Unofficial Taylor Guitar Forum - UTGF
The Lounge => The Lounge => Topic started by: Rllink on August 30, 2021, 03:10:16 AM
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Hi, Have you ever buy handmade guitar. How to find best handmade guitar and what to check before purchase handmade guitar (https://pb.bngguitars.com/electric?series=private). Please share details. Thanks
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Could you clarify what you mean by "handmade". Most acoustic guitars are handmade to some extent, whether they are from small luthiers or larger production companies like Taylor or Martin. By "handmade", do you mean a guitar that is built to your specifications from the ground up?
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I share those questions from SF. I perceive you asking about a factory special-order versus a handmade boutique guitar made by a single luthier.
The only serious wooden guitar I have ever bought that was not off-the-rack / pre-built was a 1990 custom shop Martin J-40. That was a leap of faith, but I had played a half dozen stock models first. I just wanted some cosmetic features that were not pure stock. (Coincidentally, several of those features like the abalone rosette became "stock" two years later, so I can only presume that they liked how mine came out). Not relevant, but that custom guitar had some manufacturing defects -- neck off center in the dovetail, bridge misplaced negatively affecting intonation, and others. That was really disappointing coming from the Custom Shop but was all corrected during the neck reset several years later.
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I have ordered custom guitars from Taylor (6), Santa Cruz (1) and Lowden (1). Some were successes and some were not. One was refused, because the requested specs were not there. Another lasted a couple of months, because I ordered something that turned out to be not to my liking. The other six were great, but all but one have been replaced as my tastes have changed.