START BUILDING
How to make your dream reality
A Fender Custom Shop instrument is extraordinary. You know it when you play one—it’s definitely more than the sum of its parts. It’s filled with intangible, electrifying elements that add a new dimension to your playing experience. It’s as if the instrument itself is imbued with history, alive with the spirit of the place where it was built and the devotion of those who crafted it.
The Custom Shop is home to Fender’s most skilled and talented builders. It’s a bustling, noisy and creatively volcanic place that re-earns its nickname—the Dream Factory—every day. Custom Shop builders are completely dedicated to their art—part craftsman, part artist, part music fan and, more often than not, part mad scientist. They’re the best at what they do, and they pour all of their passion, hard-earned knowledge and skill into every instrument they build. It’s no ordinary place, and the creations that come from it are no ordinary instruments. Welcome to the Fender Custom Shop.
For players who wish to create a completely custom instrument—anything from a humbucking pickup-equipped banjo to a custom-engraved aluminum-bodied Strat®—we offer Masterbuilt, a singular experience working one-on-one with one of our Master Builders. Custom-Built is for those prefer to start with one of our time-honored models and personalize the specifications to meet your specific needs. Use this guide to design your very own Masterbuilt or Custom-Built Fender guitar and make your dreams come true.
Let’s Get Started
Choose Your Build Level
Masterbuilt
In every art form, there are those who have mastered their craft so thoroughly, through years of training and experience, their work routinely commands extra acclaim and admiration, not to mention outright awe. These astonishing artisans are the Master Builders of the Fender Custom Shop; a select group of the most talented builders recognized around the world for their matchless skill, limitless imagination and utter devotion to their art.
Crafting a guitar with a Custom Shop Master Builder is the ultimate artistic partnership—simply put, no idea is too crazy and no job too large or too small. They’ll walk you through everything—body design, neck shape, tonewoods, pickups, hardware and more—to give you the look, feel and sound that you’re searching for. From start to finish the Master Builder will personally ensure that each guitar is built with the highest possible quality and to your exact specifications. Additionally, it’s about more than just specifications, it’s about making the instrument of your dreams a concrete reality.
Custom-Built
Your dreams are what make the Fender Custom Shop the reality that it is today. From its inception in 1987, the Custom Shop has grown from two builders to today’s more than 50 artisans—a veteran band of builders, each a specialist dedicated to their own area of expertise—working together to build your ideal Fender to your exact specifications. From neck shaping and fretwork to finishing and aging—every step of creation—each Custom Shop craftsperson brings years of hard-earned skill and dedication to bear on your custom-built guitar with one goal in mind—to create an instrument and playing experience that can only come from the Fender Custom Shop.
A Fender Custom-Built guitar lets you define your ideal instrument. Begin with one of our base models and choose from our vast selection of options to customize it as little or as much as you want to meet your personal needs, aesthetic taste and playing style.
Whatever shape your dream may be, our luthiers stand ready to craft an instrument that will unlock your utmost creativity and self-expression. Their passion is bringing your dreams to reality, to create the ultimate instrument—one personally customized exclusively for you.
Ordering Yours
The process is simple:
- Download the 2024 Design Guide at right and peruse our vast selection of custom options
- Choose your build level (Masterbuilt or Custom-built)
- Choose a base model (list begins on page 16)
- Choose an aging package (page 24)
- Choose your woods, neck shape, colors, hardware, pickups, wiring, etc.
- Check your desired options in the design guide (begins on page 60)
- Take your completed design guide to your Fender Custom Shop Showcase Dealer for a quote and estimated build time
