Is hand made really better than factory made

[lowendpurveyor]

All this raises another question, when manufacturers and retailers market guitars as being handmade, what do they mean and what is the differentiator from a "factory" made guitar?

[barrymclark]

All this raises another question, when manufacturers and retailers market guitars as being handmade, what do they mean and what is the differentiator from a "factory" made guitar?

see my previous posts. We have to define handmade and factory before this conversation can bear any fruit.

[bobmeyrick]

I knew Paul McNab pretty well, he did the set ups on my guitars for years, his work was excellent. He could carve you a superb guitar by hand from a block of wood. He never really got the recognition that he would have got had he been an American from California, his work easily matched any of these guys who ask big money for their stuff, and he really did hand build. A sad loss to local musicians here in Huddersfield - he was also a local gigging musician playing Bass in a couple of bands, and he would always help you out when you needed him to.

I keep my eyes open for any Paulman instruments that might turn up second-hand, but people seem to want to hang on to them! I do a fair bit of jazz photography, and when John Etheridge's Trio North played in Nottingham bassist Ben Crosland was playing a Paulman bass. The photos here - http://www.jazzreview.com/photo/review-1821.html - don't really do it justice, but it was a gorgeous instrument. John Etheridge is playing a Martyn Booth Signature (http://www.martynboothguitars.co.uk/guitars/signature.asp).

[GuitArtMan]

Food for thought. The Gibsons and Fenders from the golden years were all factory made.

[mars_hall]

Food for thought. The Gibsons and Fenders from the golden years were all factory made.

 

 

...with more than 50% of the operations being manual. It's all good

[Patrick]

Patrick,

 

I think that we are both losing something in communicating via web that probably would be crystal clear in person.

 

I thought you said, "those out of the [Gibby] Custom Shop is almost always better than ALL OTHERS. Indisputable. Period . . . .end of sentence!!" so I posted a couple of pics where I said I have never seen better tops on any Semi-hollows.

 

It was just point out that your comments about Gibby is "disputable" to me.

 

I don't understand why you took exception to what I said or how I upset you.

 

I was just challenging your point, maybe I didn't understand your statement. No problems over here.

 

John: Excuse my late response to this post. I just now read it. What makes you think that I was upset by your post?? Not at all man. I found it amusing, but not at all offensive. As I pointed out in an earlier reply to mark555, my statement regarding tops was specific to Les Pauls vs 150s. It did not include 335s vs 535s. The Custom Shop Les Paul reissues are meant to replicate those of '58 '59 & '60. There were some killer tops on some of those original Les Pauls and Gibson has replicated that nicely. IN GENERAL . . . the tops on the R9s are USUALLY, BUT NOT ALWAYS better than the 150s.

 

On the 335s vs the 535s . . . there were no "killer" tops on the original dot necks of '59 & '60. They had mild flame if any at all. Heritage isn't looking to replicate anything. They are making their own version of their own current offering. They can choose the best wood available if they choose to. If Gibson was to make a '59 Reissue dot neck 335, with a top like the one on your wineburst 535 . . . it would be inaccurate and therefore wrong. It would be beautiful . . . but inaccurate.

[mark555]

I keep my eyes open for any Paulman instruments that might turn up second-hand, but people seem to want to hang on to them! I do a fair bit of jazz photography, and when John Etheridge's Trio North played in Nottingham bassist Ben Crosland was playing a Paulman bass. The photos here - http://www.jazzreview.com/photo/review-1821.html - don't really do it justice, but it was a gorgeous instrument. John Etheridge is playing a Martyn Booth Signature (http://www.martynboothguitars.co.uk/guitars/signature.asp).

 

Back in the seventies I was a teenager in a guitar shop in town and the first guitar paul ever made was in the shop, it was a single cut guitar with an aged finish. I never saw it again until one night I was at a jam with Adrian Ingram, and this guy turns up with it. He was a terrible player by the way! I think that the problem with Paulman guitars is that they don't have a good residual value, so any one who bought one bought it to keep. He once offered me a sunburst les paul junior he had built with 2 P90's on it for £400 - I wish I'd got the money at the time, but three small kids were taking every spare penny I had. It was completed guitar that the original buyer backed out of.

[mark555]

John: Excuse my late response to this post. I just now read it. What makes you think that I was upset by your post?? Not at all man. I found it amusing, but not at all offensive. As I pointed out in an earlier reply to mark555, my statement regarding tops was specific to Les Pauls vs 150s. It did not include 335s vs 535s. The Custom Shop Les Paul reissues are meant to replicate those of '58 '59 & '60. There were some killer tops on some of those original Les Pauls and Gibson has replicated that nicely. IN GENERAL . . . the tops on the R9s are USUALLY, BUT NOT ALWAYS better than the 150s.

 

On the 335s vs the 535s . . . there were no "killer" tops on the original dot necks of '59 & '60. They had mild flame if any at all. Heritage isn't looking to replicate anything. They are making their own version of their own current offering. They can choose the best wood available if they choose to. If Gibson was to make a '59 Reissue dot neck 335, with a top like the one on your wineburst 535 . . . it would be inaccurate and therefore wrong. It would be beautiful . . . but inaccurate.

 

Patrick, no problem, thanks for the clarification. I was aware that the early 335's were just plain tops, they were, when you get to the bottom line, a plywood top! But my using John's 535 as an example of top was relative to all models that Heritage produce.

[Patrick]

Patrick, no problem, thanks for the clarification. I was aware that the early 335's were just plain tops, they were, when you get to the bottom line, a plywood top! But my using John's 535 as an example of top was relative to all models that Heritage produce.

 

The post was really intended for John. I didn't want him to think that I found his photo post objectionable.

[Hfan]

It all depends... who would you rather have building your guitar??/

 

 

Or...

 

 

I vote for Santa.

[Guest mgoetting]

Patrick's observation about 335 flaming in the 60s is correct. I had a few of those back in the late 60s and 70s. I always had one of them for many years while I played in bands. And my friends and I had no idea that curls and flames existed. It never came up in our conversation.

[rjsanders]

I vote for Santa.

 

 

second!

 

[smurph1]

There are visible, tangible differences between a high-end CNC guitar and a Heritage.

 

I have a Suhr, which has a CNC'd body, a CNC'd neck, topnotch components, and lots of skilled hand assembly.

It is, from a coldly technical and clinical perspective, absolutely flawless. In a lot of ways, it is the ultimate Strat.

 

But pick up a Heritage, and you immediately see and feel the difference. Whereas the Suhr is like a perfectly-produced tool, the Heritage has warmth, soul, and personality. The degree of hand craftsmanship is palpable.

 

Yes, I have a Suhr, but I have two Heritages (soon to be three) that mean more to me.

+100

[bobmeyrick]

Weren't most 1970s era British cars "crappy" . . . as were most 1970s ear USA cars?

Italian cars were pretty bad too, maybe even worse. I once owned a 1977 Fiat Mirafiori (131) which was stylish and sporty but rusted away at an alarming rate. Then there was the infamous Alfa Romeo Arna project, which was a short-lived collaboration with Nissan. They wanted Italian style and Japanese reliability. They got Japanese style and Italian reliability.