Custom Guitars with Factory or Luthier?

Custom Guitars, Factory or Luthier?

When you want to custom acoustic guitars, who will you talking to? There are many goes to luthiers for the customization, and others always go to factories to make their orders.

So, which one is better? Why should you choose them? To answer the questions, we need to figure out what are differences between factories and luthiers. And we will try to analyze both the benefits and risks. Then, we may also need to the type of the buyers to indicate what kind of facilities that fits for them mostly.

But, comparison between luthiers and factories is not our purpose. Because the two types of facilities serve different types of clients and satisfy different needs. There are responsible factories and irresponsible ones, there are honest luthiers and those who make money by cheating. Responsibility is not main subject in this article, though we have to mention the word in some sections.

Difference between Factories and Luthiers

There are differences between factories and luthiers, but there is also something they share in common. However, we need to try to figure out the “meaning” of luthiers and factories.

Let’s start at luthiers.

Although luthiers are also considered as guitar factories sometimes, luthiers mainly refer to personal guitar makers. There are machines and tools in their workshops to help them to build guitars. However, most of luthiers always claim that they hand craft guitars. Actually, many of them are really making high-end guitars and some are even collection-level. Some luthiers even master unique guitar building technique that no one else understand for create masterpiece.  And the world-class masters are from them.

But luthiers normally take longer time to produce. This does not mean that they are lack of knowledge or techniques. On the contrary, most of luthiers know how to build guitars better than anyone else. But they have to finish all procedures of the construction by themselves. This takes most of time. Thus, this means they may not be able to deliver 1000 PCS of guitars in 30 days.

Factories are organizations of production. There are teams that share works and cooperate with each other. Thus, factories are efficient in guitar building. If you want 1000 PCS or more guitars to be delivered in 30 days, many factories can make you happy.

As an organization, a guitar factory normally has a management of complete production procedure to make sure the quality of the guitars is satisfying. Another advantage of the guitar factory is the storage of tone wood material. To accelerate the lead-time, most of factories regularly keep a certain number of types of tone wood for the construction of guitars. This does not only shorten the production period, but also reduce the cost at some level.

Besides differences between the two types of production, we think factories and luthiers still share something in common. Both of them are dedicated in guitar building. The two types of facilities are able to provide qualified guitars. And much more.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Still, start at luthiers.

As mentioned, luthiers may not be able to deliver as fast as factories. This means there may be an order quantity limitation unless time won’t against you.

As we can see, many luthiers claim that they do customization for “dream” guitar. That means, they will do 100% personalized guitar building. As far as we know, many luthiers can really fulfill the tasks on designation, appearance and tonal performance.

The disadvantages of ordering the customized guitars from luthiers is that it is difficult to find a reliable expert for your tasks. There are too many of them. A few have a high reputation, but you may need to pay more for what you need and wait for a longer time because there is already a waiting list. So, it may spend some time and heavy energy to find out a good luthier.

For factories, there are advantages and disadvantages, too.

Because of the efficiency of production, factories normally can deliver your customized order in a relatively short time.

Although there are factories don’t care about the quality so much, most of them are responsible for what they are doing. And factories normally have complete management to control the procedure of production to ensure the required quality.

And good guitar factories can help you to control the budget because of the efficiency and stock of material.

However, to customize acoustic guitars with factories, there frequently is MOQ limitation. That is, your order has to meet a minimum quantity requirement, then the factory can start to serve you.

Who Are the Best Clients for Luthiers?

Players.

But beginners are not recommended to customize their guitars. Because they don’t even “can” play the guitar. Don’t mention that they have less knowledge about sound and quality. And surely don’t know what exact the “dream” is.

Experienced players and professional performers fit for luthier’s construction mostly. However, the budget for guitar customization should be sufficient, otherwise, their expected quality may not be fulfilled.

We don’t know if there are many small wholesalers or retailers to custom guitars with luthiers. But if so, those who just need to custom a small quantity of guitars like 10 PCS, luthiers may be a good choice.

Who Should Custom Guitars with Factories?

Wholesalers, designers, retailers, agents and even factories, etc.

These clients have one thing in common, they are living on the business. “Dream” is not their goal, but to create new brand or product to win the competition.

Normally, they have plans to customize guitars regularly in purpose of catching up the hot selling season. Thus, their order quantity normally meets the MOQ requirement of factories.

Not all designers will custom their guitars with factories, we should say. Some of them are just like players, the goal of customization is to make “dream guitar” come true to earn the reputation and get profit from their filed. However, some of them are just like wholesalers, cooperate with factories will be the best choice to achieve their goal.

The cooperation between factories frequently happens in this industry. The reasons are various. Maybe due to insufficient capabilities due to the existed production is fully occupied. Maybe lack of devices caused by the innovative design. Or even want to lower the cost to share some production outside. Anyway, there are reasons. As our experience, factories often to custom guitar necks or bodies with other facilities. If custom complete guitars, an authorization of brand name and non-disclosure agreement will be issued and signed by the two parties.

Well, if you are interested in customization of acoustic guitars, please feel free to CONSULT US for free solution.