Fender 0995501016 The Dream Factory, Custom Shop, Wheeler

You don't find easily a product so well made. This book is a gem! Of course you have to be interested in the subject, but this is clear enough. You have to love guitars and you have to love Fender. But if this is your ballpark, well this book is a musthave. Get it while it's still printed in the hard cover version. Because the quality of the book in itself (without talking about the contents) is terrific! It is arrived in a enormous bag of the US Postal Service (I live in Italy), so big it seemed the Santa Claus bag! But when I opened the box, the book that came out literally blew my mind. It has a really hard slip cover that is almost a box, the hard cover of the book is printed in a fantastic way, with the pictures of the guitars (on the front cover) that jump out of the black background. Pay attention because this book is BIG, it is incredibly long just if you want to take a first look at it, not to say if you want to read it. Just to look at the hundreds wonderful colour pictures you can spend hours!! And if you want to read it, it will be your bed book for an antire season! The pictures are wonderful, nothing less, on that quality paper the guitars seem to be alive in your hands! There are all the show guitars, all the custom shop guitars, interviews with the master builders, everything. You will take a long ride inside the shop of the most creative group of builders around. It is a breathtaking ride! Believe me, it is an object that will give value to your Fender custom shop guitar if you own one. And more than anything else, it is a book that makes you want to pick up your instrument and play. Which is the most important thing. Beautiful, splendid, a work of art, a fantastic tribute to this gems Leo invented more than 60 years ago and that still amaze us. Long Live Fender!

As always, Tom Wheeler does his homework on his subject. This is another great book for all you Fender fans or people who just want to read a positive story about how a once great America company makes it back from the bottom to the top of their industry again. Wheeler takes the reader, step by step through the history and the creation of the Fender Custom Shop, which was one of the catalysts that helped Fender return to the quality, innovation and industry leadership that Leo Fender founded his company on. The Leo Fender story is a "Great America story" just like Steve Jobs and Apple and Wheeler's book captures the second coming of Fender under Bill Schultz’s leadership who takes Fender back to it original Leo Fender roots. The photographic examples in this book of the Fender Custom Shop Master Builders work are just amazing! There are the interesting back-stories behind the artist work and how they work with each Master Builder to create the unique Custom Shop design. If you are musician, artists or guitar collector you will truly appreciate the work that Tom Wheeler puts into this book, which preserves the ongoing, rich history of the Fender Electronic Interment Company.

Fantastic book in quantity and quality. Where do I start? The pictures alone are worth buying the book: Hundreds of first rate pictures of the most unique guitars on the planet. Great writing - well edited in depth conversations with the most influential movers and shakers of Fender in the modern era. Fender is in good hands and the author shows that this generation has taken Leo Fender’s ideas to the next level.

Great collectible guitar book. The only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars is because I was expecting a hard bound sleeve cover, but it did not come with one

It’s Tom Wheeler. You already knew it’d be 5 star rated. I’m a speed reader and normally blast through text. But the foreword was written by Billy Gibbons... I can’t speed through it. I hear his Texas drawl in my head, and I have to read it at THAT pace... What does that mean?? I dunno, but it’s great!

Folks, if you love guitars, drop dead gorgeous photos of guitars and learning about Fender Guitar's and The Fender Guitar Custom Shop, then by all means, BUY THIS BOOK!!! This book is 592 pages in length (very thick), very informative and hard bound. This is a GORGEOUS book and you won't regret it. See my photos of this book. I took enough photos to help give you and idea of how well illustrated this book is. This book measures 10 1/4 inches x 10 1/4 inches and is a fine coffee table book.Go to You Tube and type in the title of this book to see an IMPECCABLE video on this book!!!Buy it!

I've been a fan of Tom Wheeler's books for a long time. This one does not disappoint. It's up to the same standard as his 50 years of the Stratocaster and 60 years of Fender tone (amplifiers) The detail in the book is great and the history covered is something that every guitar nerd (or Fender fanatic) will enjoy. The discussion of how a lot of the special guitars came into being is interesting and provides a peek into the background at Fender. If you love Fender guitars, you should buy this book.

Bought this as a gift....could not resist looking through it. I wish I had purchased one for myself! Can't wait until he opens it so I can look at it some more.Update 1-7-13. He loved the book.. .I did get to look at it..immediatley cut my finger on the pages and had to give it up so it didn't get bloody. Alas, not meant to be. Fantastic pictures!

If you're worried that this is just another coffee-table guitar book, then you needn't fret (sorry).It's the story of Fender's Custom Shop from its shaky roots to the present day. Yes, there are plenty of photos, but this is also a heck of a good read, packed with detail, and the stories of Fender's master builders in their own words. If you're a Fender geek you need this book. It's as simple as that.Yes, it's pricey - but it's also nearly 600 pages of Fender gold. It comes in a sturdy slip case, too, which gives it the wow factor when you open the package, and you think, okay, it was worth the moolah after all.The market is flooded with guitar books that rehash old content and have plenty of pictures, but very little real information. So this one is all the more welcome.

Fast delivery from Amazon direct as usual. This book is quite expensive but certainly cheaper on Amazon than anywhere else. Glad it is in stock this year.A wonderful book as others have said, full of superb photos of custom shop Fender guitars along with the history and details from when the custom shop came into being. My Christmas reading taken care of.I now have the set of three books by this author and all excellent, I read them again and again, cheaper than buying guitar mags as I used to. If you are a Fender fantatic it is a must have.Regards. J.

As a Fender custom shop guitar owner,this book has given me a great insight into the workings,history and personnel of the shop.The book itself is very well researched and is beautifully illustrated with hundreds of colour photographs.Tom Wheeler certainly knows his stuff.Whether you read great chunks of this book,or just randomly dip into it,it is always a terrific treat to the eyes and an expansion of one's Fender guitar knowledge.I heartily recommend this book to all fans of Fender guitars.

This book gives a blow by blow account of the formation within Fender of the custom shop.It tells of the people and their involvement and their contributions which helped to make it what it is today. It is a worthwhile purchase and read if you are interested in Fender's development. I have the other book by Tom Wheeler, The stratocaster Chronicles, both are books which can be kept and referred to over many years.A good buy. Amazon was the best price and delivery.

Bought as a birthday present for a guitar 'know-it-all' (in the nicest meaning of the term). It was thoroughly loved and hasn't been put down since. Highly recommended for anyonne who has an interest.