| Company | Pricing | Quality | Wait Times | Finish options | Communication and Progress Updates | Body/Headstock options | Woods | Electronics | Hardware options | Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abyss | ||||||||||
| Carvin | very affordable, bolt on starts at $629, neck through starts at $759 | high | 2-3 months | Limited to pretty standard transparent stains, bursts, and solid colors | Very good, you can track your guitar through the build process within a few days of ordering | Limited to models advertised | Lots of options advertised, additional options are available if you call | Limited to Carvin pickups and electronics | Limited to what is advertised | |
| Chafin | ||||||||||
| Driskill | ||||||||||
| ESP | ||||||||||
| Fender | ||||||||||
| Gibson | ||||||||||
| GMW | affordable, bolt on starts at $1200 | very high | 4-18 months varies greatly depending on whether or not you choose unusual body, neck, or finish options |
Pretty much anything you can think of can be done | Very good, progress emails sent including pictures | Headstock choices are limited, most body options are available | most woods can be chosen (depending on availability of course) | Pretty much anything you can think of can be done | Pretty much anything you can think of can be done | |
| Grosh | expensive, bolt on starts at over $2000 | very high | 4-6 months | Limited to models advertised | ||||||
| Hamer | very high | |||||||||
| Hill | ||||||||||
| Jackson/Charvel | expensive, bolt on starts at over $2000 | LOL | 6-24 months | Pretty much anything you can think of can be done | ROTFLMAO | Headstock choices are limited but they can and will do Fender licensed headstocks, body choices are only limited if you select a shape that is another manufacturers shape (such as a roundhorn V, Firebird, etc.) | most woods can be chosen (depending on availability of course) | Pretty much anything you can think of can be done | Pretty much anything you can think of can be done | Lots of recent QC problems, you can no longer order artist replicas, Master Builder route is extremely expensive |
| Jet Guitars | expensive | very high | under 6 months | |||||||
| Jackson Stars | ||||||||||
| KXK | ||||||||||
| LGM | ||||||||||
| McNaught | ||||||||||
| Moser Custom Shop | ||||||||||
| PRS | expensive | very high | Limited to models advertised | |||||||
| Ran | ||||||||||
| Suhr | expensive, bolt on starts at over $2000 | very high | Limited to models advertised | |||||||
| Thorn | ||||||||||
| Tyler | expensive, bolt on starts at over $2000 | very high | Limited to models advertised | |||||||
| US Masters | ||||||||||
| Warrior | ||||||||||
| Zion |