What do 'Master Builders' actually do?

[Esquire59]

Originally Posted by ac15

Just as a general observation, I noticed that when threads like this come up about the Fender Custom Shop or Masterbuilt guitars, I'm amazed at the skepticism and negativity in many of the posts that follow. Almost as if the sole goal of the Custom Shop is to ream you as badly as possible. Weird.

My observation exactly....

[Jake D]

Great post Mr. TDPRI!

[lckyjcky]

Originally Posted by Jake D

Great post Mr. TDPRI!

Great post?? Just because its the Administrator of this site??

[Bromanking]

Originally Posted by Mike Eldred

Not me. If I won the lottery, I'd buy this.


ME

I'm with you on that. I imagine it would be pretty hard to find a REAL Black Lightning. They only made 20 something of them, I think. I'd probably look for an Egli Vincent or something with the Vincent motor in a more modern chassis, that I could race.....maybe one of those Aussie ones.
B.

[mvanslooten]

Originally Posted by TDPRI

But let's not forget that you probably have zero idea of what the costs associated with running an operation like the CS are. You have no knowledge of the pay earned by masterbuilders, you have no dealers or dealer markup added to your builds. You don't sponsor musicians. You don't advertise your products. You don't have a staff of executives, shop employees, marketers, or PR people. Nor do you have environmental regulations, insurance regulations, employee benefits or California real estate costs.

None of those things add value for customers.

I could even argue the opposite: with all of Fender's assembly-line product revenue behind it, the CS could sell master-built guitars cheaper than the best one-man shops out there and still make a profit.

[Mike Eldred]

Yah, I gotta finish this first anyway!


ME

[sfcmark]

Originally Posted by lckyjcky

Great post?? Just because its the Administrator of this site??

Or maybe because it raised some valid points.

[brewwagon]

Originally Posted by Ron Garson

This.

special order for gaddafi?

[Ron Garson]

They're no good to Gaddafi.


There's no electricity where he is!

[Skub]

Originally Posted by Ron Garson

They're no good to Gaddafi.


There's no electricity where he is!

Y'never know what fires the burners.

[swleamon]

Originally Posted by Latebluesman

Impressive thought that in a thread like this, 250+ posts,
and only one or two guys posted as owners of a Fender masterbuilt guitar.
I wonder why...where are the rest...
(And on the other hand, it was the Kirn guitars owners who posted more...)

I'll be an owner in a few weeks... ;-)

[BoyNashville]

I was unaware that Bill Nash didn't build his own bodies & necks.... That's interesting! I think I might give it a try to build my tele's like that, just do my own finishing & assembling... who knows maybe I can do as well as him! If you guys want to see a true hand built guitar go to www.pwogs.com & check out Mike Gillentine builds, he build from scratch without any CNC routers & he hand carves the necks. He is currently working on building me a Snakehead replica tele body out of the 200 year old pine he restored from the renovation of his store which is connected to Tupelo Hardware where Elvis bought his 1st guitar when he was a child. So basically the wood being used in my tele body was there when the King bought the guitar that changed the world, the neck however is a Warmoth Paddlehead that he is having to shape the snakehead headstock. I chose to go with the Warmoth Neck to cut down on my price plus I also supplied all the parts, so the only thing he is building by hand basically is the body but if you check out his site he has pictures of him building his masterpieces.

[Brooks A Hood]

Question: What do you call a master builder who does everything by hand ?
Answer: Unemployed.

Question: What do you call a master luthier who does everything by hand ?
Answer: Broke.

[supersoldier71]

I think the CS should charge whatever a customer will pay. It is a discretionary purchase.

[swleamon]

I can't make it thought this thread... I got to page 5 (out of 20) on the mobile app and knew where it was going. Sigh.

In October I spent a day on the Fender campus (long cool story in another thread). Spent the afternoon in the Custom Shop building MY ultimate telecaster. Had lunch with Mike, debated what I thought I needed in my guitar - and got to watch the inner workings of the CS as well as the general line.

Let's be clear of one thing - EVERY single person I encountered that day loved what they were doing, and were passionate about it. It was a big family. Mike knew everyone on the floor by name, everyone would smile and say hello to a stranger/tourist dude like me. I know this has nothing to do with 'the process' but any attempt to diminish what the builders, and people on the line do, without spending time seeing them do what they do, is nothing but blind, baseless assumption. Period.

I just got note today that my Tele master built by Jason Smith, will be finished in approx. 6 weeks. I'm blessed/privileged to have this guitar and my gratitude to Tony (director of national accounts), Mike, Jason and the others in the CS who lent a hand, will ALWAYS be remembered and honored every time I play that instrument.

Here are some photos and video from my trip (no photos allowed in the custom shop) of course.

http://gallery.me.com/theleamons/100178

[Latebluesman]

Originally Posted by swleamon

I can't make it thought this thread... I got to page 5 (out of 20) on the mobile app and knew where it was going. Sigh.

In October I spent a day on the Fender campus (long cool story in another thread). Spent the afternoon in the Custom Shop building MY ultimate telecaster. Had lunch with Mike, debated what I thought I needed in my guitar - and got to watch the inner workings of the CS as well as the general line.

Let's be clear of one thing - EVERY single person I encountered that day loved what they were doing, and were passionate about it. It was a big family. Mike knew everyone on the floor by name, everyone would smile and say hello to a stranger/tourist dude like me. I know this has nothing to do with 'the process' but any attempt to diminish what the builders, and people on the line do, without spending time seeing them do what they do, is nothing but blind, baseless assumption. Period.

I just got note today that my Tele master built by Jason Smith, will be finished in approx. 6 weeks. I'm blessed/privileged to have this guitar and my gratitude to Tony (director of national accounts), Mike, Jason and the others in the CS who lent a hand, will ALWAYS be remembered and honored every time I play that instrument.

Here are some photos and video from my trip (no photos allowed in the custom shop) of course.

http://gallery.me.com/theleamons/100178

Great pictures! I am sure you are counting days.
Happy for you my friend, waiting for pictures and impressions of the guitar,
when she arrives!

[TDPRI]

Originally Posted by mvanslooten

None of those things add value for customers.

I could even argue the opposite: with all of Fender's assembly-line product revenue behind it, the CS could sell master-built guitars cheaper than the best one-man shops out there and still make a profit.

They may not add value to you but they are real costs none the less. And because of the argument made they should be considered.

The great thing is no one is making anyone buy anything. Don't like the Custom Shop? Good for you. Here's the good news... you don't have to buy one.

I too wonder about the strong feelings bordering on hate or disgust for high priced guitars. It seems that some people see a high price tag on a Guitar - any guitar -- and they react with ANGER and contempt. There are lots of expensive things in the world that we can't afford -- but I don't think any of them make people angry in quite the same way.

[TDPRI]

Originally Posted by swleamon

Here are some photos and video from my trip (no photos allowed in the custom shop) of course.

http://gallery.me.com/theleamons/100178

I took the tour during NAMM for a special Press Day. I got lots of photos in the Custom Shop. I need to get those uploaded. I'll try to do that tomorrow.

[Picton]

Originally Posted by mvanslooten

None of those things add value for customers.

The marketing, musician endorsements, etc. most certainly do add value, particularly resale value. There's also, whether or not some of us choose to admit it, a definite "prestige factor" involved in gigging a CS in most peoples' eyes, and although that's not quantifiable, it's a value nevertheless.

[swleamon]

Originally Posted by TDPRI

I took the tour during NAMM for a special Press Day. I got lots of photos in the Custom Shop. I need to get those uploaded. I'll try to do that tomorrow.

You took photos in the CS? Thought that was a no-no? Might wanna ask Mike if it's cool to post them here... the whole trade secret thing, ya know?