Do people really pay $1-2K for partscasters?

[bluetele54]

People do the darnedest things , things you wouldn't believe if I paid you to watch.
When are a species that has a brain capable of imagining all sorts of the things the Green Mojave Rattle snake or the Arctic Wolf or Fred's dog Fido would never think of.
Keep a Weather eye, you'll see , just wait.

“...send in the clowns, don’t bother, they’re here...”

 

[bluetele54]

possessive

...noted, but I was responding to whether the plural of “accuracy” is “accuracy’s”, as I feel was the intent of the responders to correct me by typing so.
From what I’ve always understood, it’s plural is properly spelled as I wrote:

accuracies

 

[Happy Enchilada]

"Accuracies," if it is a word indeed, would be the plural of "accuracy," which is not a noun, so a plural of it would be ... nonexistent?

"Accuracy's" as in "for accuracy's sake" is the possessive of accuracy, i.e., doing so for the sake of accuracy.

My wife teaches high school English and I've been a professional writer for 30+ years. Editing is an old habit. Hope nobody got their knickers in a knot. Life's too short.

Love your "Blue" guitar, BTW. What do they call that color exactly? There was a G&L Tele I saw the other day that was said to be "Frost Turquoise," which is the name of my favorite color they painted the first-generation Ford Broncos. Almost enough to get me to buy it ...

So why can't they put fun colors like that on today's vehicles? Seems like all they have is black, white, three colors of gray, silver, and a dark red or blue. Do people really wanna blend in that bad?

 

[tanplastic]

...noted, but I was responding to whether the plural of “accuracy” is “accuracy’s”, as I feel was the intent of the responders to correct me by typing so.
From what I’ve always understood, it’s* plural is properly spelled as I wrote:

accuracies

'accuracy's' is correct, as it is used possessively.
'accuracies' is plural, and doesn't apply.
*its

 

[Tjeppen]

The only criterium for the price of a guitar is how loony the buyer is ...

 

[NC E30]

This is a “partscaster”...
It has an original ‘51 No-caster neck and the body has a neck pocket date 5/20/52 (hey, yesterday was it’s signing date anny.!)
The guard is original, the bridge pup is og but rewound, and the neck pup is a Kuwabara...
The bridge plate when I got it was from a later year Fender, so I swapped it out for a respected after market parts maker.
It had a very thick poly finish that required stripping before I could have a proper butterscotch finish applied.
The tuners are new.
Control plate and knobs are original, as are the strap plugs, but the neck plate is from a later Fender.
Upshot: whilst it may not be a “stock as a rock” Telecaster, thus it’s value wouldn’t be commensurate with a totally original Blackguard of the era, after 50 years of playing Telecasters, it would be very difficult to find a better instrument to my taste.

This is why I don't like the term "Partscaster". This is a Fender Telecaster, whether the parts came from one guitar, or several.

 

[ping-ping-clicka]

...noted, but I was responding to whether the plural of “accuracy” is “accuracy’s”, as I feel was the intent of the responders to correct me by typing so.
From what I’ve always understood, it’s plural is properly spelled as I wrote:

accuracies

being dyslexic and missing the spelling gene, no sentence structure, chemobrained short attention span afflicted I don't comment on or attempt to grammar police anyone's posts in that I may live in a glass house but I never wash other peoples windows, ah curtains , you know what I mean.

 

[Fenderbaum]

Why not $1K.. I guess my partcaster ends up in that price at the end. Keep upgrading and putting the finest parts i can find on it. I mean. the Pickguard alone cost me almost $100.

 

[Chetter]

One word..... Nash.

Nash used Allparts

 

[Chetter]

I would never call Nash, LSL or K-Line partscasters. I understand them going for higher prices although to resell at higher prices, you have to target a specific audience who knows about those lines.

As for true partscasters, assembled and setup by someone in their workshop, I wouldn't pay $50 for one. In fact, if I see an ad for a Fender or Gibson that I like and it has any modifications listed, I immediately lose interest.

Several volumes of books can be written about this. Tough to judge just by the written word & some pics. How it feels in your hands & responds along the rest of your gear is the net result. The same can hold true for the big names, they have more instruments to manufacture & circulate so a woofer can be within any production run. A lot of elements involved in any build: Spec & Design, quality-control, materials, part selection, tooling, skill, precision, setup etc.. Fit, finish & attention to detail add to cost. Easy to spend $1k just in parts vs a lot of offerings by established manufacturers. It comes down to what you are aiming for at what price level. Even a menial item as strings can skew the results. How much would one want to spend replacing most inferior parts on say some Squires? if the parts caster has some quality elements & meets the players requirements why not? Originality doesn't necessarily make it superior. LSL is not a parts caster. Bodies & necks are made at their facility with their own techniques. Nash were Allparts, don't know if they still are. Ever hear of Hahn?

 

[middy]

The people who think Fender or Nash have some sort of magic touch that makes a huge difference in assembling a bolt on neck guitar are hilarious. They are all partscasters.

 

[old wrench]

Actually selling a parts-caster for $1000 - $2000 bucks is a pretty rare occurrence.

Sellers start out with high hopes of recovering what they put into it, plus a little for profit, but rarely does it pan out.

With the combination of all the guitar parts available, plus a little bit of knowledge gleaned on the inter-net, everybody and their brother thinks they are guitar techs and builders .

Sometimes it's just because of the weird combination of parts that some folks think comprises a dream guitar; it simply doesn't conform to another persons dream .


.

 

[burntfrijoles]

Ever hear of Hahn?

Absolutely! He used to be a mentioned quite frequently on this forum. Then one day, complaints started about delays in delivery of his guitars. I don’t know what caused the delays. The buzz about his guitars slowed and I stopped following any information about him.

He was a hot name and then he wasn’t.

i’m quite sure there are plenty of established builders producing very good T style guitars and they have earned a reputation. Nash has earned a reputation as well but he apparently finishes and assembles guitars rather than building his own necks and bodies.
The aforementioned are much different than Joe Schmoe assembling a guitar in his workshop or garage.

 

[GAS Giant]

I've never gotten more than $800 for one of mine.

No matter what I spend to build them $800 has been the ceiling, on average.

 

[Jack Clayton]

Yeah - Nash is known for his workmanship and quality - you need to build a reputation to get prices like that. And then there's entirely different partscasters, such as Eric Clapton's blackie

This. I've never paid more than a grand for a guitar but, if I had that kinda money for one, Nash would be on the short list. I don't know that much about how they differ from MJT, or whatever, but I've never picked up a Nash I didn't like. That tells me at least they've got some rocking quality control.

Let's remember that, at the height of Leo's heyday, Fender was making guitars by the same method. They were mass produced in a giant factory. Not everything has to be lovingly crafted over six months by an old German man wearing little round spectacles

 

[middy]

This. I've never paid more than a grand for a guitar but, if I had that kinda money for one, Nash would be on the short list. I don't know that much about how they differ from MJT, or whatever, but I've never picked up a Nash I didn't like. That tells me at least they've got some rocking quality control.

Let's remember that, at the height of Leo's heyday, Fender was making guitars by the same method. They were mass produced in a giant factory. Not everything has to be lovingly crafted over six months by an old German man wearing little round spectacles

What? I thought they were all magical elves using magical wood! That would explain the prices at least.

 

[Telekarster]

FWIW - Josh Smith, as I understand it, plays a "Bill Chapin T-Bird"

 

[tanplastic]

Every industry has amateurs thinking they can do better.
It's hilarious to me that people can't recognize what years of experience and acquired skills are worth.
"Mine's just as good as or better than CS".
BS.

 

[JunebugJones]

After buying a couple of (fortunately) inexpensive guitars with mods performed shoddily, I am pretty skeptical of the quality of partscasters and modded guitars in general. The exception is if the partscaster comes with a set of parts that are desirable to me that I might like to harvest for other projects: In that case, I would only buy if the price was low enough to be considered a "bargain" over buying the components separately. Or if they take the time to photograph the wiring, so I can see the professionalism of the job they've done (but I'd still be looking for a bargain over buying an "all-stock" guitar). I know that might hurt the feelings of folks who feel like they put a lot of time, $$ and effort into their parts build, but that's the way it goes.

The only exception to this is if I decided I really wanted a vintage guitar that was "priced right" because it was not all-original. I'd want to see a *lot* of photos of the components, and even then I'd likely pass on it.

 

[Cyberi4n]

Finish problems, grain problems, neck problems, fret problems, materials problems, etc.
To bring raw materials to a high level of finish every time demands skill and experience.
Industry knowledge could include current and future wood availability, new technologies in tools and woodcraft, new finishing techniques, etc.
This place is a hive of Dunning Kruger.

There’s nothing in that list above that won’t have been encountered before, and won’t have been solved before. Especially with partscasters - essentially parts being assembled. I’d understand a bit more if someone was struggling to build a strat body out of noodles, or concrete, but even those two have been done and there’s information out there.

I’m not trying to dismiss years of experience, nor am I trying to claim that any build I make is as good as a CS. However I don’t for one minute believe that we’re at the cutting edge of guitar technology, nor do I think that there are unsolvable problems requiring years of experience when assembling partscasters.

building a guitar from scratch out of solid chunks of wood - now that’s a different ball game, but then again from my understanding that isn’t a partscaster. In any case, even if one is attempting a build from scratch, it will have been done before by someone, and guarantee there will be info somewhere on whatever wood (no matter how exotic) or whatever tremolo or scale length chosen or whatever other combination.