This is why some people whine about custom shop pricing

[shreddermon]

I'm not usually one of those people who whine about custom shop pricing. ...Do I think it's high? Yes, but these are custom made-to-order instruments with all of the associated additional labor, materials and workmanship costs. (And profit, too.) Are prices too high? That's debatable, and everyone's entitled to their opinions.

But when you see guitars like this out there, that's why some people - many of whom have never actually ordered a custom Jackson, so don't know any better - see it and go "Pffft, that's crazy. Custom shop Jacksons are soooo overpriced."

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Jackson-USA-...item2559ba1800

As best I can tell, this is a standard KE2 USA Select guitar. Someone at Jackson goes "let's paint the bevels gold, and show it at NAMM", and then they gave it a custom guitar serial number, too. (More often than that, they don't even do that. How many custom graphics have we seen with USA Select serial #s?)

So gold bevels are a $1,500-ish list price upcharge on an otherwise stock USA Select guitar? That's just silly. And this poor dealer will probably never be able to sell the guitar at a profit.

And then you have umpteen-many Ebay viewers who see this and have just been turned off to the Jackson custom shop. Why? Because they see this auction and otherwise don't know any better that you can order a super-tricked-out custom shop guitar with a ton of options for not much more than this.

Say what you will about custom Jacksons. Personally, I love 'em. But every now and then you see silly pricing stuff like this, and I can't help but think it creates poor perceptions with many guys who might otherwise aspire to ordering a custom Jackson.

[Larz]

What type of profit do you think dealers realize on these NAMM one-offs? Are they looking for $250/$500/more on top of their cost?

[Grandturk]

Isn't it also more because its a "NAMM" guitar?

Personally, you couldn't sell me a Kelly at any price, so...

[shreddermon]

Someone at Jackson decided that the gold bevels justified pricing this as a one-off custom shop guitar, rather than a slightly upgraded USA Select. That means an automatic base price (list price, I mean) increase of about a grand vs a USA Select. In contrast, the painted bevels option on custom guitars is only a $340 upcharge. That's why this guitar is priced so expensively.

[Jack Napalm]

Yeah, sometime you just have to wonder. I think overall Custom Shop pricing has gone back down to 'acceptable' levels. Just got a quote back for guitar and it was actually cheaper than I thought it was going to be and in line with what I was thinking. Still expensive but I can get what I want.

[Spivonious]

Is it just me or do those bevels actually look rounded? If so, that's a considerable "wood change" from a standard KE2.

Even if not, the fact that it was shown at NAMM increases its collector's value. So a $2000 guitar, with custom paint (+$500), shown at NAMM (+$1000).

[shreddermon]

So Jackson should add a "NAMM surcharge" for all of the USA Select and import guitars they displayed at NAMM, too?

I've bought and sold NAMM guitars before. With maybe a few exceptions, the NAMM factor adds little, if any, "collector value" for Jacksons. That kind of thing might fly well with the Fender and Gibson collector crowds - who are much more numerous and often more deep-pocketed - but not J/C.

[shreddermon]

P.S. - Except for paint, those bevels are bone stock.

[Spivonious]

Well, if I were selling a NAMM guitar, I'd expect to get at least a couple hundred more, unless it was just a stock model.

And this dealer might just be trying to find one of those fools that are born once a minute. What does it hurt to list it at $3500? He probably only paid $2000 for it.

[shreddermon]

Yeah, sometime you just have to wonder. I think overall Custom Shop pricing has gone back down to 'acceptable' levels. Just got a quote back for guitar and it was actually cheaper than I thought it was going to be and in line with what I was thinking. Still expensive but I can get what I want.

This is exactly my point. Custom shop pricing for "truly" custom shop guitars (read: pretty well tricked-out with a lot of options) is high, but acceptable. (Yeah, yeah - your opinion may vary.) But if you essentially want a stock USA Select guitar with only an option or two, going custom shop can be pretty hard to justify.

So, when they send these kinds of guitars out to dealers, it creates a big misperception for a lot of guys out there. i.e., "If that's what they charge just for gold bevels, I can only imagine how absurd a full-blown custom shop guitar would be priced". And, unfortuantely, many folks get turned off by this and never really know any better.

I guess I just think that - IMHO - Jackson should be a little smarter about how they position these "in-between" guitars that are not customer ordered.

[Dog Boy]

Interesting topic

If I'm going to pay 3.5 k for a guitar its gonna be exactly the way I want it. I'll wait for it.

OTOH I've payed pretty big bucks for some intruments that were close to what I wanted in an axe.

So where do you draw the line? Personal preference.

Cool Kelly btw

[Jason1212]

These guys went for the cheapest route possible to achieve a few things. They wanted a custom instrument (which is a stretch), with a custom shop serial number, and to have it shown at NAMM. So in essence those are the up-charges they are passing on and those are not very tangible really. Provided there is documentation (pictures etc.) to prove it as a NAMM instrument you have that provenance. That will only benefit the purchaser if they want to sell and they can happen upon a buyer that wants a NAMM guitar. This guy isn’t lying, he really does sell a lot of it.

[Jack Napalm]

The other question this auction begs is who is the dealer? Is it an authorized dealer or is it someone else who got a hold of it and is just jacking up the price because they think they can?

[Jason1212]

Given the price and the make an offer option (probably to comply with map) I would think this is a dealer. Otherwise they probably would have set a reserve and let it go.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

A guitar that's been shown at NAMM is worth exactly zero upcharge to me. Why would I care that it was shown at a trade show? :dunno: