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Ooowee, look at the competition!

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stubhead

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And in all fairness, they are going to sell parts to people who would otherwise "go W":

http://www.fender.com/necks-bodies?utm_source=Guitar-World-Mag&utm_medium=Banner-Ad&utm_content=June-July2013&utm_campaign=Necks-Bodies

They're pricier than the parts from dis-assembled NEW Fenders that have been on Ebay for years, but people do like their designer labels!
 
Uh-oh indeed, I need to read all threads at all times I guess. Fender is ALSO going after the Callaham/Glendale vintager-than-vintage hardware makers, apparently - "Pro Guitar Shop" is advertising an exclusive on Fender Custom Shop instruments with "Fender Lineage" pickups - which sounds like a bunch more words, goddam how many times and ways can you wrap wire around some magnets  - but they also "feature the newly retooled True Vintage hardware." About which we may expect to hear more.

http://proguitarshop.com/guitars/fender-total-tone.html

I've always thought the marketing for that stuff stretched a bit, to say the least - cold-rolled vs. hot-rolled steel, Eddy's currents and all that. But when it's basically pretty easy to bend notes around the minor pentatonic scale, to the point that there must be... what, 10,000 really great blues guitarists? A lot, at least - the old ones aren't dying fast enough. If Fender gets at all competent about duplicating their old hardware, it's going to be hard for the guys at TDPRI to argue that an Angela or Glendale are still realer than a chunk of steel labeled "Fender."
 
Anybody catches me paying $4K for a Fender has my permission to beat me insensate with it.
 
Cagey said:
Anybody catches me paying $4K for a Fender has my permission to beat me insensate with it.
Click to expand...

No reason not to if you have that kind of money, the build quality on higher priced Fender's are great. They've got the best guys for the job, too. With Dave Wronski doing setups and testing, Dennis Galuzka in the custom shop doing some amazing work with wood and woodburning, Yuriy Shishkov with inlay skills that surpass anyone else I've seen.

The Fender custom shop is like a good hitman(or hooker :toothy12:): If you've got the money, there is nothing they won't do. And if you won't do it yourself, it's an excellent, albeit pricey alternative.

I'm eyeing this one now, it's simply amazing in person:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/In-Store-Used-USED-FENDER-CUSTOM-1966-CLOSET-CLASSIC-STRAT-FIREMIST-SILVER-108833474-i3103291.gc
 
Having "enough" money for something like that is proof enough that intelligence alone doesn't pay, you need greed, luck or pick richer parents. It's a silver-painted guitar with crap tuners and noisy pickups. I didn't even know Austin had a Guitar Center, things have really gone downhill. When I lived there George Strait's, Lamar Music and Guitar Resurrection were the only joints in town, but there was a thriving underground.
 
StübHead said:
Having "enough" money for something like that is proof enough that intelligence alone doesn't pay, you need greed, luck or pick richer parents. It's a silver-painted guitar with crap tuners and noisy pickups.
Click to expand...
:laughing7:
-I gave away a guitar that looked like that, -nearly exactly, and I'd bet that this one doesn't play or sound any better than it.

I like vintagey stuff, but no offense (for that price), ya gotta be crazy!  :doh:
 
Haha, I'm fighting an uphill battle here. What you pay for with a Custom Shop instrument is build quality, not spec. Thing is, they can put a guitar under a mask - Spec doesn't matter. No matter how crappy your spec is for your custom shop instrument, it will play and sound WAY better than a vintage instrument. And it's THE option if you can't afford a real vintage strat, which most mortals cannot.

This thing is just comfortable. It's perfectly broken in, feels like an old friend. The sound beats all. No hum. None. It stays in tune for days. Finish is PERFECT. Not a flaw. The thing about vintage spec is that I'm comfortable with it. I've grown to love a 7.25 radius, kluson tuners, nitrocellulose lacquer, etc. So if these guys can take my quirky love for vintage spec and turn it into something that feels, plays, and sounds this magnificent, I'm all for it.

And Stubby, Austin Vintage Guitar is the go to place now. Nicely stocked store, great service, mix of new and old guitars, Pibson, Bender, and everyone else, new amps, old amps.... And the parts, OMYGOD, THEPARTS!!!!!

Not to mention, they stock the cool stuff no one else will. Loar archtops? Got it. Circle K strings? Got it. Solidbody four stringed electric mandolin?

Got two.
 
Isn't this why we frequent here and buy from W?
So we can get these kind of quality parts with out our wallets being assaulted?
for what they are charging you can build the same thing through W for HALF the price.
 
sixstringsamurai said:
Isn't this why we frequent here and buy from W?
So we can get these kind of quality parts with out our wallets being assaulted?
for what they are charging you can build the same thing through W for HALF the price.
Click to expand...

Of course, and that would and probably will be my route, although I'm heavily biased towards musikraft. I'm just saying that these are perfect for those that don't want to build it themselves.
 
I don't like the prices, but I love the concept. Go Fender, you super-company you!

Competition is good in my opinion, it should help keep prices reasonable from Warmoth and similar. Obviously, Warmoth is the king still in custom specifications and, on a lesser note, companies like BGP (BestGuitarParts).

 
Also, if they start offering any sort of radius options I'll be especially happy. If this happens, I could see myself favoring Fender for necks/bodies. The name/sell-ability would be my incentive.

Oh, and SS frets... :sad:
 
I'm assuming the frets come levelled and the fingerboard edges are rolled on the US spec necks. That's two things W don't do right there - if I wanted a 9.5" maple/maple neck (and sometimes I do), I'd definitely look into getting one from Fender.
 
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