I think the biggest drawback for most people is the final finishing. In my opinion if you discount your time and buy the body and neck from a reputable supplier you most certainly will have the guitar you want for less than from a custom builder, but more expensive than the "same" mass produced guitar.
Perhaps the way to go is to take the "stock" guitar with the neck and body specs that you like and just upgrade from there.....I'm sure others will have more opinions.....tuners, nut, bridge, controls and pickups add up rather quickly
cheers
Gerry

 

You can get prefinished bodies from Warmoth. If you can handle a soldering iron and a philips screwdriver, (milk of magnesia & vodka), then you can built a parts-caster. When finished the guitar will have a used value of about 50% of what you put into it. You can assemble a damn fine guitar with Warmoth parts, but they don't hold value very well.

What do you mean by "high performance"?

I have 2 brand guitars that will most likely hold value. But holding value isn't something I concern myself with when considering equipment. For example I paid $1,400 to have custom built irons for golf even though the resale on them is ridiculously low. To sell I'd probably get 2 or 3 hundred.
Same idea with this guitar I want. I was looking at Anderson and Crooks but the wait times are high and the price is very expensive. I could spend $3,000 on a Fender CS Nocaster which is the style of guitar I want and resale is good wait time is 0 but I'd still have to make changes that would get the guitar where I want. So I thought if I ordered exactly what I want and if its relatively easy to put it altogether I'd get exactly the guitar I want. No resale value would probably mean that I'd have a guitar that I'd keep permanently and could even trade out pups or other hardware as needed or wanted. The 2 guitars I have now I would like to keep mostly stock.
I mean high performance by everything hight quality ( a plecked neck?) the best quality grade swamp ash body, high grade locking tuners, looking at Lindy Fralin (2% overwound) pups, etc.

 

I think its pretty hit and miss. I recently built a Strat partscaster, and if I can do it, anyone can. You'll certainly save money over one of the high end builders, but whether you'll get "as good" of a guitar is questionable. Because the guitar is the sum of its parts (and of how well the parts "meld"), theres no guarantee of something great when you are done. You're also paying for the knowledge and experience of the builder, and its hard to put a dollar amount on how much that is worth.

 

Perhaps the way to go is to take the "stock" guitar with the neck and body specs that you like and just upgrade from there.....I'm sure others will have more opinions.....tuners, nut, bridge, controls and pickups add up rather quickly
cheers
Gerry

I thought of that on my AV52RI Tele but an upgrade would include changing the neck. Although I can put the stock neck aside and keep for possible resale, I'm not sure if I want to do that. The stock AV52RI still has some use for me on stage.
I could buy an American standard tele and upgrade from there but one of the upgrades is swamp ash body. Unless there is an American standard that comes with swamp ash body. Then I could consider that route.
I just looked at the Fender site. Apparently there is an ash body option on the AS tele's for $100 up charge. This is the way I might consider.

 

I've been building Telecasters for a while now, and, as expected after the first build they just got better and better. I do have quite few genuine "Fender" Telecasters and without trying to sound like I'm bragging, the ones I build are superior to what comes off the Fender assembly line. That being said, I was in Capsule Music a couple of months ago and wanted to see how my builds stacked up against a Custom Shop Tele. There were certain areas where the CS Tele was better than mine, but overall, not significantly enough to justify the expense of a CS Tele. While I was there I tried a Nash Telecaster. It blew away the CS Tele hands down and at half the price! I liked it sooo much, when I got home, I ordered one from GuitarJunky. It is now my nbr. 1 guitar and almost plays by itself. If you're looking for a great player you should check them out. Then again building you own is very rewarding and has a very very gratifying feeling.

 

I've been building parts guitars for a while and sometimes you get a cool one sometimes you don't. Most of the bodies and necks come from searching ebay for a deal. Sometimes you get a match with the body and neck sometimes you have to modify one or the other. A few times I have been lucky and ended up with a great player guitar. I once did a strat partscaster that ended up being a US 70's re-issue body, 70's reissue MIJ neck, which was awesome, and added good hardware and a set of CS69 pickups. I figure the total spent on parts was about 750 and a bit of time putting it together and setting it up. Not really any cheaper I guess but it was a awesome strat. I am sort of regretting selling it, but it happens.

 

I've been building parts guitars for a while
........... but it was a awesome strat. I am sort of regretting selling it, but it happens.

I just thought that you just ran out of space with all the other " parts " guitars.:sport-smiley-002:... He's got bad

 

That did have something to do with it.... getting crowded in here again..

 

ill echo all of the above and add this-
you can put together a hell of a nice guitar for a fair bit less than a custom shop guitar- it may rival or best a much more expensive guitar.
$1000 will put together a damnably good guitar if youre able or willing to try to finish yourself- one thatll rival any guitar out there.
but as others pointed out, certain parts may not work together in certain combinations. lots of times a partscaster build will eventually end up bieng several partscasters.
not hard at all to do, and if you go with a hand applied finish, like oil, a child can do it. just like lego.:smile:
its in the final setup that things really count.

 

http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m86/davestp1/?action=view&current=IMG_0420.jpg

Maple necked is a partscaster. Mighty mite body, fender japan neck, fender tremelo, pickguard, pots, switches, plastic(aged in coffee), lindy fralin blues special pickups, kluson tuners. As nice sounding/playing as the 1982/62 reissue beside it.

 

Compared to the way this guitar sounds and plays, this is a very ugly guitar:

 

That's a pretty guitar tarbender.

I've assembled 6 Strats now and they've all been good (after tinkering with the setup). But, resale value on FrankenStrats or, Partscasters or, etc... is approx. 50% of a similar complete model. I just parted with an amazing Strat (AMDlx ash body, trem from Eric Johnson, Pro players maple neck, CS Texas Specials, and all MIA hardware). Best offer...$500

But, to answer you're question, assembling is very easy. The bonus is that you get to learn about the guitars.

 

But, to answer you're question, assembling is very easy. The bonus is that you get to learn about the guitars.

And get what you want with no fear of ruining the value when you change the guitar.

 

I've assembled 6 Strats now and they've all been good (after tinkering with the setup). But, resale value on FrankenStrats or, Partscasters or, etc... is approx. 50% of a similar complete model. I just parted with an amazing Strat (AMDlx ash body, trem from Eric Johnson, Pro players maple neck, CS Texas Specials, and all MIA hardware). Best offer...$500 But, to answer you're question, assembling is very easy. The bonus is that you get to learn about the guitars.[/QUOTE]


I don't know about resale value but it was a great project to undertake, picking up up parts here and there new and bidding on some parts on ebay. I had a great time obtaining parts and then putting it together and as almost all the parts were fender, everything fit like it should.

 

I've built lots of Strats and a few Teles as well as some super strats over the years.

In all cases they have become my number one guitars for stage and studio.

When it comes to carving bodies and necks, fretting, and building set necks or neck through I think that's beyond my skills or at least not my inclination.

Assembling strats and teles from good parts and then doing a set up and tweaking them is well within my and I would think many of our grasps. I guess I've saved thousands of dollars over the years. Resale value is meaningless to me. I build them to use and when I'm tired of them or they're too worn out I dump them for whatever I can get.

 

.

Assembling strats and teles from good parts and then doing a set up and tweaking them is well within my and I would think many of our grasps. I guess I've saved thousands of dollars over the years. Resale value is meaningless to me. I build them to use and when I'm tired of them or they're too worn out I dump them for whatever I can get.

I'm with you on this, I don't consider myself a builder but more of an assembler. That's the fun of taking a bunch of parts and making it a player. In some cases I've had people make me offers on some of them. But some I like to keep around. Two guitars that have been done like this have become my most used instruments.

 

I am in the same boat with a few of the individuals who posted above me. I "built" the Strat that is in my signature. I used a body and neck I bought off of Ebay. An ash body and birdseye maple neck. I knew what I wanted sound wise, but seeing as I am only 20, I didn't have a lot of money to throw around. So when I went to New York City this past June I bought my pickups from Sam Ash music. I told them what I wanted sound wise, and that I knew I wanted a double humbucker setup with a single coil in the middle. They guided from their and I ended with a Seymour Duncan Distortion humbucker in the bridge and a '59 humbucker in the neck, and a DiMarzio Virtual Blues in the middle. All in all this guitar covers all the tones I want it to. Although it will come out to be more expensive than the "stock" models of these guitars you can buy, but buying stock and then modding afterwards is going to cost you a lot more than just making a partocaster from the beginning. Good luck.