Here's my story of the only hand made custom I've owned.
My folks had bought a condo in Fallbrook, CA and I went to see it. They said, "Hey, our neighbor a few doors down builds guitars - you should go meet him." So I walked over and knocked on his door. It was
John Kinnard (the west coast John Kinnard - not John Kinnaird on the other side of the county).
As I walked over to his door I had this strong unexplainable feeling in my gut that he was going to give me a guitar. I knocked and he answered. He was a very friendly guy, an ex-hippy who makes jewelry and guitars and who is a pretty good
painter. He had also worked at Taylor guitars at some point.
He invited me and let me play the guitars in his place and they were awesome. After awhile he said, "Hey, if I built you a guitar would you play it?" I answered, "Yeah! But I don't have the budget" He said not to worry about it.
Six months later I had this guitar. My first impression was that it sounded beautiful, and that passages that had been challenging for me to play on my Taylor 810 seemed to glide easily under my fingers on this guitar. It's absolutely wonderful and I'll never sell it.