Once you go custom, can you go back?

[dkg1616]

I’ve had my first custom guitar now for about 1.5 weeks. Kopp k35 with a handful of upgrades, select woods and neck/nut tuning. It’s is extremely impressive. My other two acoustics are a Gibson custom shop hummingbird and banner lg2. I know I am still in the honeymoon phase, but those who’ve gone custom, how often do you play your other mainstream builder guitars?

I say this as I’m already half tempted to do another small body build with kevin and potentially sell the Gibsons (or just throw them in the case for long term).

[mikealpine]

I have gone back to playing my Rainsong, Emerald, Gibson Songwriter and Takamine TAN16C more than I play my customs. The carbon fiber models are stupid-easy to care for, requiring nothing more than string changes. I will likely return the Takamine because the Gibson sounds fuller and just “more” than the Tak, and the neck is awesome. My Stehr and Edwinson are incredible guitars, but they live in their cases. And interestingly enough, they don’t cut through when playing with other guitars like the others. They’re great when alone, or maybe one other player, but after that…they’re buried.

So, yes, you can go back. Or not. Depends on you, really. Most importantly, glad you’re enjoying your new guitar!

[The Bard Rocks]

Pretty much anything I play now was custom-made for me, not that manufactured guitars can't be found that rival these. I made a few discoveries in the process:

1) Builds are super fun for me. I take an active part in the planning and feel a greater connection to the guitar as a result.
2) This has usually led to a real feeling of friendship with the luthiers. I have never had too many friends!
3) I learned as a kid that I enjoy things that are unique (and thinking I am unique too - I know better than that of course, but the thinking persists). And all my builds are unique, one of a kind.
4) I have an outside interest in a variety of woods and my instruments help feed that, and vice versa. I even have a non-commercial website devoted to tonewoods (www.tonewooddatasource.weebly.com).

[Guitars44me]

Even though the MANY non-custom guitars I have owned in the last 30 years have all had really good setups and geometry, I am NOT going to stop gigging and daily playing my John Kinnaird customs.

The ergonomic features and spectacular tone and VOLUME when whacked are totally addicting.

Plus, it is really Hard to find 25” scale and wide, slim V-ish necks on Super Jumbo and oversized Dreadnaughts.
But not at my house! Hahaha

Thanks John!

Play what makes YOU happy, and tune UP often

Paul

[Zandit75]

I built my OM just over 5yrs ago, and if I've played my other guitars for more than 20hrs each in that time, I'd be very surprised!

[rockabilly69]

I have one pretty exotic build Nowland (Flame Koa, Zircote fingerboard and bridge, Alaskan cedar top), a few limited edition models from smaller builders, and quite a few production acoustics (Martins, Gibsons, etc). And although I like all of the guitars I've kept, the guitar I like most is a 1964 Gibson J45. If I had to sell them all except one, that would be the guitar I'd keep. I've played plenty of beautiful custom guitars, but no guitar fits my singing voice and the tone I want to hear more than that Gibson.

It's not that I don't play the other guitars, I record them all the time and switch 'em up. As a matter of fact I recorded that Nowland guitar last night with great results. But when I'm writing something that I feel is something important to me. the first guitar I grab is the Gibson.

Typically I buy guitars in person and they have to move me before I hand over the cash unless an online seller offers me a liberal return policy. A lot of it just comes down to the wood. Custom builders can voice a guitar with maybe a higher probability of getting good results, but sometimes the woods used in a production guitar just line up perfectly for what I want to hear.

[colins]

I get the sound I want out of my custom builds, which was why I did them. But like others I have also had a great time as they were built, and now I have guitars with their own stories, and lots of good memories of time spent with the people who built them.

I had Martins and Taylors that were fine guitars, but they have all been sold, as the custom builds give me exactly what I want.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by colins

...as the custom builds give me exactly what I want.

That's what it really all comes down to.

[Brent Hutto]

Do you mean "custom" as you having ordered a guitar to be built to your own specs? Or do you included buying used guitars that were from a boutique or custom small-shop builder?

I've never had any urge at all to custom order a guitar. But once I started playing used "custom" guitars or ones built on spec by individual builders I certainly lost interest in ever owning a Martin or Gibson or whatever.

For me it was the experience of playing guitars with lightly built, hand-made, unique voicing and construction that was the can't-go-back moment. I ended up with a John Walker Lolo Creek that wasn't built specifically for me but as the second owner it feels like if a guitar had been built for me, this is what it would feel like.

I also played but never owned guitars by several other individual luthiers that were just qualitatively different than any factory built guitar ever made.

[dcn]

For playing, practicing, composing, rehearsing, recording at home, very difficult to go back to factory-built after having a luthier made guitar. Not to mention the fact that luthiers tend to be such wonderful people, it's like you're hanging out with them.

That said, I have an Emerald X7 living at my mom's house that is perfectly suited for that purpose - she lives in a sub-tropical climate with no central HVAC, meaning indoor humidity ranges from 80% to 15% over the course of the year, and temperature varies wildly, too. I spent 10 months in-between visits and the guitar was still in tune.

[Bluemonk]

Here's a song I remember from the "folk scare" days. A silly little ditty, but it speaks to your question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C-CYiLFtxU

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by dkg1616

I know I am still in the honeymoon phase, but those who’ve gone custom, how often do you play your other mainstream builder guitars?

I have gone down the full custom, built from scratch to my exact specs rabbit hole twice. Neither was a particularly great experience. I did not enjoy the wait or cost for what was eventually delivered and I no longer own either of them. Part of the issue (for me at least) is that when you order a full custom, you are having a guitar built with features that you can only imagine will produce a specific guitar look and sound. And living up to that imaginary perfect guitar is difficult at best to achieve. You are trying to get a builder to produce something you've built up in your mind as perfection and it's a disconnect that can be hard to bridge. Nothing manufactured by human hands will ever be perfect.

Thankfully they were guitars with desirable features so they sold easily and without loss of investment but it definitely soured me on process. I've climbed the high-end guitar mountain and while the view from the top was impressive, it was ultimately underwhelming when all things were taken into consideration. I have since descended down the other side of the mountain and these days find myself fully happy (happier, even) with playing lower-end but still high quality production offerings. I still prefer to buy used and look for small features that are decidedly uncommon and set a guitar apart from most traditional builds but without the extreme cost of full blown customs.

So, in my case at least, yes, you can go back. In fact, it was very easy to do so in my case. Neither of my full customs lasted any longer than most non-custom guitars I've owned. I would caution others looking to do a full custom build to understand that what you think you want and what you'll ultimately get are not exactly the same thing and never will be.

[eyesore]

Well I am having a 14 fret to the body OO -03 cutaway Larrivee being built . It started about a month and a half ago. All I can say is 'I hope I lik it".

[Jeff Mc]

I have had one custom build. I really like the guitar but it made me realize that I didn't really have any abnormal specs and my only inputs were the woods and cosmetics. So now, I have all small shop luthier guitars but they are mostly spec guitars that I bought from the builder. The obvious benefit to me is that I can see and play it before buying and don't have to get into a multi-year line to have it built.

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

I have gone down the full custom, built from scratch to my exact specs rabbit hole twice. Neither was a particularly great experience. I did not enjoy the wait or cost for what was eventually delivered and I no longer own either of them. Part of the issue (for me at least) is that when you order a full custom, you are having a guitar built with features that you can only imagine will produce a specific guitar look and sound. And living up to that imaginary perfect guitar is difficult at best to achieve. You are trying to get a builder to produce something you've built up in your mind as perfection and it's a disconnect that can be hard to bridge. Nothing manufactured by human hands will ever be perfect.

Thankfully they were guitars with desirable features so they sold easily and without loss of investment but it definitely soured me on process. I've climbed the high-end guitar mountain and while the view from the top was impressive, it was ultimately underwhelming when all things were taken into consideration. I have since descended down the other side of the mountain and these days find myself fully happy (happier, even) with playing lower-end but still high quality production offerings. I still prefer to buy used and look for small features that are decidedly uncommon and set a guitar apart from most traditional builds but without the extreme cost of full blown customs.

So, in my case at least, yes, you can go back. In fact, it was very easy to do so in my case. Neither of my full customs lasted any longer than most non-custom guitars I've owned. I would caution others looking to do a full custom build to understand that what you think you want and what you'll ultimately get are not exactly the same thing and never will be.

Interesting to post this in the custom section where luthiers making their living building custom guitars hang out. I do not feel the bold is justified at all as it is your opinion and I am not sure any of our opinions are worthy of that as they are merely that, our opinions.

My opinion is completely opposite of yours and I have had many custom builds with the last one running right now. I have never once gotten a guitar that was not head and tails above any factory built I have ever played and when I hold them, there is special meaning to me beyond the guitar itself. There is the memory of working with the luthier, the design choices, the excitement as it nears completion, the first notes you play from it, noticing details weeks later that you had missed and too many more things to mention.

Having said that, do I have factory guitars I play, certainly, yes, I have a Yamaha LL 45 that is fantastic sounding, but does it carry the emotional aspect as do my customs, no it does not.