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The Fender Custom Shop is a Joke

#22
lefty007 said:
I agree. I love anything Fender and certainly Custom Shop instruments, but they are more an image thing than an actual practical shop.

I assume they are up to capacity already just servicing their roster of artist, so their prices to the general public are simply ridiculous to keep people away.

And close to what you said, I don't see a reason why anybody would ever order a new Custom Shop Fender is you can get, say, an Alleva-Coppolo for around $3000.

Now, off-the-rack CS are decent, I guess, and more affordable, but I'll still put my money somewhere else. Used CS Fenders, though, is where the deals are.
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Awesome statement here. So true.
 
#23
I think this is going way too high !!!
Hey remember one thing!
fender made in usa are already great instruments!!
just buy a fender and play it (specially those 2008 american standards)
I have 5 fender basses (3 of them are us made instruments) and the are all killers
I want to have someday a fender from the custom shop, but when I see the price of those and compare to my 75 american reissue jazz bass, I just don't buy the custom shop. why?
because the fender us are already great basses!!!
Hey Hendrix didn't have a custom shop instrument and the sound was there, same for marcus miller, and countless of others!!
of course you can find quality, hand crafting.... but hey, a fender us is a fender us, what made history is the fender us standards, not the custom shop models
12000$....
I have a fodera on order which is over 8000 $ so come on!!!
the instrument I want right now (except my fodera) is a american reissue 62 precision bass , o my ears and to my hands, I can't justify paying more to go to a custom shop model, the 62 is already a killer!
 
#26
Mushroo said:
The more price points at which you can sell your company's product, the more opportunities. Fender's prices range from $200 Squiers to $12,000 Custom Shops. That is an amazing range of prices--can't think of another in the industry except maybe Gibson and Martin--and probably very healthy for the company to diversify their pricing. I think it is brilliant. :)

I can't help but compare this thread to the recent thread about the Fodera waiting list. Lots of people were saying "they need to raise their prices so they don't have a 5 year waiting list." Well it sounds like the Fender Custom Shop has found a sweet spot if their wait list is 8 months, that seems just about right to me. If they sold completely custom basses for, say, $2,000, how quickly do you think they'd be completely swamped with orders?

Sorry you didn't get the bass you wanted, though... good luck with the Sadowsky! ;)
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I was thinking the same about fodera. But, they should just hire another crew of like 12 peeps to work for them. Make em build basses in the 4000-6000 range, reducing that way the waiting to most people and targeting a new public. Then, still offer the 8000$ basses made by Vinnie and the other dude for those who absolutely wants their bass made by them.
 
#27
$12,000!?!?!?! What are they smoking? :rolleyes:

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#28
Mushroo said:
The more price points at which you can sell your company's product, the more opportunities. Fender's prices range from $200 Squiers to $12,000 Custom Shops. That is an amazing range of prices--can't think of another in the industry except maybe Gibson and Martin--and probably very healthy for the company to diversify their pricing. I think it is brilliant. :)

I can't help but compare this thread to the recent thread about the Fodera waiting list. Lots of people were saying "they need to raise their prices so they don't have a 5 year waiting list." Well it sounds like the Fender Custom Shop has found a sweet spot if their wait list is 8 months, that seems just about right to me. If they sold completely custom basses for, say, $2,000, how quickly do you think they'd be completely swamped with orders?

Sorry you didn't get the bass you wanted, though... good luck with the Sadowsky! ;)
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The Sadowsky ROCKS and frankly, I am glad things worked out this way....
 
#30
I think it is more fair to compare Fender's Custom Shop to a large company like Peavey's Custom Shop than to compare it to small boutique outfit like Sadowsky, Lull, Performance, or LowEnd. I know that a Custom Shop Cirrus has more options, but it will surely look like a Cirrus.
 
#32
That 12K quote sounds a bit suspicious. I know a few guys who have ordered custom shop stuff that they have 6K in and it was fairly exotic. I personally didn't think the 6K bass was worth it. Could you tell us a bit more about the finish you were looking for? Some exotic art work is very time consuming.
 
#33
That 12K quote sounds a bit suspicious.
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That's what I was thinking too.

I had to edit the rest of my post though because it could have been misconstrued as condescending, which wasn't my intention at all. I wonder if the OP has thought about getting a quote through a different dealer because from the description, it seems to me it shouldn't cost half of that $12K. I guess anything is possible though from a company that sells $25,000 guitars too.
 
#34
Jason Brown said:
That's what I was thinking too.

I had to edit the rest of my post though because it could have been misconstrued as condescending, which wasn't my intention at all. I wonder if the OP has thought about getting a quote through a different dealer because from the description, it seems to me it shouldn't cost half of that $12K. I guess anything is possible though from a company that sells $25,000 guitars too.
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And not only do they sell $25,000 guitars, those guitars are not, IMO, necessarily $24k worth of different from what's available at any decent music store for a grand...

Still love Fenders, but CS, you gotta wonder...

:)
 
#39
burk48237 said:
That 12K quote sounds a bit suspicious. I know a few guys who have ordered custom shop stuff that they have 6K in and it was fairly exotic. I personally didn't think the 6K bass was worth it. Could you tell us a bit more about the finish you were looking for? Some exotic art work is very time consuming.
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Over at the Fender forum someone was saying $5,000 is the going price for a master built CS. I paid half that for my regular ol' team built 59 and its the best P-bass I've played. If I need a personalized custom I'll have to go somewhere else. For $12,000 I'd rather buy a real 59.
 
#40
Mastermold said:
Over at the Fender forum someone was saying $5,000 is the going price for a master built CS. I paid half that for my regular ol' team built 59 and its the best P-bass I've played. If I need a personalized custom I'll have to go somewhere else. For $12,000 I'd rather buy a real 59.
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I played an absolutly mint 64 with matching headstock at Gruhns, and they wanted 17,500. Hey if your gonna spend 12, what's an extra 5500?:D
 

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