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YOU WONT BELIEVE: Custom shop - What They Never Told You

“I’ve literally waited years for this to come out. It’s even nicer than I imagined it would be”: All the guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – including another potentially game-changing AI practice amp

Featuring new drops from Jackson, PRS, Wylde Audio, Charvel, and more

Guitar World

“I didn’t expect this to inspire me so much”: Jackson finally releases Misha Mansoor’s Surfcaster – one of the most anticipated offset guitar releases of the modern era

Almost two years after the Periphery maestro first showed off his baritone Surfcaster, Jackson has made it available as a limited-edition custom shop model

Guitar World

“Something you’ll hear a lot of is, ‘Oh, you didn’t earn that relicing.’ But people who like it aren't thinking of it like that”: The real reason why relicing is so popular, according to a Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilder

The pre-worn fad is sweeping the guitar community, but why do some deride the concept as ‘stolen valor’?

Guitar World

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“I still think Johnny Christ is one of the most underrated bass players ever”: The story behind Intervals virtuoso Jacob Umansky’s signature bass – and why Avenged Sevenfold changed his life

The Intervals and Nita Strauss bassist’s personalized 6-string Dingwall was first made as a one-off artist build – only for it to turn into his first-ever signature model

Guitar World

“I was the only guy playing that guitar. It was their version of a semi-hollow”: How Robben Ford helped Fender design their short-lived answer to the ES-335

The short-lived build aimed to compete with one of Gibson's flagship models

Guitar World

“Even with their sub-$500 tickets, these guitars have been built with some degree of care and expertise”: Epiphone J-45 Studio and J-200 Studio review

A brace of familiar Gibson acoustic designs bearing the Epiphone brand name and a price tag of around one tenth of an original

Guitar World

“I had a poster on my wall of B.B. King playing Lucille. I always wanted one of those guitars”: Gary Clark Jr. comes full circle with a new signature Gibson ES-355 that pays homage to his hero

The stunning signature is a recreation of Gary Clark Jr.'s one-of-one Custom Shop model – and it channels his love for B.B. King

Guitar World

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“When I was a child, I had a poster on my wall of BB King playing his signature Lucille… I just wanted to be a part of that world”: Gary Clark Jr channels the King of the Blues for limited edition Gibson Custom Shop collab

The 21st-century blues king pays dues to his hero with a stunning limited edition Cobra Burst ES-355, fresh from the Custom Shop

MusicRadar

“Developed with Kirk Hammett’s guidance and built from specifications taken directly from the actual PAF humbuckers on that world-renowned guitar”: Gibson unveils the $449 Custom Shop humbucker set that will make your Les Paul sound like ‘Greeny’

Limited to 100 units worldwide, exclusive to Gibson, these are aged by the Murphy Lab to look just like the real thing

MusicRadar

Painted Neck Stratocasters? These Fender Custom Shop models put a distinct – and divisive – twist on the traditional template

Candy Green, Ice Blue Metallic and Shell Pink are just some of the finishes on offer in Music Zoo's exclusive Custom Shop drop

Guitar World

“I struggle to think of any Fender that surpasses a Mary Kaye Strat in value or collector appeal”: Body dated January 1956, the first of its kind, played on an Aerosmith album – is this the holy grail of all holy grail Fender Stratocasters?

Only two features distinguished a Mary Kaye Stratocaster from any other Strat that might have rolled off Fender’s production line during the mid-to-late 1950s. So why are vintage examples so darn valuable?

Guitar World

The best new guitar gear of NAMM 2026: More effects, more amps, more guitars and more tech than ever

MusicRadar's Rob Laing carried the weight of the guitar world on his shoulders as he single-handedly took on the NAMM Show 2026... and survived to tell the tale

MusicRadar

“These instruments are building more than houses, they are restoring hope”: Fender joins campaign to support LA wildfires relief, turning wood reclaimed from the disaster into unique Custom Shop guitars for auction

The Altadena Telecaster is a Custom Shop dream machine made from reclaimed wood from a Deodar cedar tree that was damaged in the Eaton fire

Guitar World

“I knew relic’ing was coming. I did it myself, to my own guitar, very crude and primitive. I put it on a stand at a guitar show, with no strategy. And it changed everything”: How relic’ing conquered the guitar world

The not-so-gentle art of relic’ing has enjoyed arenaissance since its maligned roots in the mid-’90s. We asked scene godfather and Gibson Custom Shop guru Tom Murphy how the tide turned

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“They each have their own weird little soul”: Tom DeLonge has unveiled 10 new Fender Starcasters – and they’re made with actual meteorites from the Moon, Mars and more

The Ad Astra 10 guitars are inspired by DeLonge's Custom Shop model, with each featuring fragments of different meteorites

Guitar World

“People always say Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan had acidic sweat – but this is what I think”: Why some of the most famous Fenders are so heavily worn, according to a Custom Shop Masterbuilder

Dale Wilson attempts to solve the mystery of why vintage Fenders played by big-name artists have so much gnarly wear

Guitar World

“This guitar is simply too cool to not be released”: Noel Gallagher’s internet-breaking Oasis reunion Les Paul has been brought to the masses with a Standard launch

Months after the Custom Shop Murphy Lab reissue sold out, Gibson has brought back one of 2025's most talked about guitars

Guitar World

“There was great jubilation and there were tears”: Fender invited music fans to design their own Telecaster. They received over 1,500 applications – and turned four into a reality

Everyone from children to lifelong guitarists entered the Fender Design Contest, which showcased Fender Japan’s quest to prove guitar is for everyone

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Guitar World

"A well-judged entry point to owning a ‘real’ Les Paul Custom": Gibson Les Paul Custom 70s review

The Les Paul Custom is back in the USA line-up offering a gutsy, evocative slice of 70s tone at a fair – but not cheap – price

Guitar World

“Nuno calls me up and says, ‘Picture this. I want Mad Max and Jesus Christ Superstar’”: Nuno Bettencourt’s outrageous part-guitar, part-keytar Washburn is 2025’s wildest Custom Shop creation

The guitar was crafted by Washburn Master Builder Chris Meade, and was spotted in Extreme’s music video for X Out

Guitar World

“Making its long-awaited return to the lineup”: For the first time in 20 years, Gibson is offering the Custom Les Paul ’70s as a standard run USA model

The hugely sought-after design, previously available only as a Custom Shop model, arrives as part of the regular line with period-correct touches and throwback finishes

MusicRadar

“It’s clear that the influence of the Custom Shop’s attention to detail is now making its way to the Mexican-made instruments”: Fender Limited Edition Vintera II Jazzmaster Road Worn review

Fender proves it can do tasteful ageing without the Custom Shop price tag

Guitar World

“One day it hit me, I want a Fender 7-string Stratocaster. I got a lot of ‘no’s”: How the Fender Custom Shop was convinced to make the firm’s first 7-string guitar

Suicide Silence guitarist Chris Garza worked with the Custom Shop on its first 7-string Strat – and there's hope that the one-of-a-kind Fender can be the start of something bigger

MusicRadar

“It has one of the highest outputs of any passive humbucker, ever”: Seymour Duncan celebrates imminent release of Spinal Tap sequel with a custom pickup – and it has an “eye-watering” DCR reading of 111K

But what will this monster one-off pickup sound like – and will we ever see it in production?

Guitar World

“There are no limits. It’s basically: how long will it take and how much is it going to cost?” Behind the scenes at the Fender Custom Shop – where anything goes, and heritage and innovation go hand in hand

Nearly 40 years on from the Custom Shop’s inception, its creations are more ambitious than ever. Master Builder Paul Waller and Director of Product Development Chase Paul give us a guided tour

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