Kytary Is Now Selling Fender Instruments Built Only by the World's Top Thirteen Guitar Makers
Kytary has been granted the privilege of selling the world's most expensive and finest instruments by the world's leading electric guitar manufacturer, Fender. And not only that. Customers will get the opportunity to design their dream instrument right to their specifications. Each of the guitars designated as a Custom Shop Masterbuild will be built by one of the thirteen people who currently hold the Masterbuilder title. All of them spent years learning the craft from their predecessors until they reached the highest level among the elite guitar builders. Their skilled hands and artistry lend the instruments a dynamic response and expression that can only be found in vintage models often unavailable today. Therefore, prices for such instruments start at $8,000, with some reaching as high as $500,000. In addition to the best musicians, they are often sought after by investors. In fact, their value significantly increases over time.
"The Stratocaster is celebrating 70 years and Leo Fender invented the guitar so well that, unlike, say, cars, it's still basically the same, with only minor cosmetic changes. Our Custom Shop project aims to bring a wide range of products to our customers in this segment," says one of the owners of Kytary, Vladimír Myslík, who sees the sale of these unique guitars as another dream come true.
"If Apple and Microsoft are the two biggest market leaders in the computer world, the electric guitar market is similar. The most iconic brands are Fender and Gibson. And the Czech Republic is now one of the first countries in Eastern Europe to sell the best and most luxurious Fender instruments. This is a big deal in the musical instrument market," says Kytary's marketing director Filip Černý.
In his opinion, it takes patience and money to buy a guitar in this top category. On the other hand, such an instrument represents the absolute pinnacle of what can be bought in the current world of guitar production. If there is no guitar in stock that suits the customer well, it can be tailored exactly to the future owner's wishes, a new option that Kytary is very proud of. "Each master builds the instrument by hand from start to finish. Each time he infuses it with something magical that can be heard and felt. Such guitars and basses reflect the builder's personality so much that the instrument seems to have its own soul," says Štěpán Drábek, head of the Fender Custom Shop section at Kytary.
As he says, the Prague shop now stocks ten electric guitars and basses from the Custom Shop Masterbuild edition. Some of them were built by Masterbuilders such as David Brown and Levi Perry. Both have worked on many prestigious projects, including the Game of Thrones series, or the limited edition George Harrison Rocky Strat. They are so adept at the highly sought-after technique of artificially aged lacquer and wood that their instruments look like they were made in the 1950s or 1960s. "When I work on replicas of the original models, I really try to pay attention to detail. The most important thing is to keep studying old guitars. Seeing where they're worn from playing and how they're ageing. And that's what I try to faithfully reproduce," describes Levi Perry, adding that he also loves being challenged by customers to build instruments with unconventional specifications.
In addition to musicians, Fender Custom Shop Masterbuild guitars are also popular with investors. "We have customers who played guitar when they were young and are now making a lot of money and figuring out where to invest it. The advantage of these instruments is that you can fully enjoy such an 'investment' while maximising its value, especially if it is a limited edition," concludes Drábek.
The American brand Fender is one of the pillars on which the very essence of the electric guitar stands. But the finest gems of the Californian treasure chest Fender are created in the Custom Shop's workshops. They are handcrafted works of art by teams or individual builders who usually look to the famous models of the 50s, 60s and 70s for inspiration when making new instruments.
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