Picture yourself on a stage – a wall of amplifiers behind you, the roar of a crowd and the blistering heat of pyrotechnics before you. In your hand is the guitar of your dreams.
While they can’t help you with platform boots, perms or musical ability, the luthiers at Prestige Guitars in North Vancouver can hook you up with an axe worthy of your wildest rock fantasies.
Marking the company’s 20th anniversary in March, the guitar maker is launching a custom shop in Lower Lonsdale, just down the road from its existing showroom in Lynn Creek.
Up until now, Prestige has been renowned for selling guitars of comparable quality to top name brands like Fender, Gibson and Gretsch, but at a more attractive price point. The company has done this by working with a manufacturer in Korea, before the final assembly and quality control was done in a small shop behind their showroom.
Customers can choose guitars off the shelf at Prestige made from a variety of wood types, and with different hardware components. But the custom shop allows for a much larger degree of customer control over the final product, and the manufacturing is done at the hands of expert local luthiers.
A custom guitar is where visionary art and master craftsmanship blend together, says Prestige president and founder Mike Kurkdjian.
“It’s like a work of art that’s built uniquely to what you’re looking for,” he said, adding that that the ability to select from a range of exotic tonewoods, hardware and electronics lets you bring your ideal instrument to life.
“If you’re a musician looking for that ideal tool, we make that for you. But also, if you want it to be aesthetically incredible like an art piece, that’s also part of it,” Kurkdijan said.
Custom guitar shop is a dream realized, founder says
If you want a custom guitar made, Kurkdijan welcomes you to book a tour at the Prestige shop. There, you’ll walk through different stations, choose how you want your instrument to be built and speak to the luthiers who will make the guitar. There’s an online ordering option as well.
After sorting out all your dream specifications, there’s currently a 60-day turnaround before you get the finished product, which could increase if they get busier.
A custom guitar at Prestige will run you $3,200 to $5,000, compared to $1500 to $2,300 for one of the company’s “core line” guitars, which are off-the-shelf models.
Kurkdijan, who grew up in North Vancouver, said the custom shop is a dream realized. Prestige was fortunate to find a location less than five minutes away from the showroom, he added.
“I couldn’t be happier,” he said.
The new custom shop is the first of its kind in Western Canada. Elsewhere, there’s Dingwall Guitars in Saskatchewan and Godin Guitars in Quebec. “So in all of Canada there’s three of us – it’s pretty cool," Kurkdijan said.
At the Lower Lonsdale shop, five luthiers will produce around 20-25 custom guitars a month. Some of those artisans have over 20 years of experience. Their work will supplement the roughly 100 core line guitars Prestige makes on a monthly basis.
You can see Prestige guitars in the hands of musicians including Shania Twain, Devin Townsend, Todd Kerns (who plays bass for Slash) and Cory Churko (who plays guitar with Twain and Kelly Clarkson).
