case ave. custom shop

[guitarbuilder]

hey, i got an ibanez from a guitar store in the states that says custom made on the 22nd fret and on the neckplate it had the address of the case ave. custom shop in hollywood that did built guitars only for endorsements for professional artists. i bought it for $550 in mint condition. any opinions on it?

[vaijem777]

Is the guitar an S540? If I remember correctly, the guitars with the "Custom Made" plaque weren't actually "made" in the Custom Shop. I believe that in most cases, the bodies/necks were manufactured in Japan, and the parts were assembled in the Custom Shop. In some cases, such as the RG770s, etc. , the guitars were wired and set-up in the US Custom Shop. There were actually (2) different custom shops: one for artists & endorsers, one for the general public. The one for the general public produced the USA Graphics line, and most of the other true USA Customs, as well as put the finishing touches on some of the upper-end models.

[Rich]

The only guitars made in the custom shop are endorcee guitars. These "Custom Made" guitars were parts shipped from Japan, bodies routed for bridge humbucker only. They did the rest of the pickup routing depending on the model being assembled, sprayed the finish, then assembled. This was all done by H&S which was a seperate "division" setup just to do this type work and not done by the luthiers that were in the shop to build endorcee guitars. These models include all USA Customs, US Custom Graphics, Multi Color Jems and UV's, JS with graphics, and everything with the US address neck plate. Same thing holds true for Bensalem address plates, the operation was just moved to LA in 91'.