Local made guitars

If I may reply, I have not but am interested as well. Seems that came up at a recent crawfish boil I was at.

No comment, just general comments on "custom guitars."

There is a difference between a luthier and a tech, and a builder and a fabricator. You don't need a license or a certification to assemble parts and make them function and look good. You should ALWAYS investigate "brands," their owners and their products completely. Ask a lot of questions, read reviews, find current owners and get their feedback, try before you buy and - if possible - get a skilled tech, DIY'er and/or player to inspect prior to purchase, just like you get a mechanic to look at a used car before you buy it.

I am not a luthier (I don't build stringed instruments from scratch). I am a formally trained tech with 35 years experience, and I am a custom pickups winder. I assemble guitars from components whose fabricators and finishers are among the best on the planet at what they do. I use my training, experience and skill to improve and refine those fabricators' work where I see the need. The caliber and quality of my finished products and my prices for them reflect this. Ask the guys on this board who have played my creations. I am confident they will offer favorable kudos.

I will eat too much bandwidth if I go crazy with this, so here's a sample of just the Tele-styles.

That is some nice looking guitars in those pictures

Fret,

Am I wrong in inferring from those pics that you do or facilitate custom relic jobs? I looked on your site, but it just says custom jobs. Maybe you do anything and everything when it comes to building them.

I was thinking about an MJT custom relic, but haven't pulled the trigger.

That is a good looking relic tele. Also, that blue with woodgrain is awesome as well.

Do you paint them? Send them out?

Am I wrong in inferring from those pics that you do or facilitate custom relic jobs? I looked on your site, but it just says custom jobs. Maybe you do anything and everything when it comes to building them.

I was thinking about an MJT custom relic, but haven't pulled the trigger.

That is a good looking relic tele. Also, that blue with woodgrain is awesome as well.

Do you paint them? Send them out?

The "desert sand" nitro relic in the photos is an MJT paint job. I have two strat bodies for builds in MJT's booth right now as I type this.

I have in total five painters with whom I work, in different parts of the country, with different specialty areas (nitro, polys, glitters, graphics, etc.). They do STELLAR work at incredible prices and are among the best pure values in the US in regard to what they bring to the table for our (your) investment.

Meanwhile, if I built a booth that would get the results those five guys provide me and my clients, AND be DEQ and EPA and HOA compliant in a residential area, I will spend about $20K before I mix my first pint of paint. Care to guess who would ultimately reimburse me for that $20K booth investment?

And that's just paint ... imagine if I was to tool up to make EVERYTHING from scratch. That's what "luthiers" do. Like I said, I'm not a luthier. I am a tech. I fix things and I solve problems.

Foster’s were jazz box vintage made by Jimmy Foster. If you find one available I would expect it to be in the 8k range.

Manuel and Patterson make acoustics. i have never played one personally but the 2 I have heard were amazing.

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I will eat too much bandwidth if I go crazy with this, so here's a sample of just the Tele-styles

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nothing to see... must be another facebook pic or two.

BTW - you do know you're missing a lot of kids who don't FB?

I know I'm dropping the ball but I don't have time to nurture multiple social media platforms. Instagram doesn't like half of my photos and wants them edited further, for example. Videos, as much as we love them, are insanely difficult time-wise to produce and present in a matter than properly reflects your product and your brand.

Plus ... kids who don't do Facebook don't buy guitars in the price range mine sell for. Old people who frequent Facebook buy my guitars for the asking prices.

I worked for one of the state's largest advertising, marketing and promotion agencies for 18 years prior to shifting to my shop full time. I've done my demographics and analyses within my market and I'm very content with my share. If you want to see a day in the life of, just go to Facebook for it. Solved.

To each his own ... that's my personal tele, the desert sand. I built it for sale and it was so perfect, I called dibs.

I'm just the opposite with relics ... a PROPERLY distressed guitar (aka, select aging techniques that don't involve angle grinders or sandpaper) using an actual thin-skin nitrocellulose lacquer on the body and an oil finish neck ... really feels and fits like that pair of jeans you refuse to throw away, or that baseball glove that's been in the family for a few generations.

Again, done PROPERLY, guitars like this vibrate and resonate better, plus they are consistent under your fretting hand and strumming arm, never sticky or too slick at outdoor gigs for example. You ought to make an appointment to come by the shop and see for yourself (you're overdue a visit anyway haha).

Plus you don't have to worry about or stress over dinging and denting your baby and/or high dollar investment ... that's done already. Everyone who comes in my shop gets a spin with the desert sand if they want to. No worries from me.

Absolutely, give me a call later today and I'll get you in this weekend. Google "The Fret Shack" and the phone number that comes up is my personal cell.