Ran Guitars

[85 San Dimas]

Except for the Ed Roman comparisons (which they may or may not deserve-after all they don't pretend they're theirs is "better":ROTF

I spec'd out a copy of my Ibanez DT-555 Phil Collen except made of mahogany (body and neck both), and using Dimazio 36th Paf's in all three positions.

I spec'd a pretty exact copy using the Ibanez body and headstocl shapes with Ebony board.

It was 2000 Euros (around $2900) & 1 year BUT I had my quote back in 2 hours.............................Charvel/Jackson could learn from THAT.
I understand the high price as every cut will be custom....

but I was curious abopout everyones experiences. Most posts confirmed what I read/heard. Thanks everyone.

[MartinBarre]

Piotr from Vader uses them, and, last time I looked, so did Jeff Waters from Annihilator - some pretty awesome endorsees IMO. I looked at getting one myself, not custom, just the same one Piotr has, but never did in the end.

[DeathThrashAttack]

The guitarist of Cannibal Corpse also had a V made by Ran.

The main reason a lot of guitarists go to Ran is because of the lower cost and wait time on getting a custom as opposed to Jackson. From the people that played them, they all say the guitars are extremely nice. I spec'd out a lefty flying v, solid color with one hum, neck thru, etc. and they told me 1200. NOT BAD.

[Mazrim]

I've got a theme in mind for a Custom and Ran is one of the companies I'm considering to have build it.
Love their stuff. Wicked looking gear.

[MetalHeadMat]

Well I was curious at how you would buy one of the customs, basically when you click on the link (after viewing the guitar) it'll bring you to the custom shop spec sheet with everything filled in about the guitar already (basically they take the custom shop form you fill out for a custom guitar, and it's automatically filled in with the specs of the signature you're getting). So if you want the Jeff Waters V, but with an OFR instead of a TOM, then you can change that, which imo is pretty kickass.

[pro-fusion]

Getting a copy from Ran made sense when they were cheaper than Jackson etc. However, if you're in the USA, I'm pretty sure that ordering a Ran would be almost as expensive as ordering a real Jackson, at least for most designs.

[85 San Dimas]

It certainly looks that way to me. The upshot would seem to be that for a full-on dimed custom these guys are going to save you 25-50 percent.
The destroyer I spec'd for $2900 would easily cost 5K from Jackson if they'd build it........I think Hamer would charge between 5-6K to do something similar with the Hamer Standard model (at least according to the local Hamer CS dealer). I think the Ran is a "deal" in comparison at new, but used you won't be able to give it away should you choose to do so. All this is assuming that a person got comfortable laying 3K on the table for a guitar that cannot be pre-played, or even "looked" at because who has one laying around to "check out"? A $1200-2K commitment looks a lot "better".

Yeah, I agree with you.