FAQ: custom guitars

Why does it cost so much to build a custom guitar?
We get this question in many different forms. The simple answer is time. Time is money and a one-off custom guitar takes A LOT of time to plan and build. Beyond the many hours spent with the customer, we will spend hours sourcing materials and parts, making jigs, designing fixtures and producing CAD files and CNC toolpaths in addition to actually building, sanding, finishing, assembling, wiring and setting up the instrument. There are material costs associated with fixtures and prototypes (That’s right. PROTOTYPES). When we build a custom guitar, there is almost always the necessity to prototype at least one part if not the whole instrument. Just because Gibson makes it, doesn’t mean we’ve ever made it before. Gibson recoupes their R&D costs by selling thousands of the same model. You’re asking us to make only one, so we can't compete with their price.

Do you build acoustic guitars?
No. In order to provide competitive prices and service, we focus strictly on electric guitars and basses. We do offer full-service repairs on acoustic guitars, banjos and mandolins.