kuma
Well-Known Member
They did used to let you send in a photo for an upcharge, and they'd try to find something close in what they had on hand at the time they built your guitar, but no promises. No idea if they still do that, seems like that would be even more likely to lead to disappointment.
I can definitely understand not being happy with the top you get, especially with wood types that are more variable. That's the risk with buying sight unseen. For example, I'd never order a guitar with a quilt top. Even from someone like PRS who uses great wood no question, there are too many variations in what's considered quilt that I personally don't like. I'd have to find one in stock to order.
I think the thing to do with Kiesel, or really any guitar company, is to Google a bunch of pictures of the top and finish you're thinking of buying, and look at the whole range of what they've made, and decide if you're ok with the least appealing example of what you see, to help set your expectations. That's what I ended up doing when looking for an AZ2407 recently - so many of them seemed to have strange or very lackluster tops that I had to wait for a dealer to get one in stock I liked rather than preordering. Had to wait a lot longer, but I ended up with a guitar I really like. I've done that with Kiesel as well, and it's definitely helped save me from ordering something that looked awesome in my mind's eye, but probably would not have lived up in reality.
I can definitely understand not being happy with the top you get, especially with wood types that are more variable. That's the risk with buying sight unseen. For example, I'd never order a guitar with a quilt top. Even from someone like PRS who uses great wood no question, there are too many variations in what's considered quilt that I personally don't like. I'd have to find one in stock to order.
I think the thing to do with Kiesel, or really any guitar company, is to Google a bunch of pictures of the top and finish you're thinking of buying, and look at the whole range of what they've made, and decide if you're ok with the least appealing example of what you see, to help set your expectations. That's what I ended up doing when looking for an AZ2407 recently - so many of them seemed to have strange or very lackluster tops that I had to wait for a dealer to get one in stock I liked rather than preordering. Had to wait a lot longer, but I ended up with a guitar I really like. I've done that with Kiesel as well, and it's definitely helped save me from ordering something that looked awesome in my mind's eye, but probably would not have lived up in reality.
