Danner Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I am curious to get a discussion going about custom acoustics, and in particular, what kinds of things will they do? Body size and shape, it it just the standard shapes? Will they make legacy models? For example, I believe they will make a CF-100 cutaway. Finishes; naturally they would do the standard colors and burst, but would they do a custom color? Could I get a sea-foam green J-45? Electronics; would they install non-standard components, like a K&K Pure Mini? Wood; will they obtain special woods if requested? For example, a snakewood bridge or ebony fretboard, etc. Neck profiles and string spacing; can you control these at all? Just curious to know what y'all have experienced in this regard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I am curious to get a discussion going about custom acoustics, and in particular, what kinds of things will they do? Body size and shape, it it just the standard shapes? Will they make legacy models? For example, I believe they will make a CF-100 cutaway. Finishes; naturally they would do the standard colors and burst, but would they do a custom color? Could I get a sea-foam green J-45? Electronics; would they install non-standard components, like a K&K Pure Mini? Wood; will they obtain special woods if requested? For example, a snakewood bridge or ebony fretboard, etc. Neck profiles and string spacing; can you control these at all? Just curious to know what y'all have experienced in this regard? they will do most things that aren't just completely out of left field. so no, you can't shape it like an aircraft carrier. as for the other things, there are 2 major rules. 1. you can't try to do a custom build that is similar to a more expensive model with just tiny specs changed in order to make it cheaper. not going to happen. 2. if you come up with something they have never built, then YOU will pay for the engineering. the 2nd guy to order one will pay less b/c they have already worked it out. as for different colors and woods, it depends. they can't buy these things in quantities small enough for one guitar. they have to buy bulk. so, in that case you need to convince them to do a run of that model that multiple dealers can buy and sell. otherwise, they would have to buy a bunch of wood or paint, build your guitar, and then be stuck with leftovers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Hmm... I was under the impression that the Custom Shop did not exist? or is it more what there machinery is programed to do? with what already exists? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Hmm... I was under the impression that the Custom Shop did not exist? or is it more what there machinery is programed to do? with what already exists? not sure what you mean here. there is absolutely a custom shop. they don't build guitars from start to finish there, but some work and some design is done there. and there are custom orders made all the time. much of this work is done on the regular production floor. sometimes it's a small tweak, sometimes a major build. and there is no issue with what machinery is programmed to do. it's what the people are able to do and what they have available. it also has to be practical from a financial standpoint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 not sure what you mean here. there is absolutely a custom shop. they don't build guitars from start to finish there, but some work and some design is done there. and there are custom orders made all the time. much of this work is done on the regular production floor. sometimes it's a small tweak, sometimes a major build. and there is no issue with what machinery is programmed to do. it's what the people are able to do and what they have available. it also has to be practical from a financial standpoint. I was told the Custom shop closed at Bozeman.. Now was that the Custom Shop Room,? and they continued on the Floor Building Custom Guitars in amongst the standard builds? There seems to be alot of Misinformation.. I pretty much stopped buying when the Custom Shop was Closed.. and there was a span of 10 years or so that I have missed , so Im not sure,,..... I would also like to know... are these Custom Shops sent through the same cycle as the Normal Productions? theres a question.... watching the Builds back when in the Custom shop was pretty Neat thing to see.. each brace carefully carved, and placed into a temp posistion till it was all ready for its Final glueing.. inlays were scuptured to fit tight.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-1854Me Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Danner, I think that the Custom Shop would pretty much build you what they can, but within limits. I don't know that if you drew up a guitar in a shape that they don't build to that they would make it. If you take an existing model and use that as a 'template', I think from there it's just dollars and sense. If you need a guitar is seafoam green, my bet is they'd build it. If they'll build this: ...., I'd guess they would do seafoam too. They have done some pretty cool custom colours over the years, including an opaque gold (as on the Les Paul model), translucent as well as opaque reds, various shades of blue, dusty rose (one of my favourites), trans green and other shades too. The opaque colours tend to be associated more with electric guitars, though. As to woods, I think they prefer to source them so they can offer a complete warranty on the guitar, as opposed to "I found this nice hunk of <fill in wood species> and had it sawn to nice guitar-size pieces; can you build me a J-200 with it?". So if you want a snakewood bridge or whatever, I bet that if they can source it, they'll do it! Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Actually... The Custom Shop did a J2000 in Seafoam green...back in the John Walker Days... I was there at the right time I guess , and had a little hand in getting the Color Close to what it was suppose to be... there was lots of wood being broken out of frustration trying to get it right... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp58 Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Wonder who had this one built? The owner of Gateway computers?!!! Or does it say "Eat More Chicken" on the back?!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 When it comes to "CUSTOM"...why not go all the way????? In for a penny, in for a pound......I'm not much for bling.....BUT I would like to have the ebony fretboard have block markers.....AND.....neck to be made from flame Koa, same as back and sides.....Adirondack Spruce top (with light toner) and braces....no pickup......bone nut and saddle on Ebony bridge, Bob Colosi Ivory pins and end pin,with black dots....abalone around the soundhole....off white Ivoroid and black binding (6 ply) at the edges and binding around the fretboard.....snakehead headstock with flamed Koa veneer and "the Gibson" vintage script, Waverly open back tuners with Ivoroid knobs. All this in an L-00 size package would do it for me. Unique, but put together with the Gibson know-how!!! Heirloom! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danner Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 When it comes to "CUSTOM"...why not go all the way????? In for a penny, in for a pound......I'm not much for bling.....BUT I would like to have the ebony fretboard have block markers.....AND.....neck to be made from flame Koa, same as back and sides.....Adirondack Spruce top (with light toner) and braces....no pickup......bone nut and saddle on Ebony bridge, Bob Colosi Ivory pins and end pin,with black dots....abalone around the soundhole....off white Ivoroid and black binding (6 ply) at the edges and binding around the fretboard.....snakehead headstock with flamed Koa veneer and "the Gibson" vintage script, Waverly open back tuners with Ivoroid knobs. All this in an L-00 size package would do it for me. Unique, but put together with the Gibson know-how!!! Heirloom! I have to say, that does sound mighty fine What I had in mind was a CF-100 with split parallelogram inlays, straight bridge and cherry burst finish. Then, maybe do some added nice-ness with the other bits and pieces. Perhaos; open back tuners with vintage white butter-beans, ebony fret and bridge; put a K&K Pure Mini in it, ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-1854Me Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Wonder who had this one built? The owner of Gateway computers?!!! Or does it say "Eat More Chicken" on the back?!!! Why Larry, that's the "J-Moo Hundred" guitar!! I for one am glad they have a sense of humour about that! Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danner Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Why Larry, that's the "J-Moo Hundred" guitar!! I for one am glad they have a sense of humour about that! Fred Ha! That's pretty darn funny LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I was told the Custom shop closed at Bozeman.. Now was that the Custom Shop Room,? and they continued on the Floor Building Custom Guitars in amongst the standard builds? There seems to be alot of Misinformation.. I pretty much stopped buying when the Custom Shop was Closed.. and there was a span of 10 years or so that I have missed , so Im not sure,,..... I would also like to know... are these Custom Shops sent through the same cycle as the Normal Productions? theres a question.... watching the Builds back when in the Custom shop was pretty Neat thing to see.. each brace carefully carved, and placed into a temp posistion till it was all ready for its Final glueing.. inlays were scuptured to fit tight.. they absolutely still do custom builds. i have ordered a few for people recently, and we are working on another. much of the work is done by the same hands as normal stuff. these guys are good though. don't let that idea fool you. many of the custom pieces coveted here on this board had work done by these same hands. there is still a room off to the side where custom things are worked on. it doesn't make sense to do EVERYTHING there though. some things are done best by the guys that do it every single day. they don't get rusty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogeye Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I was told the Custom shop closed at Bozeman.. Now was that the Custom Shop Room,? and they continued on the Floor Building Custom Guitars in amongst the standard builds? There seems to be alot of Misinformation.. I pretty much stopped buying when the Custom Shop was Closed.. and there was a span of 10 years or so that I have missed , so Im not sure,,..... I would also like to know... are these Custom Shops sent through the same cycle as the Normal Productions? theres a question.... watching the Builds back when in the Custom shop was pretty Neat thing to see.. each brace carefully carved, and placed into a temp posistion till it was all ready for its Final glueing.. inlays were scuptured to fit tight.. When you came to Bozeman there was a "Custom Shop". Ren was in charge and he hand picked the best employees from the plant to staff it. Think John Walker and Kevin Kopp to name a few. There were several others as well. Mike Bakeberg,Jason Jones, Val Bolitho and a couple of others. They had all the fixtures the general plant had and they did all of their own building. The Custom Shop was created from a storage space above the machine shop. This was all done well before Gibson had any computer controlled milling machines. Gibson needed to expand the production and the CNC machines were begining to make their presence known. They closed that part of the plant and the Custom Shop was no longer in production. GIbson moved the General Manager's office and the marketing dept. offices in the old Custom Shop space. Gibson created the "Art Shop" and this is the entity that is doing business now. The guitars are made in production and they are "enhanced" by the "Art Shop". Ren was still in charge of the Art Shop. The Art Shop is a tiny room with just enough room for a couple of benches where inlay is done. So....Slimt you would never know it was ever a Custom Shop. It's full of high grade wood laying around in piles and many projects in various states of completion. There was a photo a while back of J-185 for me's wife selecting wood. That picture shows the entire Art Shop. The room is probably 10x12 feet. The two employees that are still associated with it are both doing regular production building as well as enhancing a few other projects. There is a famous wood carver that is a world war two survivor. She is a great lady and she was contacted by Ren a while back and he sent her some guitars for her to carve. She had total control and she carved the guitars pictured a couple of months ago. Her name is/was Nora Hall. I don't know if she is still alive or not. Nora carved the Dragon Guitars that are at Music Villa. She also carved a couple of flower themed guitars that are unfinished in the "Art Shop". I tried to buy one and it was not for sale. That's about all there is in the Art Shop. Well that and a lot of dust. John Walker left Gibson and moved to the Pacific Northwest when they closed the Custon Shop. He later came back to Montana to build his famous guitars. Kevin Kopp was under utilized as well and left for his own label soon after. The old Custom Shop was a magic place and anything could happen there. I remember about 20 Brazilian Rosewood AJ's were built for Gary Burnett. He supplied the wood. His AJ's all had Snakewood bridge plates that Gary supplied. I tried to get one and didn't succeed. He had them sold before they even made them. I would love to know who has them today. They are the best of the best. I was driving thru Bozeman and thought I would take Ren to lunch. He's home from NAMM and he's doing fine. I was to late as he already left for lunch with a buddy of his. I chatted with Renee for a few minutes. His leg is coming along just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 When you came to Bozeman there was a "Custom Shop". Ren was in charge and he hand picked the best employees from the plant to staff it. Think John Walker and Kevin Kopp to name a few. There were several others as well. Mike Bakeberg,Jason Jones, Val Bolitho and a couple of others. They had all the fixtures the general plant had and they did all of their own building. The Custom Shop was created from a storage space above the machine shop. This was all done well before Gibson had any computer controlled milling machines. Gibson needed to expand the production and the CNC machines were begining to make their presence known. They closed that part of the plant and the Custom Shop was no longer in production. GIbson moved the General Manager's office and the marketing dept. offices in the old Custom Shop space. Gibson created the "Art Shop" and this is the entity that is doing business now. The guitars are made in production and they are "enhanced" by the "Art Shop". Ren was still in charge of the Art Shop. The Art Shop is a tiny room with just enough room for a couple of benches where inlay is done. So....Slimt you would never know it was ever a Custom Shop. It's full of high grade wood laying around in piles and many projects in various states of completion. There was a photo a while back of J-185 for me's wife selecting wood. That picture shows the entire Art Shop. The room is probably 10x12 feet. The two employees that are still associated with it are both doing regular production building as well as enhancing a few other projects. There is a famous wood carver that is a world war two survivor. She is a great lady and she was contacted by Ren a while back and he sent her some guitars for her to carve. She had total control and she carved the guitars pictured a couple of months ago. Her name is/was Nora Hall. I don't know if she is still alive or not. Nora carved the Dragon Guitars that are at Music Villa. She also carved a couple of flower themed guitars that are unfinished in the "Art Shop". I tried to buy one and it was not for sale. That's about all there is in the Art Shop. Well that and a lot of dust. John Walker left Gibson and moved to the Pacific Northwest when they closed the Custon Shop. He later came back to Montana to build his famous guitars. Kevin Kopp was under utilized as well and left for his own label soon after. The old Custom Shop was a magic place and anything could happen there. I remember about 20 Brazilian Rosewood AJ's were built for Gary Burnett. He supplied the wood. His AJ's all had Snakewood bridge plates that Gary supplied. I tried to get one and didn't succeed. He had them sold before they even made them. I would love to know who has them today. They are the best of the best. I was driving thru Bozeman and thought I would take Ren to lunch. He's home from NAMM and he's doing fine. I was to late as he already left for lunch with a buddy of his. I chatted with Renee for a few minutes. His leg is coming along just fine. I know the Ajs you are talking about... I ended up with 1 of those.. Gary Is a great guy... I got the oppertunity to meet him at the Great American Guitar show at King of Prussia I knew the Custom Shop had changed thanks to a Great Guy I know from down south.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanCarlosVejar Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I know the Ajs you are talking about... I ended up with 1 of those.. Gary Is a great guy... I got the oppertunity to meet him at the Great American Guitar show at King of Prussia I knew the Custom Shop had changed thanks to a Great Guy I know from down south.. SLIMT ,might we have the pleasure of seeing the AJ ?? thanks JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danner Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Well, Hogeye's post makes it sound like the Custom Shop is no longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 My understanding is the "custom shop" is basically one room in Bozeman where they customize existing models with fancy inlays, finish, etc. They also build custom ordered (not currently in production) instruments as well. Check out this thread on the Mandolin Cafe about a custom mando-cello, based on the L-5C body. http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?77884-New-Gibson-K-5C-Mandocello A beautiful "one-off" custom instrument made in the Bozeman custom shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danner Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Thanks pfox, that is a beautiful and unique instrument. I love how the Gibson employees seem to be beaming with pride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 You are very welcome. The Gibson employees have a reason to "beam" - great job & great workmanship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogeye Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 My understanding is the "custom shop" is basically one room in Bozeman where they customize existing models with fancy inlays, finish, etc. They also build custom ordered (not currently in production) instruments as well. Check out this thread on the Mandolin Cafe about a custom mando-cello, based on the L-5C body. http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?77884-New-Gibson-K-5C-Mandocello A beautiful "one-off" custom instrument made in the Bozeman custom shop. They are not Gibson/Montana employees. I don't believe this was made in the Montana facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 They are not Gibson/Montana employees. I don't believe this was made in the Montana facility. I thought the modern carved models like the L-5 came out of Nashville... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 You can get an L5 from Bozeman no pickups though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogeye Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I thought the modern carved models like the L-5 came out of Nashville... Gibson Montana made 21 L-7C archtops in 2006. They made 17 in 2007 and 13 in 2008. They were listed at $6,903.00 in the 2009 pricelist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee_g Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 My question - how to you order a "custom" Gibson acoustic? Can you call Gibson or do you have to work through one of their 5-Star retailers? Is there a list of options that you can get to see what you can do, or is it just send them what you want and they'll provide a quote back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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