Gibson Custom Shop?

[bluefire98]

Hello peeps. I just have 1 quick question, if you were willing to pay the cost would gibson give you a custom guitar made to your specs and made by their luthiers in memphis? I know fender offers this but does gibson? The spec being within reason, of course

[4Hayden]

I'm sure you get the custom shop to put pups,color,small changes. Call and ask won't hurt

[badbluesplayer]

Yes, absolutely!! I'm not sure if you would have to order and purchase the guitar through a dealer. I think that's how it works. Call Gibson CS or your local dealer.

[CR9]

You will have to contact a Gibson Custom Dealer and have them get a quote for you. You will not be able to call the shop and get a price. They build one within reasonable requests. Stick to changes to a guitar that is normal production and then spec your changes.

[Dennis D near Milwaukee]

You will have to contact a Gibson Custom Dealer and have them get a quote for you. You will not be able to call the shop and get a price. They build one within reasonable requests. Stick to changes to a guitar that is normal production and then spec your changes.

 

 

Is the Custom Shop back to doing quotes / accepting orders ? I had heard earlier in the year they weren't doing any at all.

[bluefire98]

Thanks for the replies i was just curious as i cant afford something like that now or probably ever :angry: . FYI i was dreaming when i thought of this

[CR9]

Is the Custom Shop back to doing quotes / accepting orders ? I had heard earlier in the year they weren't doing any at all.

 

The last I heard was that they may be getting close to doing quotes again. That was several weeks ago.

[capmaster]

You will have to contact a Gibson Custom Dealer and have them get a quote for you. You will not be able to call the shop and get a price. They build one within reasonable requests. Stick to changes to a guitar that is normal production and then spec your changes.

This is the way to go to my experience. Depending on the dealer and the personal desires you want them to implement, it might take a single phone call only to get an answer if they will build it for you. If so, there might pass several weeks until they submit you an offer which comprises price and delivery time. For the latter, you have to reckon several months, and though it won't be cheap, it may be sensible since having a stock Gibson modded to your desire including finishing could turn out to be more expensive in the end, or even impossible if e. g. you want a different fretboard, different inlays etc.

 

My idea that time was a piezo-TOM bridge equipped LP in the image of the Traditional 2013 in Heritage Cherry Sunburst with active circuit, coil split and polarity switch options. Then I changed hands when the SG Supra appeared, and considering price, delivery time, and the fact that I would have to go with what I get, I decided to check out the SG Supra and finally went with it. I really like it, but also have to admit that I feel it was a bit compromised.

[jimmyl51]

I had the custom shop build me an ES-350t with a P-90 in the neck position in a beautiful faded cherry finish. This was approximately 7 years ago however. At that time Gibson was absolutely incredible to deal with to the point where they would sent me almost daily jpegs of the guitar in progress. I would surmise that today that would not be the case. At that time I was able to afford it where today I could not due in part to the wonderful economy in our present country. jim in Maine

[JimR56]

I had the custom shop build me an ES-350t with a P-90 in the neck position in a beautiful faded cherry finish.

I think I requested photos of that one some time ago. Would still love to see it. :)

[Danny W.]

The answer to the question of whether or not Gibson will build a one-off custom guitar is "it depends." Please note that this is also the correct answer to many of the most vexing questions in life.

 

First, it will depend on how Henry is feeling that day. Gibson has gone back and forth over the years on taking such orders--last year I heard they had stopped, but today they might feel more in the mood. Even before Henry they vacillated on this; I had requested an Es-355 with an L-5 fretboard every year for twenty years before they agreed to build one for me in 1994.

 

It also depends on what you ask for. They are far more likely to agree to make a production guitar with a custom color or different pickups or one with a combination of existing features than if you ask them to build a Strat ™. Except for the 355/L-5, all the guitars I've had them make have had minor changes from the production model.

 

During the previous decade Gibson had a program called "Custom Direct," which allowed members to buy custom-ordered guitars right from Gibson. There was a $500 refundable fee to join, which was applied to your first order. I bought two guitars this way and was very happy with the outcome, but they received complaints from dealers who felt they were getting screwed out of commissions. In typical Henry fashion Gibson responded by jacking up their price quotes rather outrageously, all out proportion to the problem. A better solution would have been to add a 5% local dealer charge--considering that the dealer wouldn't even be involved, this would have been a reasonable payoff. For all I know this program is still in place, but it became too pricey for me. Since I haven't received email about it in years, I'm guessing it's shelved.

 

Besides the ones I ordered myself, I have several other one-off guitars made for other people, or dealers, or maybe even Gibson just decided to build them--the Custom Direct program included the chance to bid on spec-built guitars, some of which were quite interesting. The good thing about this is that you get to evaluate the final product without being committed to it, but of course, you have to wait for these to become available on a random basis. A couple of guitars I acquired this way were far cheaper than similar guitars I had had quoted from CD and nicer than I could have imagined.

 

Danny W.