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Post subject: Masterbuilt or Team Built - How Much Difference?
Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 2:25 am
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Hi Guys

My dealer has 2 CS Strats I am interested in.One is a Masterbuilt 59 Strat with custom 50's P/ups,the other is the same type guitar but has Abigail Pickups.

Question is,what is the difference and which would you go for?

Thanks

Alan


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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:12 am
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I've always wondered about this too. I mean, I know what the difference is as far as how the guitars are made, but from my experience and from what I have heard from other players, a Masterbuilt guitar isn't always better than a Teambuilt guitar and a $6000 guitar isn't always better than $3000 guitar. When you start comparing guitars in the $4000 to $7000 range it's more like apples and oranges. It's about personal taste, which model and features you want, and what feels good and what sounds good to you.

Also, the Custom Shop price range doesn't always make sense to me. I understand why a custom-ordered Masterbuilt guitar is more expensive than a limited edition Teambuilt guitar or a normal production run Teambuilt guitar but why is this guitar...

http://www.privatereserveguitars.com/Fender-Custom-Shop--63-Telecaster-Heavy-Relic-Electric-Guitar-620945-i1471785.guitars

cost so much more ($1200) than this guitar?

http://www.privatereserveguitars.com/Fender-Custom-Shop-Limited-Release-1952-Heavy-Relic-Tele-Nocaster-Electric-Guitar-516163-i1396474.guitars

Back when the Custom Shop first start making guitars and there were fewer models it was much easier to figure out the pricing structure, but now there are many more models, often with only slight variations to distinguish them from one another. So maybe this is what accounts for the pricing differences?


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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 8:50 am
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"...Back when the Custom Shop first start making guitars and there were fewer models it was much easier to figure out the pricing structure..."

There are fewer models today than we've ever had. The "pricelist" is a fraction the size of what it used to be. I know because I've spent the last 14 years reducing it and focusing it more toward custom built "non-pricelist" guitars. Everybody in the shop and in Scottsdale are focused on that model, which is what the shop should be. That's why the largest part of our business is LTD's, Master Built, and Custom Built instruments.

We are very close to getting something on the web where you guys can accurately figure out the pricing on a Master Built or a Custom Built instrument.

To be honest, our pricing structure is easier now than it's ever been, and it makes more sense. Without the web thing we are working on.

To answer your question, the first guitar is a Master Built instrument. Therefore the price difference.

ME


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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 3:40 pm
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Mike Eldred - Fender wrote:
There are fewer models today than we've ever had. The "pricelist" is a fraction the size of what it used to be.

ME


I think it's always been confusing to me because I'm going by what's currently available online as opposed to what's currently available in the actual Custom Shop catalog. When you search eBay and the Fender CS dealer websites it makes it seem like there are hundreds of different models! :D

Mike Eldred - Fender wrote:
To answer your question, the first guitar is a Master Built instrument. Therefore the price difference.

ME

When comparing prices, there are many times when the description doesn't say whether it's a Masterbuilt or a Teambuilt guitar and it makes you wonder why the price is so much higher than other similar models. So I guess it's probably safe to assume that most of the Custom Shop guitars in the $4000+ price range are Masterbuilt?

Mike, thanks for putting up with all of my whining. Please don't mistake these questions and comments as complaints. I think everyone likes to feel that his guitar is special and that it was a great deal too. These questions are just some of the things I've been wondering about since I bought my first Custom Shop guitar this past January. Hopefully, another one is in the near future! :)


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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 3:45 pm
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Quote:
audiodrome wrote:
I've always wondered about this too. I mean, I know what the difference is as far as how the guitars are made, but from my experience and from what I have heard from other players, a Masterbuilt guitar isn't always better than a Teambuilt guitar and a $6000 guitar isn't always better than $3000 guitar.
The way I see it, the investment in a Masterbuilt guitar makes more sense if you are going to be personally involved, one on one, in creating an instrument with certain nuances particular to your taste, in close collaboration with someone such as Todd Krause. Beyond that, if you audition a Masterbuilt instrument, the product of a single luthier's effort, and the guitar speaks to you, well, it's as good a read as if it were Custom Shop (Teambuilt) and did the same thing, other than for the fact that you know who wrote the book. Then you simply have to decide whether or not the juice is worth the squeeze where these two Tele's are concerned. What I see in the abstract, from the examples that you cited, are out-takes from an online catalog. Have you actually auditioned these guitars? If not, perhaps that would be the thing to do. It might swing your vote? I have learned, through off-line correspondence with some of the Forum regulars who are die hard regular patrons of The Shop, that you can, for example (and a true tale) purchase five units of the same guitar and, depending upon whose hands if came from, they will all feel different.
Doc :wink:

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Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 7:07 pm
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ZZDoc wrote:
Have you actually auditioned these guitars? If not, perhaps that would be the thing to do.


VERY sound advice there :wink: Any guitar has the "potential" to be the "best" guitar you've ever played...Masterbuilt or not...Give them ALL a try and let your own ears and hands be the guide.

ZZDoc wrote:
I have learned, through off-line correspondence with some of the Forum regulars who are die hard regular patrons of The Shop, that you can, for example (and a true tale) purchase five units of the same guitar and, depending upon whose hands if came from, they will all feel different.
Doc :wink:


Very true...I've experienced that first hand. NOT to say that any MB'er is "better" than the other...(THEY'RE ALL PHENOMENAL!!) Personally I think it's that "individuality" of sorts that is the real magic behind the Masterbuilt program :wink:


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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 2:50 am
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Hi Guys

I think my original question may have been misunderstood,so here goes with trying to elaborate.

My dealers 2 CS strats are Identical,I have put pictures side by side,you can't tell them apart,same colour,same shape,same finish etc.

The only 2 differences are,one is Masterbuilt and has CS 50's P/ups,the other is Teambuilt and has Abby P/ups.

Would I be correct in thinking that ,although the Masterbuilt is made by just one guy,and the Team built is made by more than one person,the dimensions would be the same,it's only the P/ups that are different?

If the dealer was close to me,I would go try them both,but I am leaning towards the Team Built simply because it has the Abby P/ups.

Hope this makes sense.

Alan


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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 2:58 am
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asimmd wrote:
Hi Guys I think my original question may have been misunderstood.......

Don't think so. The bottom line, and often expressed in these pages, is that you can't tell a book from it's cover. At face value these two instruments appear alike, but they are not and in more subtle respects that just the pickups. Though you only differentiate with the phrase 'same type guitar' That MB may have a choicer wood selected for the neck and body, slightly different, weight, fit and finish, etc. In the end hey have to bee played. Beyond that, it's a crap shoot. Perhaps you can purchase it with a return contingency.

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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 3:06 am
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It's hard to say...Does the dealer list the specs for each? Even IF the are say...both '64 strats...they may have different neck shapes or fingerboard radius, fret wire, wiring...etc..etc..BUT none of that would effect the price.

IF however they DO indeed have the same specs and the only true differences are the pups and one is MB and the other TB...then yes...the basic dimensions should be the same.

Keep in mind though, that although the MB is only showing "CS '50 pups" they could indeed be Abby wound and signed as well. The TB you mentioned that HAS Abby pups...which Abby pups are in that? Abby CS '50's as well? She winds A LOT of pups. I've had Abby '50's, Abby FAT '50's, Abby '60's, Abby '65's, Abby '69's, Abby Masterwounds....see my point :wink:


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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 3:58 am
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Hi Guys

Thanks for the replies,I take your point about not judging the cigar by the picture on the box,I really should try one before I buy.

Having said that,I didn't try my C/S NOS56 before I bought it,and I am really pleased with it.

On the Abby P/ups,I didn't know there were so many diffefent sorts with Abby's name on them,just shows we live and learn.Another reason to try it first.

Alan


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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 7:39 am
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asimmd wrote:
On the Abby P/ups,I didn't know there were so many diffefent sorts with Abby's name on them,just shows we live and learn.Another reason to try it first. Alan

Another reason to hang out here. There's seems to be a great deal about the FMIC operation that sight unsung. You'll never find that kind of information in the products section because its just not there and will only derive from a one on one business relationship with someone inside. A great deal of that has now become community property because of the sharing in these pages and great things are happening as a result. 8)
Doc

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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:55 am
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Well after all the should I shouldn't I,I have asked my dealer to quote me for a Teambuilt Strat - AA Birdseye Neck - Gold Hardware - Standard Machines - Trem - Abby P/ups and Fiesta Red finish.

And I 'm still waitin.

Maybe I should have asked for a quote for the same but Masterbult.

Ho Hum.

Alan


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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:36 am
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Maybe I should have asked for a quote for the same but Masterbult.
Not only should you have....but both from more than one Showcase Dealer....and that....my friend....comes from a suggestion to me from a member of the Forum who knows :wink: 8) Any issues or complications regarding your order once it is placed can be directed to Mike Eldred on his Forum.

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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 2:04 pm
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zSPECTREz wrote:
ZZDoc wrote:
Have you actually auditioned these guitars? If not, perhaps that would be the thing to do.


VERY sound advice there :wink: Any guitar has the "potential" to be the "best" guitar you've ever played...Masterbuilt or not...Give them ALL a try and let your own ears and hands be the guide.

I own one of these guitars:

http://www.privatereserveguitars.com/Fender-Custom-Shop-Limited-Release-1952-Heavy-Relic-Tele-Nocaster-Electric-Guitar-516163-i1396474.guitars

But I had also tried out the '57 Heavy Relic and I was just wondering why it was so much more money than the '52. At the time I didn't know that the '57 was a Masterbuilt and I certainly didn't think it was any "better" than the '52 - they were both equally phenomenal guitars! In the end, it came down to the fact that I have always wanted an early '50s "Blackguard" Telecaster and if the prices were reversed I might have made the same choice. Since I wasn't designing the guitar myself the Masterbuilt vs. Teambuilt thing never would have factored into my decision anyway. From the story that Mike Eldred tells in the '52 Tele promo video it seems that although it was a Teambuilt guitar, the amount of care and attention that went into building this guitar (wood choice, electronics, neck profile, etc.) was more on the level of a Masterbuilt instrument.


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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:40 pm
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But I had also tried out the '57 Heavy Relic and I was just wondering why it was so much more money than the '52.

That's the ticket! The OP did not have that option. He was ordering from the printed page. :?

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