Why Should You Buy a FENDER CUSTOM SHOP Guitar?
Do you love Fender guitars? If so, you’ll know these two facts: one, that vintage Fenders are amongst the most revered instruments in existence, and two; that Fender Custom Shop are at the top of the tree when it comes to current-day Fender builds.
No huge revelations there yet, but let’s start from that base.
Fender Custom Shop guitars are aspirational objects as much as they are top quality professional instruments. Owning one lets you join an elite group of guitar players and fans across the world, but that in itself is hardly any reason to buy one, is it?
What are the real life reasons to spend on a Fender Custom Shop guitar?
Should you just buy an actual vintage Fender?
Today, I’ll look at those questions and answer them honestly. As somebody who was dealt with Fender Custom Shop guitars for almost 20 years, I’ve seen their stock rising, the vintage market reaching saturation, and more besides. I’ve played a number of vintage Fenders and a great deal of Fender Custom Shop guitars. I feel like I‘m equipped with the experience needed to tell you things straight.
If you want my fair take on this subject, then I’ll be glad to give you it. Join me for a second, why dontcha?
Contents
Why Buy a Fender Custom Shop Guitar?
You Want the Best Quality Possible
You Want the Real Deal, from the Real Deal Brand
Fender Invented the Electric Guitar As We Know It
Fender Custom Shop
This blog isn’t a full explainer on what the Fender Custom Shop (henceforth referred to as Fender CS) is, but for context, here’s a brief sentence or two.
The Fender Custom Shop began in the mid 80s, when artists and certain types of customers repeatedly asked for new Fender guitars that had vintage-specific specifications. They wanted hand-built quality, and they wanted them to be unique.
Early Custom Shop fans included Keith Richard and Eric Clapton, but it wasn’t all about famous players: every guitar fan thought that vintage-specific guitars made to the highest standards was an appealing idea!
So it has been since, with each CS guitar being hand-made in California. Custom Shop guitars these days can be Team Built or Master Built. Team Built guitars are put together by a small handful of Custom Shop builders, and Master Built guitars are created entirely by one person. These Master Builders have years and years worth of orders in their books, so their time and expertise comes at a high price. They are world-renowned builders, after all!
We at guitarguitar order up our guitars very carefully, based on years of experience on what works well along with what people want. We wait years for our deliveries just like everybody else, but the difference is that we have guitars in stock as much as we possibly can. This means that you can walk into one of our stores and buy a Fender CS guitar today, without having to wait and wait for one.
So that’s the Custom Shop. Here’s the basics in bullet-point form:
- Fender’s top grade of instrument
- Guitars are based on Fender’s classics as blueprints, but can be modified at the design stage
- Order books are full years in advance: the demand outstrips the supply
- Team Built guitars are world on by various people in the CS
- Master Built guitars are made by one particular ‘name’ builder
Okay, that covers what the Fender CS is. Now onto the big question: why should you want one?
Why Buy a Fender Custom Shop Guitar?
Owners of Vintage Fenders
Do you already own a vintage Fender guitar? Congratulations! That’s a pretty special thing. So special, in fact, that it might not actually be the cleverest idea in the world to take it out on tour with you.
For context, current prices for a vintage Strat of any age from the late 50s to mid 60s is between £50k and £60k, with exceptional examples reaching up to three times that value. Now, you might be fine taking your 50 grand Strat on tour - or even to the Blues Jam down at the Dog & Duck - but I’d be pretty hesitant. Even the insurance would be prohibitive.
So, the next step is to get a fantastic quality replica that gives you the vintage feel, sound, look and wear, and that’s where Fender CS comes in. They make the most accurate renditions of these heirloom guitars, so they’ll deliver an experience you’re used to, at a cost that is significantly less than a genuine vintage guitar.
Leave your ‘62 Strat at home in its vault! Take out a Custom Shop 62 Strat instead and be reckless with it!
You Want the Best Quality Possible
Fender CS guitars are some of the best on earth. It’s a simple statement, but it's backed up by experience. Fender CS guitars are amazingly well made, beautifully finished, and sound like the Fender sound you have in your head. It’s a direct mainline to your best Fender guitar experience, with no sub-par pickups, compromised neck profile or B-list colour. It’s a Fender with everything done right, just as you want it.
You Want the Real Deal, from the Real Deal Brand
Maybe it doesn’t make sense to you to pay thousands of pounds for a guitar that could still condescendingly be called a ‘strat copy’ or a ‘tele copy’. No matter how amazing that guitar might be, people listen with their eyes. If it’s not Fender, it’s not Fender, you know? There’s a lore and a mythology with such a famous brand, and that heritage is something you probably feel aligned with in some respect.
It’s not so much about joining the ranks of Fender CS players as much as its that lineage that began with Buddy Holly and includes Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. With Fender, it’s more than straightforward brand recognition, it’s musical history and magic. Really, only Gibson and Martin can offer similar levels of this special alchemy, and they serve relatively different purposes.
If you’re after a Strat or Tele-type guitar, then only Fender can offer up that headstock, or that exact body shape. It’s the real deal.
Better Than Vintage?
Okay, this one may be a little contentious. I’m saying that, in general, Fender Custom Shop guitars are better than actual vintage Fender guitars.
Does that sound like hyperbole? Sales patter?
Well, I have to tell you, it’s neither. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been fortunate enough to have plugged in and played a fair number of original vintage Fender guitars. Mainly 60s Strats, but I’ve played one or two 60s Teles and loads of Fenders from the 70s. I’ve played a number of vintage offsets too, but many of those have been ‘Frankensteined’ from various parts, so there’s less sureness there.
Anyway, I say all this so that you can reasonably believe me when I say that there is often nothing particularly special about vintage guitars. Nothing inherently magical. They are inconsistent, basically. Some are amazing, and most are…okay. Some of them are, in fact, terrible guitars but their age is enough to elevate their cost.
Fair enough: it’s a collector’s market, but for players? For players, I would say that Fender Custom Shop are of such a consistently high level of quality that I’d much sooner rely on one of those than an ‘actual’ vintage example. I’d much rather have a guitar with good frets, no dead spots, no wonky neck angle, a truss rod that works and a bridge that stays reasonably in tune. This leads me to another point…
Vintage Problems Fixed
The element of choice and customisation involved with Fender CS means that a great many of the problems and inconsistencies of vintage guitars can be done away with. You’ll have your own set of preferences of course, but mine might include these particular points:
- Narrow nuts are not my preference: slightly wider nuts are good for me. Some vintage necks are teeny!
- Fretwire: you really need frets to be in good order, and some vintage fans won’t dare refret an old instrument, even at the expense of playability.
- Truss rods: some of them rust up and stop working, or snap inside the neck after decades. I definitely need to be able to adjust the truss rod successfully, and not every vintage guitar will allow that.
- Truss rod position: as well as having a truss rod that works, I need to be able to have access to it! Preferably without taking the entire neck off first, because what’s that all about?
- Pickups: if I decide that I want a different pickup configuration (one of the supreme benefits of Fender-style guitars), I want to go ahead and change them without having three anxious sleepless nights about it.
And on and on. You hopefully get my drift: times have actually moved on since the 50s/60s/whenever, and whilst vintage authenticity is important, so is having a guitar that really does that jobs you need it for.
A Recognisable Valuable Brand
Now, I really do not advise seeing musical instruments as investments for future profit. I don’t. Why? Because for one thing, you'll never enjoy it: you’ll always be worrying about how much value a knock or a ding will ultimately cost you when you sell it on. For another thing, there’s no dependable way of assessing how much a guitar will retain its value in a realistic way. Thirdly, if you are looking to invest money and create a great return on investment, there are easier and quicker things to punt your cash on.
But, if you are buying a quality guitar to play and enjoy, then it is worth understanding that Fender as a brand hold their value better than almost any other brand in the market.
Again, I don’t think you should immediately consider second-hand value on a guitar when you buy it, but when lots of top-end brands lose value on the preowned market, Fender are strong.
Fender Invented the Electric Guitar As We Know It
This is Leo Fender’s brand. This is the brand who invented the Telecaster, and then the Stratocaster. They invented the P-Bass, the Jazz Bass, the Jaguar, the Jazzmaster and the Mustang. It doesn’t get more iconic than that.
Fender also popularised the idea of ‘relic’ guitars. I expect that you love relics if you are reading this blog, right? It all goes back to that idea of playing a vintage replica, it’s not about ‘fake wear and tear’. In real terms, the competing brands at this level may all be excellent (they are all excellent, let’s not be silly), but they are all copycats. They’ve looked at Fender’s lead and followed.
It’s worth bearing in mind. The original brand who invented the mass-market electric guitar are still the ones to beat; still the ones leading the way and still the ones who players trust the most, at ALL price points.
Think about it: which other guitar brand can even begin to say that?
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