Custom orders
Spec your dream build
Neck profile, radius, pickup winding, finish, hardware, the year it is supposed to be from. A custom order is a guitar described before it exists, and the describing is the part we like. Suhr, James Tyler, Fender Custom Shop, Gibson Custom Shop, Collings, Novo, Powers Electric, Tom Anderson, Castedosa, PRS and more — if it hangs on our wall, there is usually a way to have one built.
- One-offs and configurator builds
- Specced by people who play
- Set up on our bench before it ships
Where to start
How much of it you decide is up to you
Some builders hand you a spec sheet, some hand you a configurator, some want nothing but a phone call. The route changes; the conversation does not.
Start from a model
Change the parts that matter
Take something the builder already makes and move the things you care about — the neck profile, the radius, the pickups, the finish, how worn it arrives. Everything else stays as the builder intended it.
Start from nothing
Describe it and we will place it
No model, no catalogue number, only the sound and the feel you are chasing. We work out which builder is the right one to ask and what the sheet has to say to get you there.
Choose the hands
Name the person who builds it
Not every builder offers it, and the ones that do call it different things. Where it is on the table, reference photographs go over with the spec sheet, so a guitar you have only ever seen in pictures sits in front of them as they work.
Bring us half an idea
You do not need the whole spec
Half an idea and a couple of reference photos is enough to start. Working the rest out with you — what a profile will feel like, what a winding will do, what to leave alone — is the part of this job we like most.
The process
How an order starts
A spec sheet, an email, and someone who knows the builders reading it.
-
Start with what you know
You might already have the builder and half the spec. You might only have a sound in your head. Either is a starting point. Some builders publish the whole menu: Fender’s Custom Shop Design Guide lays out the models, profiles, radii, pickups, finishes and levels of wear. Where a builder publishes nothing, that is what we are here for.
Fender’s Custom Shop Design Guide (PDF, fender.com) (opens in a new tab)
-
Write down what matters
Fill in what you know and leave blank what you do not. Half a sheet and a sentence about the sound you are chasing is enough to work with.
-
Send it over
Use the form below, or email the sheet as an attachment. Someone who plays reads it and comes back to you — usually with questions, because the back-and-forth is where a spec sheet gets good. You will hear what is possible, what is not, and what it comes to before anything goes to the builder.
-
It comes here before it comes to you
When the build is finished it comes to Wellington Street first. Ian Vance goes over it on the bench: frets polished, truss rod, action at the bridge, intonation, pickup height. Then it ships insured from here.
What we specced for ourselves
Most of what hangs here was chosen piece by piece — the model, the specs, the tops. Same conversation, we just had it with ourselves.
Rickenbacker 360 Fireglo 2006 USED
$2,999 CAD
Fender Stories Collection Mike Campbell Red Dog Telecaster #MC240086 USED
$4,250 CAD
Martin 000-X2E Spruce Burst FauxBrazilian HPL #3095880
$1,129 CAD
Martin GPC-13E Modern #3087986
$2,119 CAD
Martin 000-28 SN#3049087
$5,079 CAD
Collings OM2H #36779
$9,399 CAD
Gibson J-45 Vintage Sunburst #21136133
$3,999 CAD
Martin OM-28 #3080191
$5,219 CAD
The Hall of Fame
Everything here was on the wall and is now in somebody’s house. Some we specced ourselves, some we hunted down — all of it picked one piece at a time.
Bill Lewis Guitar
Sold
Memento Mori Set - Novo Solus M1 & Two-Rock Silver Sterling Signature Handpainted by David Kassan
Sold
Gibson Custom Keith Richards 1960 ES-355 Collector’s Edition, Signed Label #KRSL133
Sold
PRS 40th Anniversary Dragon Limited Edition Ltd 1/165
Sold
Gibson Murphy Lab Ultra Heavy Aged Les Paul Axcess Olive Drab #CS501801
Sold
Fender '63 Super Heavy Relic Stratocaster Masterbuilt by Dale Wilson Lake Placid Blue over 3 Tone Sunburst # CZ587383
Sold
Gibson Murphy Lab Heavy Aged Les Paul Red Tiger #951807
Sold
Collings I-35 Deluxe Custom Turquoise Finish TV White Back Throbak SLE 101 + #I35261290
Sold
Fender Masterbuilt Austin MacNutt '59 Strat HSS Super Heavy Relic Black/ Green Paisley SN# R119873
Sold
Gibson '59 Les Paul Standard RI Ultra Heavy Aged Iguana Burst #96266
Sold
Gibson Murphy Lab Heavy Aged 1959 Les Paul Standard Handpicked Torrefied Top Natural # 951459
Sold
Gibson Les Paul Custom 7A Quilted Maple Top Ocean Blue TV White Back #CS600203
Sold
Before you ask
The questions we get
If yours is not here, it is the kind of thing worth an email rather than a form.
What can actually be changed?
It depends who is building it. On a full custom order, generally: body wood and finish, neck profile and radius, fingerboard, frets, pickups and winding, hardware, and how worn you want it to arrive. Some builders publish the whole list of what is on offer; where one does not, we ask them.
Can I choose who builds it?
With some builders, yes — you name the person, and we send reference photographs over with the spec sheet so there is something in front of them while they work. With others the shop builds as a shop. We will tell you which one you are dealing with.
How long does a build take?
It depends entirely on the instrument and on who is building it. Some orders land in a few weeks, some take months, and some run past a year.
Before you place the order we contact the builder and get an estimated build time for your spec, so you know what you are waiting for.
What is needed to place the order?
A minimum 25% deposit places a custom order. It can vary by product, and we confirm the spec and the terms with you in writing before anything goes to the builder.
Once we have placed the order with the builder, the deposit is non-refundable and the order cannot be cancelled. A custom build is made to your spec and to nobody else's, so once the builder starts, it exists because you asked for it. We would rather say that plainly now than surprise you with it later.
What if I change my mind?
On a custom build, you cannot - see above. It is being made to your spec.
A special order for something a builder already makes as a stock model is different. You have seven days from placing it to cancel. After that it is on its way here for you and we are committed to it.
Which builders can you order from?
Suhr, James Tyler, Fender Custom Shop, Gibson Custom Shop, Collings, Novo, Powers Electric, Tom Anderson, Castedosa, PRS and more. Some of them run a configurator, some work from a sheet, some do it on the phone. Lauzon is an official Fender Custom Shop Showcase Dealer and is established as a top dealer for its high-end brands. If the builder you want is not on that list, ask anyway. We will tell you straight whether the order can be placed.
Can I order from outside Canada?
Yes. We take custom orders from anywhere, and we ship worldwide, insured for the full declared value.
Duties and taxes vary by country, so we confirm what applies to yours in writing before you commit to a build.
Does it get set up before it ships?
Every instrument goes across the bench before it leaves. Ian Vance is a Fender Custom Shop Technician and a Taylor Gold Level Technician with over two decades on the bench, and a setup covers the frets, the fretboard, the hardware, the truss rod, the action, the nut slots, the saddles, the vibrato springs, the intonation, the pickup height and the electronics.
You tell us how you want it playing. After the order we email you a menu covering strings, action and tuning, with room to ask for anything the list does not cover.
Start your spec
Tell us the guitar
Whatever you have so far. A model and a colour is enough to get going. If you have already been through a builder’s spec sheet or configurator, better still.
The form cannot carry an attachment. If you have a spec sheet filled in or a configurator build saved, email the file instead and we will work from that.