product” to survive and in order to be successful they must find a way to increase profits and reduce their losses. And I certainly do not mean to knock Jackson guitars. I believe that their US Custom Shop guitars  are some of the best on the planet. But I do write this to inform buyers not so much about how  factories work but rather how my “product” differs from theirs.

My guitars are 100% custom made. They are usually specific to each client’s needs. Which means that before a single piece of wood is cut there is a design phase that goes along with each guitar. It may be something simple or it may involve creating an entirely new template for a shape that doesn’t exist yet.

Every element of the manufacturing process is controlled by me and is chosen by the client. Decisions like which combinations of woods will give the best response and which hardware will give the sound and playability that the client is looking for are made during the design phase which is an element of the guitar that you just cant get from a high volume manufacturer .

Finally there is the manufacturing process. From start to finish it is done by me. If there is  a flaw in a piece of wood that is noticed when its cut it gets scrapped and we start again.
If the neck pockets do not align perfectly on center then we start again. Every cut is done in conjunction with another cut with the end result being a guitar that fits together perfectly. This is the kind of detail that cannot be picked up upon by a CNC machine. There is a certain “mojo”  that can only come from a handmade guitar.

From the design phase to the very first strum, by the  time all is said and done there is between 30 and 40 hours in a handmade guitar. This is the true craftsmanship element that comes from the tradition of old world woodworkers and cannot be achieved by any other means.