Here's a brief article of the process in making a custom shop guitar.

http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Feat...son-custom.aspx

there is CNC, and then there IS CNC?
china guitars also CNC, fender guitars also CNC.
all depends on how well ppl are trained, robots are programmed, tolerances allowed.

what if a guitar is made which requires little luthier skills and robot programming

does it being amde in china or america make a diff?

so how is it made then? by hand? by non-guitarists? like fender?

CNC la, rough cut, some sanding at the ends, kau tim

ya, like fender

so meaning get a carpenter to build a guitar?
logically speaking, how would they know what a good guitar plays like?
you been watching too many german scat movies?

no la, if you look at a construct of a fender , SG or majority of the guitars around, they dont need a lot of workmanship skill to go into it. a lot of them can be rough cut, sanded down and then wallah its out the door as a finish product.

so by comparision, if a guitar is MIA but carries such qualities what diff does it make to a MIC since both carries the same production qualities.

not alot of workmanship skill...until you try to make one...its another of those 'easier said than done' thingies.

and there is more to production tho than just making it.
unless everyone imports wood from the same source, then maybe the field is level...but that obviously doesnt happen.
where the wood comes from, which region, etc affects density.
how the wood is treated once reached.
how long they store the wood to treat it.
so many factors.

well id say a brownskinned mexican in america sanding your guitar neck and a yellow skiined Chinese sanding your guitar neck doesnt really make much of a diff in labour quality.

well wood and other thigns here is held constant la, thats another topic, if we include wood then too many variables to discuss

ok then.
so in that respect, why are you preferring a nik huber over a GIM?

good amount of GAS and a lapse of reason.

to be fair tho, ive not seen a GIM guitar around for a while, last time i remember reading about it in the star papers. Jeffery Yong's work in particular however i do like but his prices are high and mostly in acoustics.

its also not that i dismiss other brands, but i asked around about custom shop guitars they tend to fall around the same price tag as a huber. the reason why the huber im looking at is that bloody expensive is coz its one of the upper end range of the huber lineup. the more "normal" offerings are abour 3-4k usd, easily around most of the custom shops around.

to be fair tho, if i wanted a good guitar that works i wont go for a Huber, id stick with my fender.

well moving away from guitars to another pc of wood, ie. snooker / pool cues.
i used to play competitively, and my gear all can buy another gibson.

all cues are CNC, how well they are CNC is another story.
the ones i used the wood were UV treated and dried for up to 6 months in storage, before even being made into cues.
then diff things like what material the ferrule, joint, grip etc were made from.
also the diff weights and balance that came into play.
you had similar woods, but completely diff feeling cues, some stiffer, some much softer etc etc.

so in short, yea a carpenter could also make the cue...but it would most likely feel like shit.

im generally in argeement with those thigns,

but when i look at a mass produced guitar vs another mass produced guitar, i start to put up some questions. dont blame me, in the fender lineup you get such things very often

how bout a mass produced guitar that then goes thru the custom shop?
it saves production time, and then you get master hands working to finish it?
it'll be cheaper than a fully custom made guitar, and may just play as good...like a gibson

no la, custom shops are damn expensive, they are easily 5-8k usd even like fender if you want a masetr build is about that price.

they are priced similar to most boutique makers, the main diff is that you can go to a shop and test an R9 but say if you want to get a suhr its harder.

what i meant was, take a off-the-shelf mass produced guitar, like a LP standard or standard strat.
then let their custom shop work further on it, shaping the neck further, saddles, nut, fret touch ups etc until it plays just as well as a custom shop guitar.
that saves alot of costs, since the custom shop builders already have a fully built guitar to work on, and just need their expertise and finishing touch.

yes, u could probably send your standards to an outside luthier...but nothing beats having it done by the respective brands master hands.

and then we can see if carpenters can make it play better, or the custom shop can

This post has been edited by Everdying: Jul 1 2013, 12:24 PM

possible, but im unaware of such an option.

actually got, the LP customs are 'mass produced', but worked on by custom shop...not sure about now tho.
my SG '61 reissue from yr2000 also is one such model, it is a limited edition 'mass produced' but also worked on by custom shop.

generally tho i think all gibson products are "mass produced", least to my knowledge, they dont really market their custom shops as "boutiques". i find that Gibsons tend to be rather odd in their custom shops, leaving to oddities like the LP Classic and its confusion.

regarding the SG what i do know is that i tend to take such claims with a pinch of salt, not that there is anything wrong with the claim but i wont really get up and hunt for a supposed custom shop guitar that is sold under gibson USA or vice versa.

if you are lucky, which you are, good la

This post has been edited by +3kk!: Jul 1 2013, 01:21 PM

My first electric guitar was a samick strat copy which i really loved.but as i progressed in my playing i had this ermmm mindset that expensive guitar are better.you know as a metal player my dream those days was to own a japanese neck thru esp or jackson.

fast forward 15 years..after countless guitars from bc rich,jackson,edwards and ibanez,ive come to a realization that a good guitar is a guitar that you can really connect with..its hard to say,but once you strum that chord or bend that string it becomes sort of like an extension of yourself.

in my case i found that feeling in ltd guitars,most of them 300+ series are really nice guitars in my opinion.slightly higher priced here in malaysia but not so bad.and these suckers are made in indonesia aje most of em.