What's the big deal about building guitars?

[peteom]

McDonalds simply uses the standard specs that have been arrived at over the years.

[hifivic]

Not too different from buying a suit off the rack versus having one made by a tailor or buying a "spec home" versus a custom built. Not rocket science!

[Otterhound]

I think that most people have guitars built for them because they are unable to build it themselves .

[harmonics101]

Otterhound, you crack me up !!

That's EXACTLY how I read the original post, until i re-read it.

I was thinking to myself, well gee whiz, i don't have a hammer and saw to build my own guitar !



Harmonics101

[Basalt Beach]

Originally Posted by Bluegrass97

Can someone please explain to me why players have other people build their guitar for them? For example like Martins, what's wrong with the guitar that comes from the factory? Why do you have to have someone else build one for you? I'm not hating/bashing on people that do this, I just honestly don't know people do this. Can someone help me understand and explain please?

your question can apply to many topics/subjects.

Can someone please explain why people who eat food go to restaurants rather than BoneFish Grill, Carrabbas or Outback? Why would you want to go to a unique place with its own unique menu and chef?

why buy a handcrafted piece of furniture versus something from Rooms to Go or other well known manufacturer?

Why to people hire a custom builder to build their home versus buying from a well known and respected developer?

In general, people have different tastes and they also like to have options

[billder99]

Some people walk into a gallery and buy a piece of art they like. Other people are looking for more inspiration... they have an idea, and they want a talented artist who can capture what they are looking for... those people commission works of art.

This is not difficult to understand. Artists appreciate artists.

[Bm7b5]

Originally Posted by billder99

This is not difficult to understand. Artists appreciate artists.

Word.

[billgennaro]

i guess for me, after going through a bunch of Martins and Taylors over some 30 odd years, the first time i played a luthier built guitar (Kevin Ryan) i remember saying to myself, "now this is how i always imagined a guitar should sound like". since then, i've had the chance to play other luthier built guitars that were even better than that Ryan (at least to my ears). it may not be the same experience for everyone, and those people should stick with the factory builds that bring them so much joy. but, to me, Martins and Taylors were nice but couldn't deliver all that i was looking for.

to each his own.

[handers]

Originally Posted by Bluegrass97

Can someone please explain to me why players have other people build their guitar for them? For example like Martins, what's wrong with the guitar that comes from the factory? Why do you have to have someone else build one for you? I'm not hating/bashing on people that do this, I just honestly don't know people do this. Can someone help me understand and explain please?

I'm going to take a wild guess that you have never played a custom built Froggy Bottom, Olson, Traugott or any of the many luthier-built guitars. If your guitar needs are primarily strumming, then it may not be worth the trouble but if you are playing fingerstyle or picked blugrass or hydrid picking, you are likely to notice big difference between these guitars and a Martin OM off the rack.

But what others do is not necessarily relevant to what you want to do so don't worry about those who order custom build guitars.

hans

[jseth]

anyone else notice that the OP has not said a peep for 4 pages?

...hmmm...

[sfden1]

Originally Posted by sweiss

Is it for reasons of cost cutting or simply because it's not necessary?

Necessary? No. But it does mean less wear and tear on the bridge plate. A worn bridge plate = eventually an expensive, and possibly tone altering, repair. Cost cutting? Absolutely. Properly slotting a bridge is time consuming, thus a cost. Eliminate that step, you've saved some money. Did Martin once do it? Yep, but haven't for quite a while (same with probably most other factory builders). Do custom builders do this step? Yes, every one I'm aware of, and I wouldn't expect anything less from a custom built guitar.

D.

[tadol]

I would guess every factory started as an individual. Long ago, every instrument was a hand made thing, but the lessons learned early in the industrial age were applied to everything made, from boilers to art to food. On some level, we all appreciate and benefit from that, but not on every level. Where and how you choose to compromise, whether its due to cost, or an inability to differentiate, or even a simple choice that whats offered is good enough to meet your needs - well, that's your answer.

And no judgement on your choices offered, or intended -

[Bm7b5]

Originally Posted by billgennaro

i guess for me, after going through a bunch of Martins and Taylors over some 30 odd years, the first time i played a luthier built guitar (Kevin Ryan) i remember saying to myself, "now this is how i always imagined a guitar should sound like". since then, i've had the chance to play other luthier built guitars that were even better than that Ryan (at least to my ears). it may not be the same experience for everyone, and those people should stick with the factory builds that bring them so much joy. but, to me, Martins and Taylors were nice but couldn't deliver all that i was looking for.

to each his own.

I have dreamed of a Kevin Ryan Cathedrral, for sometime. So, 3yrs ago, visiting my uncle who used to play and sit in with Flash Cadillac, (don't worry, neither does anyone else. LOL) and has played Red Rocks, introduced me to Otis Taylor, who played his birthday (don't worry, neither does anyone else. LOL), anyway I digress.

I visit, and my aunt says show him your birthday present. So he pulls out a guitar case and opens it. And I exclaim, "Holy cow, thatsv Kevin Ryan Cathedral", and they were both floor-jawed and asked how I knew that. Well, while he was a professional player/performer getting an honest job, he lives in a different worlds now, where I who can't play for beans, and my signings far worse, am a technologist, and research on ANYTHING. I do is a passion. So, wile I can't play them, I know some about them, albeit much less than ome here, who's depth and width of guitar knowledge far exceeded mine. But again I digress.

So, he let's me play the KR Ctrhedral, and I melt. He got two guitars for his B-Day the KR used which was fourteen thousand Denari. And a second for twenty. After playing both, I told him, I know you paid more for that one, but THIS is by far the superior instrument, and he said that he had come to that same conclusuion.

So, I left there my mind and heart torn, that was the grail, it DOES exist, I have seen it. For $$25 I'll send you a map that gets you withing a mile....LOL

Anyway, having truly been inspired by playing that guitar, but not having that much change in the spare change milk-jar, I decided to finally pull the trigger on my other grail, that I'd had a similar experience ith and upon coming across in a small shop near Hollister (Yeah, the t-shirt) CA, playing and being incredibly besotted with, which was a McPherson. Which due to a whole other story, I ended up getting to custom spec at no charge, from selecting the wood sets front and back, to the extra wide nut to match my Taylor NS-32 ce, lots of runway for my Redd Voelkert fingers.(don't worry, neither does anyone else)

And so, hats my longwinded(could have been longer I excluded some of the best parts, for the movie) story.

I was satisfied with my McPheron in all aspects, it truly was a masterpiece. But that Kevin Ryan Cathedral, well, if you EVER get the chance, make sure you take it. You will be impressed, or your money back.

[RP]

Originally Posted by jseth

anyone else notice that the OP has not said a peep for 4 pages?

...hmmm...

Good observation. Like many threads that go on for pages and seem to take on a life of their own filled with different opinions, Bluegrass97 probably got all the information he needed or just got bored with the answers on the first page....

[Bm7b5]

I've been away a while, but if Hondo is still here, it turns out, that his band and my uncles (not His band literally, Flash Cadillac still performs in CO, and around) actually played together at events), small world..