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  #1  
Old 11-20-2009, 07:19 AM
Acoustic Rick Acoustic Rick is offline
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Default A question about Custom Build Guitars?

I've been looking at a lot of custom builds lately. Petros Tunnel 13 topping the list. My question is this, what if you spend all of that money for a custom build and then don't bond with your guitar? What if it doesn't at all meet your desires for tone?
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Old 11-20-2009, 07:46 AM
Jeff M Jeff M is offline
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Builders generally offer a return policy of somekind. Usually a few days trial.
I forget what Bruce offers...but I'm pretty sure he has a return policy.
After that....it's the classifieds.
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Old 11-20-2009, 07:56 AM
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Interesting point. But of the three commissions I've done so far, all of them were love (or at least lust) at first note.
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Old 11-20-2009, 08:08 AM
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my suggestion would be to try to find a used guitar by the builder to play for a while before you decide to take the dive. It will give you an idea of the voicing characteristics and may give you some insight into which woods to use etc. I think this might greatly increase your chances of pleasure at the end.

Another option if it's possible, would be to visit the shop if they have any ready to ship and give them a run.

If you commision a Tunnel 13, promise me you won't start another build thread.....I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE
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Old 11-20-2009, 08:43 AM
cpabolting cpabolting is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acoustic Rick View Post
I've been looking at a lot of custom builds lately. Petros Tunnel 13 topping the list. My question is this, what if you spend all of that money for a custom build and then don't bond with your guitar? What if it doesn't at all meet your desires for tone?
You would do what you do if you were not bonding with your child...spend some time with it, have some fun, give it love..it will love you back I promise. Especially when you are talking about a custom build....you have hand selected the builder..chosen materials that have the greatest potential for sounding amazing..and hopefully if you have chosen your builder wisely, they can figure how to coax all the potential out of the guitar.
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Old 11-20-2009, 10:53 AM
Martin_Nut Martin_Nut is offline
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Personally, I had a similar experience with the guitar I commissioned as I have had with some of the better handbuilts that I have purchased used. In fact two of the three handbuilts that I have purchased used might as well have been brand new, as they had been played a minuscule amount by their original owners - for whatever reasons. Meaning I did a fair amount of research, read reviews, asked questions, and relied on hard won experience gained through owning and playing a LOT of custom and higher end guitars over the past several years when making my purchase decision.

CPA's right - do your homework and figure out what you really desire in an instrument and builder. Personally I like the Petros T-13 a lot. But then I dig Walnut guitars too. Don't own one presently, but I have had two and know what I want in the next (someday...) - and the Petros has all that, and more. A very good idea to play a Petros or two before comitting, though .

Good Luck!
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Old 11-21-2009, 09:57 AM
Fingerstylist Fingerstylist is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cpabolting View Post
You would do what you do if you were not bonding with your child...spend some time with it, have some fun, give it love..it will love you back I promise. Especially when you are talking about a custom build....you have hand selected the builder..chosen materials that have the greatest potential for sounding amazing..and hopefully if you have chosen your builder wisely, they can figure how to coax all the potential out of the guitar.
Anyone else think for a second he was gonna say get rid of your child? Peace.
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Old 11-21-2009, 10:58 AM
Fran Guidry Fran Guidry is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acoustic Rick View Post
I've been looking at a lot of custom builds lately. Petros Tunnel 13 topping the list. My question is this, what if you spend all of that money for a custom build and then don't bond with your guitar? What if it doesn't at all meet your desires for tone?
You take a hit of 30 to 50 percent of the purchase price and move on. How do you think all these small shop and solo builder guitars wind up in the Classifieds?

Fran
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Old 11-21-2009, 11:18 AM
Martin_Nut Martin_Nut is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fran Guidry View Post
You take a hit of 30 to 50 percent of the purchase price and move on. How do you think all these small shop and solo builder guitars wind up in the Classifieds?

Fran
Well spoken Fran - no absolute guarantees in the end on something so subjective as whether the result is your "dream guitar" or not. With better known builders such as Petros your odds are pretty good - providing you have done your homework and not taken a total shot in the dark.
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Old 11-21-2009, 02:44 PM
Brackett Instruments Brackett Instruments is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fran Guidry View Post
You take a hit of 30 to 50 percent of the purchase price and move on. How do you think all these small shop and solo builder guitars wind up in the Classifieds?

Fran
Some buyers buy stuff on impulse buys, and don't really think about what they really want, or what they'll be getting. Some builders just crank out guitars without interacting with their clients and making sure they client is actually getting what they really want. I've had prospective clients lose interest because I ask them too many questions. Put the right buyer, and builder together and it's.....magic. During the process of "I want that piece of wood, I want that inlay, I want this kind of tone" something special can happen. I believe it's also special for a client to hear "You won't get that tone with that piece of wood. How about this piece of wood?" Most guitars that start out like this don't end up in the classifieds.


I suppose the current economy may have something to do with alot of the guitars that are for sale now too.
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Old 11-21-2009, 06:06 PM
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I wonder why anyone would sell one of my guitars for any less than they paid for it, assuming they have taken care of it. Most of my customers do not choose to sell ever, so far. Every guitar is unique, and nearly all pleased me enormously when I sold them. I believe the original price reflects the true value, and I don't think I am alone at the top or anything like that.

If someone does choose to sell one of mine cheap, I say grab it before they come to their senses.

While I wrote this in the first person, I could name a hundred builders it applies to, and there are many more I don't know. This does not apply to factory guitars with a profit margin big enough for distributors and retailers to make a buck too. Those guitars are commodities, quite another thing with which handbuilders are often confused but shouldn't be.
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Old 11-21-2009, 07:27 PM
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Brent Hutto Brent Hutto is offline
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Bruce,

To my estimation, very good custom guitars are more like fine violins than like factory guitars (in many ways). As such, they are probably severely illiquid at the "true" value which as you say is somewhere in the neighborhood of what you charge for them new.

I know if I were to buy, say, a $15,000 20th-century viola by a Cremonese builder it would be worth that same amount the next week or the next year or when I'm 64. Assuming I paid the fair value for it of course. But the sale of such an instrument can easily take 2, 3, 4 years or sometimes even longer. It is just not a matter of listing it on eBay or hanging it in a shop for a few weeks and selling.

Anyone who waits for months for their Sexauer guitar and then decides they want to get rid of it a couple months later because they didn't "bond" with it are not going to be inclined to wait patiently for several years to pass it on to the next owner and recoup their money. They tend to be the sort of person who is hot to purchase whatever expensive guitar their roving eye has landed on next and they want to set whatever price it will bring within a matter of a few months at most. So they end up selling it for half what you charged them for it earlier that same year.
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Old 11-22-2009, 03:29 PM
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I totally agree that being in a hurry is the root problem with my equation! There is very little about being in a hurry that works out well. When it come to investment strategy, buy and hold is the proven formula.
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Old 11-22-2009, 04:11 PM
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Of course if you sell 10 guitars, eight to buy-and-holders and two to in-a-hurriers we'll never hear about the eight on the forum but we'll see the other two for sale. Maybe for sale more than once.

I'm not complaining, though. My best guitar would be well above my pay grade if someone hadn't owned it for a couple years and passed it along at 50 cents on the dollar. I'm a buy-and-holder myself.
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  #15  
Old 11-22-2009, 04:19 PM
Coke_zero Coke_zero is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by woody b View Post
I've had prospective clients lose interest because I ask them too many questions.
Better in the long run than making a guitar then the buyer not liking it?
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