I'll echo what has been said here by the other guys
Getting the specs right is v important and essential to iron out at the beginning of the project
Often we do help by both suggesting things and sometimes by steering some customers away from wild flights of fancy which will result in a guitar that would lose it's charm all too quickly.
You will find that it is only natural for makers to want to work within or close to their areas of strength - as they will know what works well in that area and will have expertise and confidence to make a great guitar.
What you will also find is that most luthiers , once they have worked carefully with you to get the spec down to the last micro detail , will want to be left alone to a greater extent to make the guitar.
You do have to find someone whose existing work you like the look of and who you can get along and work with , and ALSO that they will be happy to work with you (yes it cuts both ways).
Sometimes you may have to realise that no one guitar can do everything and that sometimes it is better to have a guitar that excels in one area rather than being mediocre in all areas - remember a camel is just a horse that was designed by committee, according to that famous quote
I actually turned down a few guitar projects over the years for certain reasons:
1) a customer who kept changing the spec once the build had started .
They were still developing new bold ideas (and quite a few crazy ones) once we had already nailed down the spec that we were supposed to build.
2) A customer who kind of wanted or felt a need to "re-invent the wheel" and completely redseign and restyle the concept of a guitar from the ground up using first principles. This might have taken years of man hours doing untold amounts of R&D all for one guitar and as I wouldn't be then repeatedly be making this guitar over and over, then I deemed that it would not be a good use of my time - especially as I have other customers to take care of as well.
3) A customer who wanted to micro-manage me and every hour of my day or week- it was like they thought that they would become my boss ( a very strange thing to put upon a self employed person).
4) A realisation that the customer didn't really know what they wanted and that it would lead to ultimate dissatisfaction with the build no matter how perfectly executed it was, as whilst a Les Paul was great last week , this week they want a tele and next week they fancy a strat.
