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First Act Custom Shop

L

Luke S Mouse

Guest
Jun 5, 2009
552
186
#1
 
#6
They've been doing that stuff for a few years. There have been a few Delgada basses in the TB Classifieds in the past IIRC. Very interesting looking basses. I especially dig the Mosrite/P Bass hybrid.
 
#8
The school of luthiery I studied at had some guys from the First Act custom shop recruiting there a few years back, I don't know if any of the students were even interested in a job, but at least they were trying to get people who know what they're doing...

Who know's how that went...
 
#9
This came up in a thread about an amusing eBay ad a couple of weeks ago. It sounds like their custom shop has competent people and is largely given free creative rein by the mass-market division, and IIRC one or two people said they'd played First Act custom shop instruments that were really good. They have several reasonably prominent musicians using their stuff.

I don't know which branch of the company existed first.

-NT
 
#11
These have existed for years. Look at their list of artists. Lots of well respected guys use their guitars, including some people here on TB.

Of course some people find it too difficult to comprehend that the same company could make both Chinese made $100 guitars and high end hand made $2000 guitars, even though Gibson Fender MusicMan Ibanez etc all do it.
 
#12
I believe some of the guys at First Act were with the Gibson custom shop and left to try this.

They have done a good job trying to appeal to a certain area. Just off the top of my head Mastodon, Converge, Cancer Bats, High On Fire and Baroness have used their stuff in the past
 
#13
Regardless of which came first, I wonder if they're doing themselves a disservice by not separating the two "brands," i.e. Gibson/Epiphone or Fender/Squier. My opinion of their guitars at Toys R Us isn't any better, no matter how nice FA's custom shop instruments are. If nothing else, it would save their high-end players from constantly having to explain that their bass wasn't purchased one aisle over from a Barbie Jeep...
 
#14
First Act - the Walmart/Target stuff - has been around quite a long time. They have branding agreements with Hello Kitty, Disney, and a few others.

First Act - the Custom Shop - started in 2002. If my info is correct they closed shop in mid-2012. Any of their Custom Shop stuff is first rate. You might find it mispriced now and then at a music store which thinks it is, as you are well aware, the dept store kiddie stuff. Just for a comparison - the Delgada bass was in the $1800 range - other pure customs were $2500 plus.

As was mentioned before, despite excellent quality, resale at a reasonable price may be an issue.
 
#15
I just recently purchased one of Al Berry's old Delgada basses from a buddy of mine and its amazing!
It's gonna displace my US Laklands at some gigs in the near future :-D.
 

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#16
Charley Umbria said:
Regardless of which came first, I wonder if they're doing themselves a disservice by not separating the two "brands," i.e. Gibson/Epiphone or Fender/Squier. My opinion of their guitars at Toys R Us isn't any better, no matter how nice FA's custom shop instruments are. If nothing else, it would save their high-end players from constantly having to explain that their bass wasn't purchased one aisle over from a Barbie Jeep...
Click to expand...

I doubt they care.
 
#18
My sister got a free First Act guitar when she bought her Volkswagen. Sucked pretty badly, except the for the cool seatbelt strap. Doesn't mean their custom shop stuff isn't good, but I've never heard or seen one.
 

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