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Special Order Guitars from Custom Shop?


Zaphod B

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The Custom Shop no longer does one off custom orders. You need to order a minimum of 25 to get them to consider it. If you can find a dealer that is willing to order 25, they can submit your specs. The 56 has a TOM, stop tail and single coil P-90s, so I don't know what you would want in there for pickups? Add humbuckers and you have a 57 Gold Top. Tuners can be swapped out after market, as can pickups. Occasionally dealers will order a batch of reissues in a non traditional finish, you can always keep your eyes open for those too, but until they start doing custom orders again, that is about it.

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admin.......does each of 25 have to be all the same guitar or each can be totally different as long as the total ordered guitars are 25 at once?.......j

 

Hey Joe--

 

(I always wanted to write that. . . . The Hendrix fan in me was always looking for the opportunity.)

 

From what I have heard here and elsewhere, the minimum order would be twenty-five of the same guitar. The point of the minimum order number is to avoid making a bunch of single guitars.

 

I agree with what I think you are thinking: if you don't make single guitars, then you really aren't a "custom" shop any longer. I was really surprised to find out from the Custom Admin here in the forums that the entire Memphis facility is considered part of the Custom Shop, and by this thinking, Gibson says that every guitar that comes out of Gibson Memphis is a custom guitar. To me, that is just weird talk: a mass-produced custom guitar is, by definition, an oxymoron.

 

Ignatius

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admin.......is it really correct all the way what raptor is telling us here..........like........You need to order a minimum of 25 to get them to consider it.

tell us more about the current custom order rule............thanks always..............................joe

 

that's the way it was in 2007, but i think we are pretty close to taking individual custom orders again.

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The 56 has a TOM' date=' stop tail and single coil P-90s, so I don't know what you would want in there for pickups? Add humbuckers and you have a 57 Gold Top. Tuners can be swapped out after market, as can pickups.[/quote']

Raptor, it was just a "for example." To be honest I'd really like a '54 or '56 configuration but I just don't care for goldtops. I like to see some grain on my guitars' faces. And the question about alternate pickups for other models has more to do with having some formal Gibson provenance on the guitar - a piece of paper that states, "This guitar was made to order for Zaphod B by the Gibson Custom Shop with the following features:.........etc."

 

Let's face it, in any production environment the products are parts-bin assemblies anyway. It would be cool to be able to specify which bins the parts come from.

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Zaphod, several dealers have done runs of those guitars in other finishes besides bursts. It is just a matter of finding one who has them. I will keep my eyes open for some, and the LPF is a good place to hear about these runs too if you are a member there. Unless they have changed policy all you get with a custom order is a COA with the model and serial number on it. Keeping any paperwork from the shop you order from is a good idea too. Often with special orders, all that comes up on their computers is "custom quote" or "special order" not much else.

I hope they do go back to taking custom orders once again since I had 1 quote in hand, which I will have to get redone, and plans for at least 1 more custom order.

I found the keys to getting an order accepted are to find a model as close to what you want and start with that. The prices do go up fast on these orders and they can easily hit $10K or more. I hope we both can get what we want once more.

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I found the keys to getting an order accepted are to find a model as close to what you want and start with that. The prices do go up fast on these orders and they can easily hit $10K or more. I hope we both can get what we want once more.

Good post, good info, Raptor. Thanks.

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man if i had the money the i'd want a sg white custom with 3 p90's or singlcoils (maybe a humbucker for the middle) and dave grohls pelham blue dg335 (they'll be long gone by the time i've saved for one). the customizations for my lp are within reach of me doing them myself.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Axl, no one here, not even admin, can give you an answer. You would have to find a dealer who is willing to submit a request for a quote, and since they are not doing them right now, that will get you no where. Keep in mind, if you go to the CS for a custom order, you will have to base it on one of their models. You cannot ask them to take a Gibson USA Standard and mod it. So you would have to start with a CS guitar, for flame right now, you are looking at a Class 5, R9, R0, or Ultima. So right away your are looking at an MSRP of about $5K and up, then you would have to add possible upcharges for finish and pickups. So you would probably be in the same price range as you are for the Gibson USA Slash model.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 9 months later...

I'm gonna ask for the sake of getting an answer as of today, April 23rd.

 

Do I have to go thru my dealer?

 

Does it have to be 25?

 

I imagine for my idea, 25 different people around the world would want it, but I shan't be paying for 25 guitars.

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  • 7 months later...

I hope Gibson custom will take individual orders eventually. One day, i'd like to custom order a left handed 61' sg jr reissue. But 25 of them would be too much for me to afford. Buying an old 1961 sg and flipping it just isn't right. And i know gibson doesn't make too many left handed models. (i understand this is an old thread)

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  • 3 weeks later...
that's the way it was in 2007' date=' but i think we are pretty close to taking individual custom orders again.[/quote']

 

Great to hear this! Please let us know when: I want a new ES-350 T, like the original ones that had a "23.5 scale length (not like the ones they did a run of in 1997 which had a "24.75 scale length).

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Just for the curious: I found out that there are a few ES-350 T guitars, made in 1992 (found them on sale in the Internet), which have a 25.1/2 inches scale lenght!!! (although, as far as I know, they are still known for having been a plainer version of the Byrdland, with the same short scale length as the Byrdland) ...so, what's the story with this model huh???

Cheers!

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The original ES 350 series (both the thinline and the ful depth) were always 25 1/2 scale length. Any gibson archtop (apart from the Byrdland and a few L5-CT guitars) guitar 17 or 18 inches wide has the ful 25.5 scale length. The 16 inch wide models have a 24 3/4 inch scale length. The only reason the ES 350 T is seen by some as an affordable Byrdland is because they share the same body dimensions. really its closer to being a thinline laminated maple L5 CES or an electrified L7 C. There never was an ES 350 with the same scale length as the Byrdland.

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There never was an ES 350 with the same scale length as the Byrdland.

 

I found, in a lot of sources of information on the net, that it originally had a 23.5" scale (like the Byrdland) until it was discontinued in 1982...

 

"With a 23.5" scale, the original ES-350T shared a lineage with the better known Gibson Byrdland."

 

http://www.imagineguitars.com/archive/electric/000_es-350t/

 

Anyway... it would be nice to have some historic info, from Admin, about this model and its specs throughout the years, cause there seems to be quite a bit of confusion about it out there... I've come across (on the Internet) 25 1/2 versions, 24 3/4 (or so declaired) versions, vintage 23 1/2 versions and, on one occasion I found one described as "short scale"... so I asked the guy to please measurare the scale length for me once more, which he kindly did, and ..."ooops! sorry, it's a 25 1/2!!"

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This thread gives me a little hope!

 

I'm after a Custom Shop model from a couple years ago - the all-mahogany custom LP with 3 burstbuckers in Silverburst finish. All the new ones are gone and there seems to be no after-market - nobody who was lucky enough to get one is selling it.

 

So what I get from this thread is that theoretically I could contact the Custom Shop and special order this guitar since I'm not asking for any mods to their design, I want it exactly as they made it when it was in production.

 

Do I have an accurate grasp on the situation, or is that a pipe dream?

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