The Wait

There are a lot of people awaiting their custom Emerald guitars--me too. In thinking about the wait I realize that waiters tend to be marked by a tendency to second-guess themselves. "I ordered a carbon weave, but then saw a woody--I want a woody." "I wanted the K&K but then saw the Barbera." "I ordered a short-scale but then decided a long scale is better." And so forth.

It looks to me like a lot of the wait time is due to procrastination. The cool part is that Alistair rolls with the dithering. When I was doing sculpture as a business I tried one commissioned work. It was a commercial job and the contractor and I worked out what was wanted, and then the contractor changed his mind about this, and then that, and then this.....I was pulling my hair out by the end of the job and said "never again." Custom work is not easy.

I may have the record for wait time because I am quite the ditherer. I've had four custom Emeralds and awaiting a 5th. I've procrastinated with each order and Alistair has taken it in stride. And the results have been stunning.

I make fun of waiters, but the bottom line is they are thinking, as is Alistair. That is why Emerald guitars are so unique--they are result of a collaborative effort based on the experience, thought, and desire of global players.

[AZLiberty]

I have done custom work before (cabinetry)

Let's say I have a 9-month lead time.

Five months of that might simply be waiting list time. You pay a deposit, you now have a place in line, but I'm not actually going to work on your job for 4-5 months.

You want to make a change before I actually order or cut wood that's not an issue. You want a change afterward, I'm going to need a signed ECO and an appropriate change fee.

[jdinco]

Most companies can't maintain the changing custom orders way of doing business and eventually go to standard offerings with minimum custom offerings. So I applaud Emerald for making it work. It's a great thing for us.