FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Martin Custom Guitar

Question:
Anyone can enlighten me here on Martin Custom Guitars. Someone I know has one for sale, owner says its a HD28 with scalloped braces yet without the herringbone? On the block inside is the serial# and instead of the usual model stamp there is the custom stamp. My local guitar repair pal has went over the guitar and says it's in perfect shape. I feel a really bad case of GAS coming on!!! Price seems really good too!

Answer:
As Martin says in their literature, the Custom Shop is NOT a place. It officially became a part of Martin manufacturing process in 1979. The custom guitars go through the same assembly process that any other Martin (in a comparable price range) would go through. For example, an HD28V could be right next to (it doesn't work that way either... there's really no next to) An HD28V Custom. Suppose you wanted the vertical CF Martin on the headstock. The only place where the building process would differ would be the point where headstock veneer gets attached to the neck. In essence, there is no difference between the two guitars. Before anyone thinks that the Custom Shop is a ruse of some sort, here are a couple of thoughts. As I said, Martin is pretty specific in letting folks know that the shop is not a bunch of gnarled craftspeople left over from the thirties doing it the old way. It's just a way of getting a Martin the way you want it. The other deals with the quality of the Martin line. If your custom order, with the increased price tag, is going through the same hands that build the lowly D18, seems to me that the build quality of the entire line will improve. Martin has made significant strides in quality control in the last decade; could be that the introduction of the Custom Shop helped in some way. Of course it could also be that Taylor was kicking the butts on the lower end and Collings and Santa Cruz was walloping them at the other.... Getting beaten in the marketplace has a way of refocusing your concentration....