Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Alex on May 11, 2010, 05:03:12 PM
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Titles says it all... any feedback/experience from dealing with them? Typical prizes?
Thanks!
http://www.ranguitars.com/ (http://www.ranguitars.com/)
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Someone on the forum had one a few years back I think, can't remember who. My experience is limited to getting a quote from them and the guy seemed reasonable enough. Some great designs if you're into that sort of thing...
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I have one :) Prices were very reasonable when I ordered (about 4 or so years ago)... was about 850 Euros for a complete custom (neck-through, modified bodyshape, extra frets, different pickup location), but I gather the prices have gone up a fair bit since then. Communication was very good, and the build quality was great as well-- came with a flightcase, which is well made too!
They get the thumbs up from me :) which reminds me, I need to try another pickup in the bridge of mine, never really got on with the Nailbomb there.
They've still got the photos of mine on there, actually, on page 1 of the gallery :)
(http://www.ranguitars.com/images/galeria/part1/img/zIMG_3486.jpg)
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Funny, it can't have been less than three years ago that they quoted me £1350 for a bolt on super strat. Maybe I ddn't specify I wanted a gold leaf scratchplate... :lol:
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Out of idle curiosity more than anything I asked for a quote for a 5 piece through neck explorer - 1500 quid. that was about 2 years ago.
People that have them seem to like them plenty.
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yeah, i remember getting some quotes around the time i got my legra, seemed fairly priced, but i understand the prices have gone up a lot recently.
haven't tried them, of course.
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(http://muusikoiden.net/dyn/users/45397.jpg)
Currently my 1# guitar.
I made a few slight changes during the building process and they we're done without charge. It's a great axe to play and I think it will be my 1# for a long time. Paid something like 1830 euros with case and shipping included, the prices have probably gone up slightly by now, just send the quote and they'll respond with an estimate really quickly.
The thing that I didn't like so much was that I waited over a year for my guitar to finish. Most of them get done a lot sooner, there were some hickups on my guitar's building process.
But nevertheless at last I got my dream guitar and it's a joy to play.
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The thing that I didn't like so much was that I waited over a year for my guitar to finish. Most of them get done a lot sooner, there were some hickups on my guitar's building process.
I remember that I had this problem, too, was over a year for mine to be completed. Nice guitar :)
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Wow, a year is a very long time really! I thought more around 6 months.
I was thinking about a baritone V, based on their Invader model.
I have to wait with the decision though, my girlfriend told me yesterday she might need 2500£ for a boob job. Tough call, what is more important?
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There is a thread on french boards about Ran, its quite active and from what users said you have to wait several months to get one and the lastest price asking I've done was about 2000 € for a mahogany superstrat with maple neck and ebony fretboard, nothing fancy on it, just cool specs.
Oh and Alex, should I ask you, Tits or Destiny ? :lol:
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Wow, a year is a very long time really! I thought more around 6 months.
I was thinking about a baritone V, based on their Invader model.
I have to wait with the decision though, my girlfriend told me yesterday she might need 2500£ for a boob job. Tough call, what is more important?
-> a custom guitar and pushups and/or padding PDT_005 :lol:
-Zaned
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Wow, a year is a very long time really! I thought more around 6 months.
I was thinking about a baritone V, based on their Invader model.
I have to wait with the decision though, my girlfriend told me yesterday she might need 2500£ for a boob job. Tough call, what is more important?
-> a custom guitar and pushups and/or padding PDT_005 :lol:
-Zaned
Unlike a guitar, your girlfriend will take her new boobs with her and another guy will end up playing with them. :lol:
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I have to wait with the decision though, my girlfriend told me yesterday she might need 2500£ for a boob job. Tough call, what is more important?
Need?
What the $%&# has she been doing with the old ones?
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yeah, i remember getting some quotes around the time i got my legra, seemed fairly priced, but i understand the prices have gone up a lot recently.
haven't tried them, of course.
I expect that there are a number of reasons for this :
One could be that since Poland joined the EEC the cost of living has risen there as the country moves forward
Or that so much of thje Polish workforce is in the UK and upon returning to Poland expect a UK standard of living
It could be that Ran had very low pricing to get established and get a good reputation but now needs to price what it makes in a way that is sustainable and will allow the company to carry on surviving and pay staff wages
It could also be that the cost of the bought in parts has gone up a lot (I can confess to this being true) and that the Euro has suffered against the dollar for a while and many partys are traded in $US prices (Floyd Rose for example - even though the parts come from Germany)
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Is it that their prices have massively leapt up or that their euro value is now worth so much more in pounds? 2000 euros several hundred pounds more than it was 3 years ago.
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Well, if it's YOUR money and she's your girlfriend (not married, etc) I'd really think it's a bad idea using the moneyto it, if you both brake up someday, it's £2500 with her to another guy use, as Afghan said...
I don't know the guy, but people on work said there was a guy at work who spent his annual profit share from the company "shaping" his wife, for like 3 years in a row... They said on the 3rd years she was almight hot and kicked him out... And I doubt he'll ever see the money back... I'm talking even more than these £2500 per year :?
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Haha, well yes good arguments. :D
Too bad for that guy, but I think 2500 is something I'd be able to live with loosing, plus she is really not the type of girl that would run away.
Well, I'll give it a thought. I love the finish on this guitar though:
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Haha, well yes good arguments. :D
Too bad for that guy, but I think 2500 is something I'd be able to live with loosing, plus she is really not the type of girl that would run away.
Well, I'll give it a thought. I love the finish on this guitar though:
Even so, a well made guitar ages infinitely better than tits. In 20 years she'll have cr@p ones anyway, and you could have had a Ran.
Actually that sounds a bit cruder than I'd expected it to... :lol:
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yeah, i remember getting some quotes around the time i got my legra, seemed fairly priced, but i understand the prices have gone up a lot recently.
haven't tried them, of course.
I expect that there are a number of reasons for this :
One could be that since Poland joined the EEC the cost of living has risen there as the country moves forward
Or that so much of thje Polish workforce is in the UK and upon returning to Poland expect a UK standard of living
It could be that Ran had very low pricing to get established and get a good reputation but now needs to price what it makes in a way that is sustainable and will allow the company to carry on surviving and pay staff wages
It could also be that the cost of the bought in parts has gone up a lot (I can confess to this being true) and that the Euro has suffered against the dollar for a while and many partys are traded in $US prices (Floyd Rose for example - even though the parts come from Germany)
oh yeah, of course, i wasn't necessarily meaning that there wasn't justification for it. I just meant the prices had risen. as ben said, the pound has devalued, too.
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...she is really not the type of girl that would run away.
Ha,ha... yeah right... sure.
Maybe that's because you haven't paid for her new tits yet and she's knows she's onto a good thing...
I've got a letter from a man in Nigeria who only needs your bank account details to transfer some money. You want in?
:roll: :roll:
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I just tipped off a quote form for something i've been thinking about for a while, will let you know how it goes.
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he took about an hour to get back to me, thats incredible.
so he quoted 2270 euros for the following spec
> > No. of strings: 6-string
> > R or L handed: right handed
> > Scale length: 25.5”
> > Construction method: All access neck joint
> > Body shape: Standard Stratocaster
> > Body material: Koa
> > Top wood options: none
> > Body binding: none
> > Binding material: N/A
> > Body finish: other - Oil
> > Custom finish: none
> > Headstock shape: Standard Stratocaster
> > Headstock: regular
> > Headstock finish: natural
> > Headstock binding: none
> > Truss rod cover: At body end of neck
> > Logo: silkscreen Ran Custom Made
> > Neck material: 1P or 3P 3A birdseye maple. whichever is cheaper.***1P/straight headstock
> > Neck shape: offset C (musicman axis/peavey wolfgang)
> > Nut width: 1 11/16” (43mm)
> > Thickness at 1st/12th: Standard Strat?
> > Neck finish: natural satin
> > Fingerboard material: if 1P neck then none.***1P with fingerboard
> > Fingerboard binding: none
> > Number of frets: 22
> > Fret size: Dunlop 6105
> > Fingerboard radius: 12" - 16" compound
> > Fingerboard inlays (MOP): dots
> > Custom inlay(s): none
> > Fingerboard side inlays: plastic dots
> > Nut: locking
> > Hardware color: black
> > Bridge system: Original Locking Floyd Rose Tremolo
> > Tuning machines: Schaller M6
> > Straplocks: Schaller
> > Neck Pickup: BareKnuckle - Nailbomb
> > Middle Pickup: none
> > Bridge Pickup: BareKnuckle - irish tour neck
> > Pickup rings: metal
> > Control knobs: 1 x volume
> > Pickup selector: 3-way toggle
> > Other controls: other: push pull coil tap on volume for humbucker
> > Flight case: no
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Sounds like my kind of guitar!
But you could get pretty close with Warmoth for probably a bit less (not sure what the what the price of Koa is these days though I know it has gone up lot in recent years)
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i was looking at warmoth but they don't seem to do solid koa (1 piece or otherwise) bodies, only tops.. :( warmoth was the first thing i looked at
i've been hooked on something like this ever since i saw a charvel in the 90's. it didnt have the fender headstock tho
they now do a natural series on this spec for the music zoo in the states, but a) won't ship them to the uk and b) don't have any koa ones in stock atm
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i was looking at warmoth but they don't seem to do solid koa (1 piece or otherwise) bodies, only tops.. :( warmoth was the first thing i looked at
Warmoth do koa bodies (not trying to put you off your Ran project though):
http://www.warmoth.com/Pages/ClassicShowcase.aspx?Body=2&Shape=1&Path=Body,Stratocaster&core=14 (http://www.warmoth.com/Pages/ClassicShowcase.aspx?Body=2&Shape=1&Path=Body,Stratocaster&core=14)
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you're definitely not, if i can do this cheaper i will, no offence to RAN because the guy email mailing me is excellent and i'm reading nothing but good stuff about them. how's the quality of Warmoth stuff, and do you get the bits and assemble or will they put it together for you?
Edit: they're all gloss though.. i did see that section of the site, but they seem to be pre made, take them as they are bodies. when i was on the page for custom bodies, it only offered koa as a top material, and i couldn't get an answer about a custom spec'd solid body.. i don't think they do the oil finishes either..
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Normally you have to put all the parts from Warmoth together. I do find that they are quite expensive on all the hardware/pickups - better to order that separate probably. Also, it is not a "plug&play" affair, you will need to have tools, drills etc. and be able to "adjust things". The charme on the Warmoths is more that you have built your own guitar to a great part, but I would bet that the same guitar from RAN would probably play better, because they are professionals at putting everything together, doing it every day after all.
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ah.. not got the skill or time for that.. work offshore..
on the subject, anyone got experience with kahlers vs FRs? i put the FR in without thinking but i'm trying to read up on kahlers just now
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It's apparently a preferrence thing.
On a personal note:
I've decided not to go for a custom. Also, the girlfriend boobs op is postponed - she doesn't have the time for it at the moment.
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The quality of Warmoth stuff is excellent.
All their unfinished (or transparent finished) solid bodies are two pieces at most (one piece usually costs a bit extra), the two piece bodies are centre-joined and they match the grain so well you can hardly see the join (Fender take note...!). The neck pockets are tight-fitting, whether you use a Warmoth or Fender neck (again, much more accurately made than Fender stuff). Their paint shop does nice finishes too.
The necks are great too, again extremely well made (CNC cut, so very precise). My only complaint would be that the fingerboard and headstock edges are left a bit "sharp", I like them rounded off so I personally wouldn't buy a finished maple-board neck.
They do sell hardware too, although I buy mine from other places, and they'll also cut scratchplates to your specs (not too expensive either).
As Alex said, they don't sell assembled guitars, that's up to you, but most of the tricky stuff is done (including your choice of bridge and pickup routing, and they even drill the holes for the neck screws). You could put everything together "out of the box" and have a very decent guitar, but I think they need a little more work to make them perfect - a fret dress, the aforementioned fretboard edges, and obviously a good setup.
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The quality of Warmoth stuff is excellent.
All their unfinished (or transparent finished) solid bodies are two pieces at most (one piece usually costs a bit extra), the two piece bodies are centre-joined and they match the grain so well you can hardly see the join (Fender take note...!). The neck pockets are tight-fitting, whether you use a Warmoth or Fender neck (again, much more accurately made than Fender stuff). Their paint shop does nice finishes too.
The necks are great too, again extremely well made (CNC cut, so very precise). My only complaint would be that the fingerboard and headstock edges are left a bit "sharp", I like them rounded off so I personally wouldn't buy a finished maple-board neck.
They do sell hardware too, although I buy mine from other places, and they'll also cut scratchplates to your specs (not too expensive either).
As Alex said, they don't sell assembled guitars, that's up to you, but most of the tricky stuff is done (including your choice of bridge and pickup routing, and they even drill the holes for the neck screws). You could put everything together "out of the box" and have a very decent guitar, but I think they need a little more work to make them perfect - a fret dress, the aforementioned fretboard edges, and obviously a good setup.
i think i would probably get some basic stuff from them before trying to build something like what i'm going for here, room to play and experiment, might be an ideal training guitar if i could get the most basic of the basic.
i don't mind 2 piece bodies either, i've heard a bunch of 2 or 3 piece bodies that sound better than a one piece.
still think i'll go with the RAN based on my level of experience an skill. but it was a great idea
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> > Neck Pickup: BareKnuckle - Nailbomb
> > Middle Pickup: none
> > Bridge Pickup: BareKnuckle - irish tour neck
i think you've got those backwards (not being pedantic, i don't want you to order a guitar and not get what you want!) :)
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Actually, you're dead right, good spot, cheers :P
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Reviving a dead thread because I recently acquired some experience with Ran Guitars:
In short: several dead spots and weird uncontrollable harmonics. Model was the Crusher 6 string.
Yes, tried with three different string gauges, brands and tunings, adjusted the truss rod and intonation. Nothing helped.
I warmly suggest everyone of you Ran owners take your instrument and sit down for about 5 minutes as you play through all frets with all strings and see how long each note sustains. Shouldn't take too long. Really, just do it!
Same goes for Mayones owners (see my previous post about my Regius).
Administered the same test for 12 other Mayones guitars and all of them had same problems. Fun.
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Reviving a dead thread because I recently acquired some experience with Ran Guitars:
In short: several dead spots and weird uncontrollable harmonics. Model was the Crusher 6 string.
Yes, tried with three different string gauges, brands and tunings, adjusted the truss rod and intonation. Nothing helped.
I warmly suggest everyone of you Ran owners take your instrument and sit down for about 5 minutes as you play through all frets with all strings and see how long each note sustains. Shouldn't take too long. Really, just do it!
Same goes for Mayones owners (see my previous post about my Regius).
Administered the same test for 12 other Mayones guitars and all of them had same problems. Fun.
Sounds like you got a dud, or just got bad luck.
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Reviving a dead thread because I recently acquired some experience with Ran Guitars:
In short: several dead spots and weird uncontrollable harmonics. Model was the Crusher 6 string.
Yes, tried with three different string gauges, brands and tunings, adjusted the truss rod and intonation. Nothing helped.
I warmly suggest everyone of you Ran owners take your instrument and sit down for about 5 minutes as you play through all frets with all strings and see how long each note sustains. Shouldn't take too long. Really, just do it!
Same goes for Mayones owners (see my previous post about my Regius).
Administered the same test for 12 other Mayones guitars and all of them had same problems. Fun.
Sounds like you got a dud, or just got bad luck.
Sounds more like he's got really bad fingers ;-)
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Reviving a dead thread because I recently acquired some experience with Ran Guitars:
In short: several dead spots and weird uncontrollable harmonics. Model was the Crusher 6 string.
Yes, tried with three different string gauges, brands and tunings, adjusted the truss rod and intonation. Nothing helped.
I warmly suggest everyone of you Ran owners take your instrument and sit down for about 5 minutes as you play through all frets with all strings and see how long each note sustains. Shouldn't take too long. Really, just do it!
Same goes for Mayones owners (see my previous post about my Regius).
Administered the same test for 12 other Mayones guitars and all of them had same problems. Fun.
Sounds like you got a dud, or just got bad luck.
Sounds more like he's got really bad fingers ;-)
:crazy2:
Alex,
If you like Ran, check out these (though you are probably aware of them already);
http://www.daemonessguitars.co.uk/ (http://www.daemonessguitars.co.uk/)
I'm really into what he does with the wood block art.
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de·ni·al/diˈnīəl/
Noun:
The action of declaring something to be untrue: "she shook her head in denial".
The refusal of something requested or desired.
I think I do have pretty bad fingers but I never had issues with any of my guitars... Except with the Mayones and this Ran.
The guy who's Ran it actually is has a serious case of awesome-tone-fingers but it didn't make a difference.. still doesn't sustain.
But I guess if you don't mind sustainless instruments it's all good. ;)
Just do yourselves a favor and check your instruments thoroughly (noodling doesn't count ;)), it could just be a QA issue after all.
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A lot of guitars seem to have the odd dead spot, usually somewhere around the 9th to 12th frets in my experience. I always thought it was just a risk you run using a building material as inconsistent as wood.
But if these Ran and Mayones guitars have multiple dead spots and weird harmonics/overtones, I think there's something more seriously wrong with the construction - badly seated frets, maybe?
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Reviving a dead thread because I recently acquired some experience with Ran Guitars:
In short: several dead spots and weird uncontrollable harmonics. Model was the Crusher 6 string.
Yes, tried with three different string gauges, brands and tunings, adjusted the truss rod and intonation. Nothing helped.
I warmly suggest everyone of you Ran owners take your instrument and sit down for about 5 minutes as you play through all frets with all strings and see how long each note sustains. Shouldn't take too long. Really, just do it!
Same goes for Mayones owners (see my previous post about my Regius).
Administered the same test for 12 other Mayones guitars and all of them had same problems. Fun.
Some dead spots/lack of sustain can be caused if the builder doesn't glue in the frets but relies on the barbs on the tangs to hold them in.
You can get a bad junction between fret and board and energy is lost when you hold down the string.
It can often be cured quite simply:–
You will want to put some paste wax on the wood along the side of the fret you are about to glue in to stop the glue sticking where you don't want it to - I use beeswax/furniture wax and a Q Tip to smear it on
Then use low viscosity/runny superglue and run a little down the edge of the fret and it should "wick" under the fret if there is no glue there and solidify the fret in place. The wax should prevent the glue sticking to the board.
Wipe it clean and let it set .
Not that we often clamp the fret down with a fret press when we do this to ensure it solidifies in place snug to the board.
I have had a few guitars that came back to life after this treatment.
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Good points about the frets.
The Mayones with the multiple dead spots did a round trip to a luthier and also back to the Mayones factory, but nothing helped. Mayones refused to give my local retailer or myself any information about what they tried to do to my guitar... in the end it came back seemingly untouched.
Is properly attaching the frets with glue such a difficult or expensive process that it's worth skipping and just hope that it'll do to the customer?
Both companies are also very eager to sell and reply to quotes within hours but if you have a complaint it takes weeks for them to answer if ever. I guess selling is the name of the game.
Thank you for your insight.
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The Ran Guitars look awesome. i can't believe I've never come across them The guitar below is just sheer beautiful and bad ass ;p
(http://www.ranguitars.com/images/galeria/part15/img/ran-guitars-15-083-cruiser.jpg)
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The Ran Guitars look awesome. i can't believe I've never come across them The guitar below is just sheer beautiful and bad ass ;p
(http://www.ranguitars.com/images/galeria/part15/img/ran-guitars-15-083-cruiser.jpg)
That's the exact one I'm looking at making. I was going to go with Ran, except I would really prefer a luthier from the UK, so I can go in to discuss neck dimensions, etc.
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Anyone who knows the price of a Thor? Like its on the sheet?
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That's the exact one I'm looking at making. I was going to go with Ran, except I would really prefer a luthier from the UK, so I can go in to discuss neck dimensions, etc.
Daemoness guitars;
http://www.daemonessguitars.co.uk/ (http://www.daemonessguitars.co.uk/)
They are in the UK
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I came across them, but I was unsure if they'd do the toneblock thing I'm after as well as a customised shape. Out of all the ones I looked for, Crimson seemed the best as they will even build you your own customised trem, and I've always liked the look of Petruccis.
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I came across them, but I was unsure if they'd do the toneblock thing I'm after as well as a customised shape. Out of all the ones I looked for, Crimson seemed the best as they will even build you your own customised trem, and I've always liked the look of Petruccis.
I'm sure if your are getting a custom build, Dylan will work with you. After all, it is a custom build.