Considering a Custom Shop...but..

Ask yourself all of the reasons why you want a CS. If / when the right one comes along it’ll then be a purely subjective decision, do you like it or not? If I were spending that sort of money, if the one I was looking at met all of my criteria but was in a colour / finish I didn’t like, I’d walk.

 

Beware the ‘play it and it’s yours’ effect. A good salesman will treat you as if you’ve already bought the goods from the word go. Been in sales for years and it really does help to sell. The minute you hold that guitar, knowing you could buy it pretty soon changes, subconsciously, to ‘this is my guitar’. Just take the time to step back, even walk away for a while and think about how you’ll feel with a that heavy relic guitar and a space in your piggy bank. If the answer is ‘fine’, go for it. Any doubts, don’t. I’ve done this with all sorts of relatively high end purchases and always felt good afterwards, whether I’ve bought or walked away. One time I didn’t I bought a very expensive snare drum because everyone had told me it was the dog’s and a good price. In the end it just had to go.

 

Love mine

 

Sound advice here. The guitar in question is not for me. That doesn't mean it can't be the new favorite for the OP. But clear thinking is key with a big purchase like this. Step back and ask whether it checks all of your boxes. At this price, you don't have to grin and bear much, if anything at all. Good luck!

 

Go play it, if you like it negotiate a good deal due to the "damage "lol. You can always refinish it without it affecting the value as its value has been changed already by the relic job.. Oh, wait I forgot that the relicing increases the value, why I don't know but it does. I just don't get wanting a damaged on purpose guitar. I think my age is showing

 

You gotta play it.

 

I have a heavy relic Strat with Yabarra hand wound pickups and it an amazing guitar. I also have early Cunetto relic Strats
Personally I prefer the 22 fret PRS guitar to the 24 fret guitar, but that's neither here nor there. I.M.O. I'd get the Strat.

I like reliced Strats, I also like completely unblemished guitars too.
Whatever you do don't buy a Relic and get a refin done to it, buy a N.O.S or Closet classic.

One of my favorite Strats is my 2008 Heavy relic "total tone" series Strat.
Custom shop quartersawn maple neck superleight weight Ash body with the Yabarra hand signed pickups. The guitar sounds ridiculously great!

Patchogue, New York.



Davis Park Fire Island New York at the Casino 2019

 

It seems like you are more concerned with relicing. Why don’t you try a few custom shops first, and see if you like the playability and feel first.

 

If you are this on the fence on the relic finish, then you'll likely quickly end up with buyer's remorse.
You're going to spend a lot of dough on it... hold out and maybe spend a bit more for a new "NOS" or "Closet Classic" which will have little to no "relic" treatment from the factory.

Personally, I don't mind a bit of aging, like the Closet Classic or the Gibson VOS, but I would not spend that kind of money on something that was "beat to crap" in the factory.

 

This was thread on the OP trading a PRS for a custom shop heavy relic Strat. No one is buying anything. A straight trade is what I read was going down. No buyers remorse if you don’t like it. You’ll be able to sell the Strat 100 times faster than the PRS.

 

Check out the GT11 from Sweetwater. It's got an 11 inch radius, 22 frets, and can be relic or NOS.

https://www.sweetwater.com/fender-custom-shop-gt11/series

 

ok...read and enjoyed your post. I feel you're in a good situation since you plan to move the PRS along and would like a Custom Shop Strat. I've had experiences with both those and would also prefer a CS 58 Strat to just about any PRS although I've had 2 of the latter and dozens of Fender Strats over the last 60 years. I started playing professionally in 1961 and while guitars came and went, I always gravitated back to the Stratocaster. In the early 80s I obtained a 58 Mary Kaye in somewhat worn condition and I was home. Played that baby for the remainder of the decade and as the value kept rising it began to seem foolish to be taking it to the bars, nightclubs and restaurants where I gigged and risking damage or theft. I eventually sold it for a profit and started playing newer vintage style Strats working toward finding one that had that magic. None did until the more recent vintage reissues started getting really close to the feel, weight, playability, look and sound of the preCBS era. My current main squeeze is a 56RI with a roasted ash body and roasted maple neck. It has captured the look, feel and sound and at 6 1/2 lbs the weight too. The fact that the woods are roasted also give it that old dried wood tone which translates through the pickups and into the amp. Tonefull, percussive, sustainy and warm.Before I found this one I played a lot of Custom Shop models and was equally impressed with them. One shell pink CS 55 Strat relic with gold anodized pg really had me at "Hello", but at close to $4000, I squirmed too long and some other person snapped it up before I could save up the funds.
To close this long winded novel, let me say that since you're looking away from PRS and toward Fender Custom Shop, you can't go wrong with this trade. If I were a gambling man, I'd bet this 58 Relic will become one of your true loves. What can I say? Just a romantic at heart.

 

I would trade because I'm not into PRS. However, my advice would be don't get a relic if you don't like heavy relics. A good strat is a good strat, CS or otherwise alike.

On a side note, you seem to feel just like those marketing guys at FMIC want you to:

 

Relics are not my style, and I'm sensing they're not really OP's too. I can't take those fake fretboard wear patches seriously. IMHO, YMMV etc etc
@Shades of Blue, maybe keep an eye out for a Journeyman relic? No dents or sanded spots, just a mildly aged look. Like how a well looked after guitar might look after 40-50 years.
Here's a picture of one I grabbed of the net

 

oops pic didn't work, try again..

 

Try it if you can first. If you have already an AV that you like the differences in tone won’t be really noticeable unless you go masterbuilt in my opinion. Even frets are similar if you have a thin skin. The main differences will be visually tough and it comes down to the relicing. It’s ok to want a guitar just because it looks “better” to you.
But if you only care about tone and functionality and you really want something different maybe an HSS S-type is what you want or another model like suhr, a Prs silver sky or a music man cutlass could be something that can give you something really different.

 

I love older PRS guitars- but I would trade!

 

I like that one.
Not a "heavy relic"

 

One more thing, people sometimes just look at the reliving or not, do not buy based on that, buy based on the specs and what works for you.

I know I prefer alder to ash....etc.