American Standard necks and bodies versus Custom Shop

And when you pay even more, they'll even knock some of the paint off for you after polishing it up.

 

They faded and stripped some paint off a couple of mine. HOW DARE THEY!!

 

This is quite true. I’d take one of today’s Squiers over the more expensive knock-off’s of the 70’s any day of the week.

Again, for me the CS thing isn’t about just a guitar. It’s a special guitar or a holy grail guitar and it’s not just the Fender CS, it could be any custom shop, it could be a custom order to Ron Kirn or A Nash Strat or a Surh or a high end PRS or a Gibson CS or any boutique builder that I think makes exceptional guitars.

I suppose if I had all the money in the world, I’d just have a room of custom shop, boutique guitars and I wouldn’t care but I don’t so, I have several very nice midrange guitars and a couple of exceptional ones.

I’ve got a taste of it with my Eric Johnson Strat. It’s got exceptional attention to detail in how it was put together. The two piece body has beautiful grain, a seamless join and a really nice 2 colour sunburst. It’s gorgeous just to look at. The orange tint on the quartersawn one piece, highly figured maple neck is pretty vivid but I’ve grown to appreciate that tone and the grain really pops. Then there’s the feel of nitro... The thin nitro finish has a tactile feel you don’t get from a poly coat. It’s very soft feeling and almost warm to the touch compared to the hard cold feel of a poly finished guitar.

I think if I am to get a CS Guitar, it’s going to have to wait just a bit. I have 3 Strats, a telecaster, an acoustic, a JBass, 2 semi hollowbody bodies and a dual humbucker, maple cap on mahogany, set neck solid body and I’m a little obsessed with getting an 80’s or 90’s MIJ Floyd Rose Strat. If I do decide to get a CS or other boutique, holy grail guitar, I will need to let go of a guitar or two. I’ve already got the short list figured out. I can think of 3 guitars off the top of my head to let go of and then I’ll consider a CS. I’m leaning towards one of their custom shop production guitars. One of these two:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-journeyman-relic-super-faded-aged-sonic-blue

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-vintage-custom-stratocaster-3-color-sunburst

I also have my own bucket list of specs I’d want in a Strat but I’ve just never bothered to have it priced out. I might do that too just to see where that gets me.

 

Trust me, you don't know what "appreciating" a guitar is until you've put it together yourself. I imagine it must be even stronger with wood that you've shaped yourself, but that's another thing on my to-do list.

 

I'm The same.

All I have right now are midrange guitars, but I don't keep any guitar these days if I don't find something exceptional about it. That's why I have 6 guitars now instead of twenty something.

Over the last couple of years I thinned the herd, and the funny thing is, I didn't keep a single MIA guitar. The ones I let go were ones I was willing to let go, and the ones I kept are ones that I will not let go because of various reasons. What matters most to me is how I feel about a guitar; no matter where it was made, or what it cost.

So the 6 that I kept are all great, and 4 of them have sentimental attachment and unique factor, and two of them are just the best sounding guitars I have ever owned.

 

Like this... This was my first successful build. It’s a ToneBomb knotty unfinished pine body I did a whitewash and wipe-on poly finish on. It’s got a TBX Tone, 4-way switch, twisted Tele in the neck + Tonerider A5 Vintage Plus in the Bridge, Wilkinson ashtray bridge with compensated brass barrels, Tusq nut and locking, staggered tuners. The neck is MIC, Canadian Maple with rosewood, modern C with 9.5” radius medium jumbo frets. The neck is ok. I’ve worked the heck out of it to get it level and playable. My other guitars have really spoiled me so I’m not apt to be satisfied with a crappy neck. It’s pretty good now but I’m keeping my eyes open for something better or different for it.




This is something my best friend in high school and I started building in grade 12. It’s Oak and Black Walnut. I’ve been lugging it around for the last 38 years. Maybe I’ll finish it off and send it over to him. I don’t think he’s played a guitar in the last 38 years since our basement band broke up the summer after graduation. I’ve got a neck we built for it too. It’s also made of oak and has a solid truss rod in it. The routing for the neck pocket is crooked and it’s too deep. We messed up our calculation so I’m planning on plugging it and re-routering it.

 

The best way for you to answer your own question is to go to a shop that has both and try them out. Yes, I know there are few places on the planet that stock Custom Shop Fenders. You will never know by discussing it on a forum however.

 

I've seen far too many "Custom Shop" models come thru my shop/store with really sloppy shoddy "setups" that we've had to correct.

As for the one poster at the beginning of this thread that said, Custom Shop models "have 1 to 2 piece bodies" .... there is NO SUCH THING as a "1 piece body" Fender. Fender would never do that, it goes against every rule in solid body guitar manufacturing. One piece solid body guitars WILL WARP eventually (sooner or later), when is a matter of how it's finished and stored. Period
Leo Fender would LHAO at you to even suggest using a one-piece body.

 

That is incorrect

My 63 year Tele was made under Leo`s watch and its one piece. Its the 3rd tele from around that time period that I have owned with a one piece body.
No warping or any issues

 

Huh??

 

The number of bodies I've seen, especially telecasters, with one piece bodies proves you wrong.
Furthermore, A 2 piece body where the second piece is only 2 inch wide will not change what you say, though there are hundreds of examples like this made by Fender. Not one I've seen that warped.

Leo would definitely laugh... but I don't know at whom...

 

I think if Leo was still alive and read a thread like this one he would laugh at pretty much everyone and say “dudes, you talk too much... go play the guitars, that’s what I made them for”

 

So if I read this correctly, if I take off the pickguard on my American Standard, the pickup routing will be HSH? Im dying to get my SSS changed over to HH but not sure about the body routing for the pickups. Its a 2014 American Standard. Anyone have any first hand information about this? Cheers!

 

Any place is capable of putting out lemons. My American Standard from the early 90’s was just a disappointment. I tried to bond with it but it sucked. My other three Strats are nothing short of spectacular. One American and two from Mexico. I’ve got a good Jazz Bass from Japan too.

Now I’m so certain my Am Standard was an outlier that I’m sort of keeping an eye out for another early 90’s Am Standard.