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Perhaps records ARE only made to be broken?

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stubhead

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http://wildwestguitars.com/Cruz/dis-prod_630_standard.html

$7,700 for an ash body with maple cap, flame maple neck with Indian rosewood board.... for a non-artist, non-Variax, non-pretty-much-anything that's the highest price I've ever seen. I'll go out on a limb and say it's probably a GREAT guitar, they wouldn't dare let it out of the building if not. But, what's it FOR? I can't imagine anyone using it for anything other than holding it up in front of their friends (trial lawyers? brain surgeons? oil company CEO's?) and saying "$7,700 - Woo-Hoo!" They sure as toodles could've matched the body cap halves better.... fretwork looks nice. :icon_scratch:
 
You know, I've seen better builds here on this website than that, and builds that cost a lot less as well. Big brand name with a competent luthier - true. But still, go through the "Guitars of the Momnth" from the past and pick any one of them, and I see more talent there.

Just my $0.02 (Canadian mind you) on the matter. Really, what the hell do I know?

Peace,
Pierre
 
Must have solid GOLD in those bits.
Seen heaps better builds hanging around here by all other members.
Ummmm ....  even I have built a Warmoth guitar better than that.  :cool01:  for heaps less than that too  :o

Only thing I like about that is the fretboard. Rest is pretty 'plain jane'.

Back to the showcase  :icon_biggrin:
 
That's way too freakin' high for the product.  I agree about that.


But regarding the bookmatching of the flame maple top, I rarely see a photo of a bookmatched top that adequately captures that sort of thing.  They almost all look "off" - unmatched, or what have you.  The three-dimensionality just doesn't translate to a photographic image well.
 
If you open it up and toggle through the pictures, in pix 2 and 3 and 4 it doesn't appear to be bookmatched at ALL - like they're trying to emulate the real 58 and 59 Les Pauls, which weren't either.
 
$7700 Custom Shop Fender = your average Warmoth guitar? Because that's what I see. Looks nice enough, but certainly not $7700 nice.
 
LOL.  Boy, what a jaded bunch.  Like anything else, there will always be guitars out there that will cost that much as long as there are fools who will pay that much. 

Perception is everything, and a high price automatically means better right?  ...Or are the $200 humbuckers out there really not worth it?  I guess if I spent that much I'd not be too keen on admitting that I couldn't hear much difference.

However, we can all rejoice in the fact that spending $7K on a guitar will not make anyone a better player.
 
That's a ridiculous price. I just finished a build with the exact same components. Ash, maple cap, maple neck, rosewood finger board for 1/3 of the price. The only difference is that it has a AAAAA maple cap, a AAAAA maple neck, nicer fingerboard & hardware but no Fender decal.

e9tgi.jpg
 
Doughboy said:
That's a ridiculous price. I just finished a build with the exact same components. Ash, maple cap, maple neck, rosewood finger board for 1/3 of the price. The only difference is that it has a AAAAA maple cap, a AAAAA maple neck, nicer fingerboard & hardware but no Fender decal.

e9tgi.jpg
Click to expand...

But it wasn't hand-built by ...some guy that works at Fender...
 
Rickgrxbass said:
Doughboy said:
That's a ridiculous price. I just finished a build with the exact same components. Ash, maple cap, maple neck, rosewood finger board for 1/3 of the price. The only difference is that it has a AAAAA maple cap, a AAAAA maple neck, nicer fingerboard & hardware but no Fender decal.

e9tgi.jpg
Click to expand...

But it wasn't hand-built by ...some guy that works at Fender...
Click to expand...

I once owned a Fender years ago & put this one togther, but I don't think that counts.
 
It's Fender Custom Shop, did I miss something? That's what they do.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the way single coils with the traditional flanges look when direct mounted. If I am paying this much for a guitar, the pickups damn well better look nice.

There is some great curl in that Maple top, though. I think I would call that AAA curl, personally.
I also agree with Bagman. The bookmatching looks fine, it's just the way the light reflects in the chatoyancy of the wood when photographed.
 
line6man said:
One of my biggest pet peeves is the way single coils with the traditional flanges look when direct mounted. If I am paying this much for a guitar, the pickups damn well better look nice.
Click to expand...
I don't get why more people don't use those metal single coil mounting rings. Looks sleek, covers the horrible wood mounting and it's not like they're hard to find any more.


Anyhoo, I can easily explain why that guitar costs so much. You'll notice it's a 'master built' model, meaning just one, very experienced luthier worked on it. That's an instant $2,600 upcharge regardless of any other options. Do you want to pick out the builder by name and have them finish the guitar within two years? That's another $1,000. The basic price for any custom shop build is around the $4,000 mark, give or take depending on the base model. So there's around $7,700 already. Hell, then the shop has to make it's profit too, and there's the distributor to cut in, the flame maple to pay for, the gold hardware upcharge - in fact if you were to order a similar guitar for yourself from the FCS it'd cost you much more than $7,700.

If you think that is expensive, check out the prices of PRS Private Stock guitars. Or hell, take a look at how much an equivilent-quality saxophone or violin or cello or piano would cost you. You're lucky you play electric guitar, even the very best guitar is far cheaper than almost any other basic pro-quality instrument.
 
Ace Flibble said:
line6man said:
One of my biggest pet peeves is the way single coils with the traditional flanges look when direct mounted. If I am paying this much for a guitar, the pickups damn well better look nice.
Click to expand...
I don't get why more people don't use those metal single coil mounting rings. Looks sleek, covers the horrible wood mounting and it's not like they're hard to find any more.
Click to expand...

IMHO, those look even worse. Though there are a handful of builds around here that have pulled it off decently.
 
There is a boatload of difference between a guitar that was routed out of a slab of wood - either CNC or using a template, even made with the most selected materials, and most meticulous care, and a hollow bodied stringed instrument made by hand, like a cello or violin. Frankly I'm a little tired of people suggesting that because orchestral instruments cost about what a car costs, you should be happy to pay that for something that CAN be made in dozens/hundreds per day, and can be reasonably be expected to be professional quality when made in those quantities.
 
We've been told on this board before that nothing is overpriced if someone is willing to pay it.  If they're being sold, they can't cost too much.  Right?

And single coils look funny direct mounted and with rings.  Then again, Leo conditioned me to think that.  If he used rings or direct mount, I'd think a pickguard looked funny.
 
If someone on here made that, I wouldn't even bother to compliment it - most guitars we make look better, or have better features, based on that pic and specs list. Pricing is kinda weird, as with a CNC produced body and neck it's got to have something amazing going on to be worth even 2k, much less 7.
 
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