Handpicked
Custom Shop
Guitars –
for Players and
Collectors
From the golden age of the ’50s and ’60s to today’s most masterful recreations, we source only the instruments that embody craftsmanship, tone, and history. Every guitar in our collection — whether a Gibson Murphy Lab masterpiece or a Fender Masterbuilt original — is selected for its authenticity, playability, and soul. This is where legends live, and where your next one awaits.
The Meaning of
Custom Shop
“Custom Shop” is a term that is now used inflationarily to describe a manufacturer’s ‘better’ guitars, but originally referred simply to guitars made to order by a particular brand.
As a GuitarPoint customer, you probably know that we focus on “poster guitars” — the brands and models that inspired us as children to play and love guitars. And let’s be honest: when it comes to electric guitars, these are primarily Gibson and Fender. Les Paul or Strat, ES-335 or Telecaster, SG or Jaguar.
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More InformationThe Birth of
Custom Shop
At the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, Fender and Gibson began establishing separate departments within their respective factories to build instruments that would revive and recreate the golden years of the 1950s and 1960s, using more elaborate methods, greater attention to detail, and, essentially, more time and money. These departments grew larger and larger in response to increasing demand, partly due to the growing popularity of vintage instruments and their more affordable replicas. In Gibson’s case, they have long since expanded into an independent factory with a high output of instruments. At Gibson, even more than at Fender, the Custom Shop focuses on detailed replicas of the original vintage models. The woods and parts used are specially selected and sourced exclusively for the higher-quality Custom Shop instruments. Gibson’s Custom Shop factory is completely self-sufficient, housed in a separate building with its own logistics.
Premium Replicas
and Premium Materials
One special feature of both brands is the artificial aging of their instruments. Cracked paint, chips, rust, and all the natural signs of decades of wear are carefully replicated to give the player the feel of a well-played vintage guitar. Fender was a pioneer in this field with its “Relic” series, introduced in 1993. Rumor has it that Keith Richards once asked for a stage guitar that looked like one of his old vintage treasures — though that is probably just another guitarist’s myth. Still, it is a good story. The first series Fender produced with Vince Cunetto has since achieved cult status and remains highly sought after.
Gibson’s
High-Level
Aging Craft
Gibson, as so often, arrived later than Fender. Although the company had been building guitars since the early 1950s, it did not embrace artificial aging until 2001. When it finally did, however, it set the bar exceptionally high: all aging work was carried out entirely by hand by master artisan Tom Murphy, who was not even employed by Gibson at the time. Alongside Edwin Wilson, Murphy had played a key role in establishing the Gibson Custom Shop in 1993 before leaving the company at the end of 1994.
Pursuit of the
Holy Grail
While Fender regularly recreated the originals as faithfully as possible in its Time Machine series, it also introduced especially artful variations on those classic models. Gibson, by contrast, has been refining its Historic Collection since 1993 in an effort to do justice to the “Holy Grail” — the 1959 Les Paul and its siblings. Countless small details have been revised over the years, and with today’s Murphy Lab series, Gibson has arguably reached its peak. It is hard to imagine it being done much better.
Our Close Relationship
with Gibson
We have a particularly close relationship with the Gibson Custom Shop. We have been closely connected with Gibson for many years and have many friends in Nashville, Tennessee. Within the Custom Shop, Gibson offers two principal finish options: VOS (Vintage Original Spec), a lightly muted, not fully polished finish that gives the guitar an artificial patina; and Gloss, which, as the name suggests, is finished to a high shine. In addition, there is the Murphy Lab series — instruments finished with a different lacquer that is significantly thinner and harder, then artificially aged in the “Murphy Lab,” a separate, shielded area of the factory, by a team led by Tom Murphy. These versions differ not only in appearance and feel, but also in tone. The Heavy Aged and Ultra Heavy Aged Murphy Lab guitars in particular tend to have an exceptionally fast response and a different tonal spectrum from the VOS and Gloss versions.
Unlimited Customization
with Fender
Fender offers order sheets with a wide range of options, allowing customers to tailor their dream instrument to their exact preferences. From countless neck profiles and colors to different pickups and levels of aging, the possibilities are virtually endless.
Team Built vs.
Masterbuilt
The guitars are essentially divided into two categories: Team Built and Masterbuilt. Team Built instruments pass through various stages of production and are built by the Custom Shop team, whereas Masterbuilt instruments are entrusted to a single builder from the selection of the wood all the way through to final inspection. Over time, some of these builders have achieved true star status in the guitar world, most notably John English, John Cruz, and Dale Wilson. Many of them have also become the trusted luthiers of major artists and are the only builders authorized to create instruments for players such as Eric Clapton or John Mayer. The waiting time for a Dale Wilson Masterbuilt guitar can stretch to ten years.
The GuitarPoint
Selection
GuitarPoint is world-renowned for its selection of high-quality, rare, and exceptional vintage guitars — and we also offer an exclusive range of Gibson Custom Shop instruments. We have visited Nashville more than a dozen times and, together with Gibson, continue to create special limited runs, some of which feature instruments unlike anything seen before. We are proud to say that we offer the finest and most distinctive selection of Gibson Custom Shop guitars in Europe. Only GuitarPoint is good enough!
Fender Custom Shop &
Nacho Guitars
We are, of course, also an official Fender Custom Shop dealer, and we offer a unique selection of Fender guitars, both new and pre-owned. Our philosophy is centered on creating guitars — especially Masterbuilt instruments — that remain as faithful as possible to the originals. We have our favorite models recreated with meticulous accuracy, with the aim of capturing the vibe and appearance of those guitars and making them accessible to a wider circle of players and collectors. To this end, we work closely with Fender’s master builders, coordinating every detail to ensure that each instrument meets our exacting standards and truly feels like the original.
Nachoguitars offer a fascinating alternative to new Fender-style instruments. Nacho Baños is a legend in the vintage Fender world; his books The Blackguard Book and The Pinecaster are long-established standard works, and his expertise is without equal. We are proud to call Nacho a friend and to be the exclusive distributor of his guitars. The attention to detail, the artistry of the aging, and the remarkable sound of his instruments are truly exceptional. It takes a deep understanding of the old originals to recreate guitars of this calibre. The “Nachocasters” are made in Valencia, Spain.
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Touch
