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Post subject: John Cruz
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:46 am
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I'm interested in information on J Cruz's guitars within the custom shop. There seems to be a lot of small pieces of info out there related to specific instruments (Number One etc), but not really any accumulated info. It's almost like the days before the internet!

As far as I can tell, there are two types of Cruz masterbuilt guitars, the Series guitars - of which I guess he does a set number of unnumbered instruments, such as the Mary Kaye, the 54's, the 55 light relics - and then the numbered instruments, to which he seems to add his own pickups, his own level of finish to the neck (compound radii etc).

I first tried one of these at Matt Unamov's in NY - the MU003 - and it was unlike any strat I'd ever played. God it was brutal looking. But the sheer depth of sound, the resonance of the wood, was astonishing. Beyond that, the pickups seemed to be perfectly in tune with the wood itself in a way I'd never heard before. Most stock pickups tend to be one size fits all affairs - every now and then you'll find one that really is matched to the guitar it's in, but rarely with all 3. Even, then, it tends to be fairly 'flat' sounding.

These JC pickups, by contrast, seemed to be designed to pick up certain quirky characteristics in the wood itself that I had only heard coming from the super instruments. There's a guitar shop near here (London, UK) that usually has half a dozen vintage 60-65 strats on display and they're happy for you to play them. Often you'll find a neck pickup that works brilliantly, or a middle pickup on a second instrument, but almost never will you find a guitar where all 3 seem really in tune with the instrument as a whole. It makes you realise how random it was to find one of the great guitars built back then.

I have 2 Cruz guitars, a Mary Kaye and a 55 numbered heavy Relic, and a 59 on the way that he's building to my specs.

The Mary Kaye is an excellent instrument - everyone who picks it up thinks it's really special. The pickups aren't his - each is signed by Abby. But it's very responsive. The small neck radius and small frets took me a while to get used to. It's not an archetype instrument - which I take to be a good thing - you can get sounds beyond the usual stock range we all know. But fundamentally, it's also not a unique instrument.

And it isn't in the same league as the numbered 55 relic. To play the 55 is to realise how flat the MK is by comparison. JC has added a compound radius to the neck, larger frets, and a large amount of relic work. It has a depth of sound that I haven't heard outside of a rosewood neck on a great instrument. I sometimes get completely lost playing the thing - like a musical blackout, I come to hours later and wonder where the time went. Just an astonishing instrument.

The 59 is on the way - I'm told it should be ready by November, but I take that to mean well into next year. Having played the compound radius of the 55, I wish I had asked for that on the 59. I'm told you're not allowed to change the specs on an instrument once the order is in (I wish too I had asked for a bridge pickup in the 6.8 - 7 k range). Also to wire the second tone pot to the bridge pickup (but that's easy enough for me to get done on arrival). Strange that after playing for 15 years, I've only started thinking about these sorts of guitar specs in the last year. I guess some people never do. Still, I'd really love to change that spec request so the two guitars line up together.

Anyway, if anyone can point me to some more info on JC, I'd appreciate it. I noticed recently that his numbers passed the 1000 mark (my 55 is in the 860 range). Do these numbers include the series guitars like the MK's, or are they separate from them? How does his process differ from the other MB's with things like wood selection? Does any other MB build (design) their own pickups?

Cheers.


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Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 10:38 am
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over a week and no replies. Guess this must be the wrong place. I'm sure there's a guitar forum around here somewhere.


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Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 3:11 pm
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If you have one on order why don't you call the factory and talk to him. Or talk to a representative from the Custom Shop and request some info on him.


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 8:09 am
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Hi anyone who is interested in Buying/ordering a John Cruz guitar. I just bought a NEW John Cruz 1960 strat and it came unplayable. You/I would think for $6400.00 that this guitar would be race ready, it is not. Now I have been talking to a Paul at Fender, and I have to now take guitar cross town and jump through more hoops to get this resolved. meanwhile after spending $6400 on a John Cruz guitar I still have no guitar. The issue is that the frets ends were rounded off too much and the High and low E falls off the ends. (most severly the high E) It is at Master Luthier, (Rauen guitars) right now, look him up in milwaukee, he was shocked that this is what I got for my money. He thought I bought it second hand and some hack did this. He said he has seen this before and he wont even deal with Fender, "It's too much hassle, and not worth it". So much for finally being able to buy a awsome guitar and have it a enjoyable experience. I'm not even sure if John Cruz made this guitar. (They maybe just slaped his name on it). anyway this sucks Buyer beware. I will keep you posted on this, here and other sites. Blessings


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 1:35 pm
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[quote="reck"]Hi anyone who is interested in Buying/ordering a John Cruz guitar. I just bought a NEW John Cruz 1960 strat and it came unplayable.

There's quite a statement there!

Really, you should think of starting your own thread to tell that story!


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:00 pm
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Thanks I am brand new to this, and just kinda crushed right now. They want me to take the guitar to their local place by Milwaukee, and have some guy refurbish it. Not John Cruz Who I thought built it. His name is on it.


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:11 pm
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I'm sure you are feeling down, and bummed right now, but my experiences with Fender would suggest that, if you allow them, they will fix the problem. It will mean that you'll have to take it to an authorised Fender service center for evaluation.
Also, get the guitar signed up for the "Custom Care" cover, which is an extra warranty arrangement from the Custom Shop...and can be found on the Custom Shop page of this site.

I know John, and I know that he will be concerned that someone is unhappy with one of his guitars...


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:29 pm
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Thank you for your help. :|


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 3:20 am
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How are we to know that it is even a real JC made guitar? I know, you should post pictures! :wink:

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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 4:48 am
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Hi it says custom shop and John Cruz signature. Also JCXXXX serial number. All the case candy too.
The Luther (Rauen guitars Milwaukee) is going to try to dress down the frets to try to salvage them. There goes my fret Life. If I buy a new car I at least expect to drive it home, and not have it towed to a local joe and wait for him to get it running. (That is Fenders policy). I asked them for $500 to make this right, (fret job and setup) I have not heard back from them. Paul Levesque at Fender wants me to take my brand new JC guitar to a local joe (rep) for assessment and repairs. I feel if I paid $6400 for a John Cruz guitar, John Cruz should fix it (never left the factory). it should not have to be refurbished by some local joe. I would not pay $6400 for a local joe guitar either. Blessings Reck


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 5:59 am
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I must be missing something here, did you have JC build this guitar for you, and after waiting for build time it arrived like this, or did you by it new from a Fender dealer from the stock they had already had completed? These senarios would be handle in a different way.


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 6:13 am
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I bought it from a dealer MAKEN music in Chicago who special ordered it from John Cruz (waiting list). Does John Cruz make the custom shop guitars that his name and serial number is on? Again its new and not playable with his name on it. I paid thousands extra for the fender name, and I paid thousands even extra for the John Cruz name. It looks like his name isn't even worth $500.


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:11 am
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Have you spoken to Make'n Music about this at all. That should be your first port of call, and they should be looking at your issue, and sorting it out with Fender.


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:25 am
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Maken music did not build this guitar. They ordered it, jacked up the price, and sold it to me. I am OK with that, that's how it works. OK OK I consider myself a honest reasonable person. Time for a sanity check. ANYBODY out there. When YOU buy a $1000 fender strat, what do YOU expect? When YOU buy a Custom built Fender strat by JOHN CRUZ for $6400, what do YOU expect to get? These are good reasonable questions.


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Post subject: Re: John Cruz
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 8:21 am
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I understand your frustration, I would expect great quality from a Fender masterbuilt guitar regardless of who built it, the point of my question is if you commissioned it to be built for you personally from JC then yes, it should go directly back to him to be made right.However, having bought it new off the shelf from MM, I would have immediately sent it back to them and either exchanged it for another, or insisted on a full refund, taking it to be repaired WOULD NOT be an option.Get your money back, with that kind of coin there are many great masterbuilts at reputable dealers to pick from.


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