What does a Unique Choice top get you?

[GSVBagpuss]

Hopefully a simple one for you all...

What exactly does an Unique Choice top wood get you; what are you paying for? Are we paying for the guy / gal to hunt through the wood pile, or does paying an extra 400 mean a AAA piece of flame maple?

 

[Doughboy]

No, the extra $400 is stricktly for the guy or gal to get up from his or her desk & go to the back to rumage through the big pile o' wood to look for a top.  :tard:

 

[clearerphish]

Unique choice tops vary in price and you are getting that exact top. Same with the unique choice fretboards. You can pick that exact piece of wood.

 

[JaySwear]

If you're paying the extra money to have somebody else hunt down a nice top for you it's kind of luck of the draw. I'd guarantee it would be a great piece, but it might not be what you were expecting. If you pay for the unique top on the website (or have the wood top's number ready when you order by phone) then you'll already know EXACTLY what you're getting. It's all in the eye of the beholder. It can most definitely be expensive, but if you're building your ultimate "I may never buy another instrument as long as I live" guitar, then you'll probably want it to be exactly what you've always pictured.

 

[Cagey]

Hopefully a simple one for you all...

What exactly does an Unique Choice top wood get you; what are you paying for? Are we paying for the guy / gal to hunt through the wood pile, or does paying an extra 400 mean a AAA piece of flame maple?

It's not $400, it's usually betwen $40 and $50 or so, depending on the wood. What it means is you get to select a particular piece of wood that's already been milled and numbered so they can pick it out on demand. Figured woods in particular can vary widely in appearance, and some may appeal to you more than others. If you want to pay the upcharge, you get to pick the exact piece they use to make your top (or fretboard). If you don't pick one, you'll still get a premium piece since everything they use is premium, but you won't know what it looks like until you get it.

That's not a Bad Thing; they always use premium pieces. You're not going to be disappointed if you don't pick your piece. And in fact, most people are supremely and pleasantly surprised by what they get. But, some people like more control than that.

 

[line6man]

I'm not sure I understand the question.
You pay for the piece of wood pictured, and that's the wood Warmoth uses to make your neck or body. There is nothing more to it.

 

[JaySwear]

I'm not sure I understand the question.
You pay for the piece of wood pictured, and that's the wood Warmoth uses to make your neck or body. There is nothing more to it.

I think you can ask for a specific grade sight unseen, like asking "Can you put a AAA flame maple top on my guitar?" And they will, but you're leaving it in their hands to pick out.

BUT if they still do this I definitely don't think it costs a whole $400. And if it does cost $400 for anything it's most definitely not a flame maple top, it would be a different kind entirely. Even the highest grade flame maple from Warmoth won't be close to that much.

 

[swarfrat]

CARVED tops Unique Choice can be up there, especially for certain woods && grades. They're twice the thickness.

 

[GSVBagpuss]

Thanks for replies everyone, including the sarcastic ones.

There are many unique options for a carved top where I can pay 400 dollars for a specific top, and that does appeal to me if it was to be AAA grade (for example). As I now understand it, an extra payment is for a reason and the smaller payments are for the extra burden of hunting for the actual piece, whereas the alrger payments offer this and the additional cost of a higher grade top.

Got it, it was what I expected but wanted to confirm it

 

[Panthur]

Surely the price difference is because of the value of the wood. I.e. if it's highly figured and in a perfect way, that's a much rarer find than the run of the mill top. That's what the PRS private stock guitars are about, it's Paul's private stock of wood, i.e. the rarest and most special (and thus much more valuable) pieces of wood. Although I don't know if the price is in proportion to the rariety of the wood exactly, there might still be an obligatory upcharge.

 

[simple]

The tops and fingerboards we use for Unique Choice are singled out of regular stock, set aside, gathered up once again later, numbered, photographed with some wet down, details and price listed, uploaded to servers, angled shots for lamtops are prepared for the body builders applications by our graphics team, rechecked and released live on the website and then kept and maintained on dedicated shelf space which is a prized commodity here. About 4-5 people handle it just to get it on the website for you to view.

Then, when someone orders one, a salesman finds the piece, tags it with an order number and name. When the order is received to build in production, the production manager then goes and finds the piece again and marries it up with its wood counterpart for production.

So there are definitely labor and inventory costs behind providing this service. It's what keeps most everyone else from offering it besides Warmoth. The other factors that drive the price of a given Unique Choice piece is its thickness and grade. The higher the price, the more the grade and thickness are driving it.

That is in stark contrast to a non Unique Choice order in which our production manager goes to the wood shelf and says to himself, that looks like a good piece, and marries it up with its wood counterpart.