Urgent need of help

[GreenKnee]

I've not had a severe case of GAS in a long time, but this has me going

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/ ... d-lollar-j




Cons:
Expensive! (Recently acquired a 0% credit with lots of space going, but that is supposed to be for furniture, renovations etc on the house I have just moved in to)

Looks VERY similar to my Jag that is my favourite guitar:



I'd probably take a day off work to drive down to check it out, cannot spend that much money without test driving it

I have a lot of guitars, all of which bar the above Jag are currently stored in the roof space of aforementioned house. Apparently "the house is less cluttered without all my crap everywhere"


Pros:
I need it





PLEASE HELP

[sal paradise]

If your jaguar ate all the ice cream & then a drunk man carved a sound hole in it, and something weird happened to the headstock… that’s the Bilt.

[javier-san]

I know that not everyone loves how BiLt guitars look, but man, I sure do love them. That shell pink is such a lovely color!
I may be biased because I own one (bought used), but BiLt makes a stellar product and well worth it IMHO.

I own a marauder-esque Revelator that I had them convert into a baritone. I love it, but personally think the Zaftig looks better/cooler. Please let us know what you think of it!

[JSett]

It's like cheating on your partner for an older, worse looking version.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Hmmmm. I really like their Relevator model… but your Jag does indeed look waaaaay better than that Zaftig ever could. I‘d pass.

[Embenny]

I mean, you do you, but there are a bunch of reasons why I would not recommend buying that guitar. It just seems like a bad idea.

[GreenKnee]

Of course you're all right I'm a fan of the bloated Bilt body shape and it's perfectly to my tastes. It is SO bloody expensive though

[marqueemoon]

That’s about $4,700 US.

I’ve tried several Bilts in shops and always liked them, but I don’t think they are worth that kind of money, especially since they won’t hold their value as well as, say a Custom Shop JM.

[SignoftheDragon]

Honestly speaking- in my 'top five guitars of all time' that I've owned and played, the BilT holds a place of honor. (I had a rather awesome IBM Relevator XII that I one-shot won off eBay - and then sort of 'accidentally' sold it on)

If you gotta have it, I'd say go for it!

Price-wise, though- they'll build you a new one for about 25% less than that. Maybe have BilT quote you on an identical build, then go bully that shop into matching the factory price.

[GreenKnee]

Good to hear positives from previous owners of Bilt guitars. They're certainly eye catching. They also have the same guitar in IBM which is a stunner

Price-wise, though- they'll build you a new one for about 25% less than that. Maybe have BilT quote you on an identical build, then go bully that shop into matching the factory price.

I think the 25% extra comes from the good ol' Blighty tax and whatnot. But yeah I may just get in touch with Bilt and find out exactly how much one would cost me direct.

[Embenny]

I'll play the devil's advocate as someone who has owned one and would not consider paying anywhere near that price for it.

In fact, the main reason I sold it was that it simply wasn't worth the price tag to me. Don't get me wrong, it was a good guitar, but I traded it and ended up with three good guitars in the end, which made me much happier.

Value is such a subjective thing, but I had that BilT in my hands and my opinion was that I could find something better for the amount of money it could fetch. And I did.

Honestly, I own a number of guitars with half the sticker price that I'd have chosen over it. I think a lot of the value in a guitar like that lies in letting you choose whatever specs you want from the factory and getting a custom build. When a stock guitar costs the same as a full custom, it really needs to be spectacular to live up to the price tag.

Just my two cents. Do what makes you happy at the end of the day.

[windmill]

MaggieO had one a while back, it might pay to search the forums.

[CVBassVI]

Congrats BiLT on the, uh... original design. Reminds me of the old Pawn Shop models that Stratosphere had to blow out (reassembled) because no one wanted them even at Squier prices. This Pawn Shop Offset, for example. I nearly pulled the trigger at $350. Not sorry I didn't. I bought a Squier Baritone Jazzmaster instead.

[javier-san]

Tough crowd.

To be fair, I don't think any guitar is worth $4,700 (yes, even vintage guitars) to me.

If you're patient you'll see BiLT Zaftigs go for much less than that used, but it might not be in the "ideal" color.

[andy_tchp]

I know they've got a lot of fans but most of their stuff is as ugly as sin, awkwardly proportioned. 'Wide range' pickups also massively over-rated and hyped beyond belief.