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Post subject: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:47 am
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Hi Guys,

I'm new here so please be gentle!

I'm looking to pick up my first strat (have had Tele's and LP's), and have been taken by a 2012 '56 Heavy Relic in Desert Sand - i'm not usually into the relic-ing thing, but it has been done exceptionally well and adds to the mojo and playability. It's £2300.

I've also spotted (but not yet played) a 2010 '60 Jason Smith Masterbuilt in Shell Green in a local shop for £3000 (but could probably go in a little lower). Masterbuilt guitars seem to be that much rarer in the UK.

Question time - is the Masterbuilt worth £500-700 more than the Team built? Will either be more collectable? Would there be much difference in the pickups/sound of these two, or will it be more about playability?

I bought the Dream Factory book after seeing it praised on here, and I plan on going from 0 Custom Shop instruments to (at least) a few!

Cheers,

DannoT


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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:12 am
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Hey DannoT,

Ive owned a bunch of teambuilt guitars and they are great instruments but I recently got my first masterbuilt (A jason smith '63 strat relic) and its the best guitar Ive played.

If possible, try to play them both, and then I bet the decision will be pretty easy!

Masterbuilt guitars are rarer over here (UK) than teambuilt ones, for sure. I'm a lefty and Ive only seen 2! lol. So that should make it more desirable to a collector.

In terms of feel and playability the masterbuilt will probably edge it, mine does. This thing hardily ever goes out of tune but ive had teambuilt ones that were a pain. Mine has a nice relic finish so it feels and plays great. It has the same pickups as my last teambuilt strat but sounds quite different. Every guitars wood will have a different resonance frequency and that will effect its overall sound and the masterbuilders get to pick from the nicest selection of Fenders tone woods.

Your two candidates will sound different anyway. Just because one will likely have 50s spec pups and the masterbuilt 60s. So do you prefer the sharp bright sound of maple with 50s pups or a mellower rounded sound of rosewood with 60s pups?!

Is the masterbuilt a relic or NOS?

I'd say, if the masterbuilt is as good as a masterbuilt should be, then it should be worth the extrat £500-£700.


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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:59 pm
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I've had a Team Built 57' PBass which was a very fine Bass but not my sound in the end -

I'm a lefty too and we leftys are not able to go to a shop, try an instrument and are able to buy it if we like it (at least 99,9% of the time) - so we always have to get one build and then are able to test it :roll: :lol:

I have a Dennis Galuszka Master Built Jazz Bass that was built after my specs and it kills them all - best Bass that I've ever had and will have - the woods seem to have been selected so well you have the impression that the Bass lives 8) - (Closet-Classic) finish and set up have been done perfectly (I even didn't have to adjust the PU's in 2,5 years :wink: )

I'm waiting at the moment of the delivery of my Team Built 62 PBass :)


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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:53 pm
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All Custom Shop guitars are great guitars.
Masterbuilt guitars are outstanding.
If you can afford one, go for it.
Try it if you can.

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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:09 am
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Jeezez they'd want to be outstanding for those dollars... :shock: ......Can a strat be value and worth that much more than a wellset up 600 to1000 Dollar strat? Are they that much more guitar?? Is it really the same relativity to a 100 copy to a gem 80's to modern strat? :? :mrgreen
I would love to hear your experienced thoughts on this!!

Thx in advance.... :|

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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:28 am
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All Custom Shop guitars have a definite edge over the production line in terms of quality.The advantage of the Masterbuilt program is the one-on -one the buyer has with the luthier, as well as the fact that only one pair of hands is handling the project. As a newbie to the Forums you might not be familiar with Alain's background as a collector [www.guitarmotel.com]but you can take it to the bank when he says go for it. "When You're Ready"....of course.

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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 6:55 am
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During the last 5 years I bought two Custom shop guitars, a '60 Custom Relic Telecaster and a '56 Heavy Relic Strat. Finally, both were masterbuild guitars, the Tele build by C.W.Fleming and the Strat build by J.Smith. Both have a unique sound due to the special features they have, e.g. a brass plate instead a steel plate (Tele) and a Floyd Rose trem instead a vintage trem (Strat). I think that it is just a small difference in tone and quality between a team build and a master build, but to buy a masterbuild is very subjective and has more to do with the psychological things around playing a guitar. I personaly feel more comfortable when I know that I have the best material available and that really has an influence on my playing. And in the end it is always chaeper to spent 600 - 800 bucks more right from the start, because if you are an guitar addict you will do it later on for sure :mrgreen:


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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 7:05 am
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ozrv wrote:
Jeezez they'd want to be outstanding for those dollars... :shock: ......Can a strat be value and worth that much more than a wellset up 600 to1000 Dollar strat? Are they that much more guitar?? Is it really the same relativity to a 100 copy to a gem 80's to modern strat? :? :mrgreen
I would love to hear your experienced thoughts on this!!

Thx in advance.... :|


To answer with Hendrix: what's good or bad doesn't matter to me, what does matter is feeling or not feeling.
I guess you have to feel comfortable if you want to play well. Some people feel comfortable with a 800 $ Strat, other need to pay 4.000 bucks to have the same feeling. 99% of the audience is not able to distinguish between an American Standard and a Masterbuild so its just the feeling of the player which is left. In those time where icons like Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Blackmore or Beck started their business, there did no vintage and no Custom shop exist. There were only "new" or "used" guitars on the market and I always remember that my '65 Strat, which had been purchased in the early 70ies, sounded like s**t so I sold it and got a Flying V instead.


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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 7:48 am
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[quote="petetherock]...... I always remember that my '65 Strat, which had been purchased in the early 70ies, sounded like s**t so I sold it and got a Flying V instead.[/quote]

The question might be asked as to why you changed guitar types. Given the direction in which Fender was moving at the time, hindsight tells us that a pre-CBS instrument would have been a better choice so I wouldn't have expect you to be looking for a mid-70's Fender product but why not a '58-'62. Clapton purchased the clutch of guitars from which Blackie emerged and did so dirt cheap in the mid-70's, so cost might not have been a factor.

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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:01 am
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I have a MIJ Jazz Bass 5 as well (next to my CS basses) that I've bought used from the US - well that is a very nice Bass too :) - nice B string and and pretty good craftmanship so nothing wrong with a Bass for 700,- euros :)


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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:49 pm
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ZZDoc wrote:
[quote="petetherock]...... I always remember that my '65 Strat, which had been purchased in the early 70ies, sounded like s**t so I sold it and got a Flying V instead.[/quote]

The question might be asked as to why you changed guitar types. Given the direction in which Fender was moving at the time, hindsight tells us that a pre-CBS instrument would have been a better choice so I wouldn't have expect you to be looking for a mid-70's Fender product but why not a '58-'62. Clapton purchased the clutch of guitars from which Blackie emerged and did so dirt cheap in the mid-70's, so cost might not have been a factor.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]


The answer ist easy: to buy a new Strat in Germany was way above the budget of a 17 year old boy I was. In these days 1 US $ was 4 Deutsche Mark, what means 1 US$ equals 2 Euro. Today 1 US $ = 0,80 Euro :) Price of a new Strat was 1.500 Deutsche Mark, that was more than a one month salary of a worker. The '65 Strat was just a used guitar without any vintage hype and had been sold for 800 DM what was 200 US $. I know, today you would got for it 30.000 US$ (it was in Lake Placid Blue). And it was no Gibson Flying V but a German Model called Flying Arrow from a company named HOYER... Furthermore as young guys for us a Strat was a Strat and we were not able to distinguish between the alder or ash bodies or maple neck, slap board or whatever terms there are.
Cheers, Pete


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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:37 pm
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petetherock wrote:
ZZDoc wrote:
[quote="petetherock]...... I always remember that my '65 Strat, which had been purchased in the early 70ies, sounded like s**t so I sold it and got a Flying V instead.[/quote]

The question might be asked as to why you changed guitar types. Given the direction in which Fender was moving at the time, hindsight tells us that a pre-CBS instrument would have been a better choice so I wouldn't have expect you to be looking for a mid-70's Fender product but why not a '58-'62. Clapton purchased the clutch of guitars from which Blackie emerged and did so dirt cheap in the mid-70's, so cost might not have been a factor.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

The answer ist easy: to buy a new Strat in Germany was way above the budget of a 17 year old boy I was. In these days 1 US $ was 4 Deutsche Mark, what means 1 US$ equals 2 Euro. Today 1 US $ = 0,80 Euro :) Price of a new Strat was 1.500 Deutsche Mark, that was more than a one month salary of a worker. The '65 Strat was just a used guitar without any vintage hype and had been sold for 800 DM what was 200 US $. I know, today you would got for it 30.000 US$ (it was in Lake Placid Blue). And it was no Gibson Flying V but a German Model called Flying Arrow from a company named HOYER... Furthermore as young guys for us a Strat was a Strat and we were not able to distinguish between the alder or ash bodies or maple neck, slap board or whatever terms there are.
Cheers, Pete[/quote]


In 1958, when I was sixteen, the price of the sunburst Strat was around $250 for the guitar only. We did some calculations on this Forum looking at this issue and adjusting for inflation determined that an American Standard Strat costs about as much today as it did in 1958.

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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:55 pm
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@ ZZDoc: you are right, thats the same here in Germany when you buy an American Standard. Compared to the average income, which is somewhere between 2.500 - 3.000 €/month they have become cheaper but I suggest that due to the relation US$/€.


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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:28 pm
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@petetherock: that's why I buy directly from over the pond

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Post subject: Re: Team Built Vs Masterbuilt
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 4:25 am
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Amerigo wrote:
@petetherock: that's why I buy directly from over the pond

How does the import tax factor into the equation?

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