Terry McInturff

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I have been selling Terry McInturff Guitars for a few years now,  I originally started carrying them when I became disenchanted with what PRS did to their guitars after 1995.  Many of my older customers know that I am constantly seeking out newer and better builders to supply them with the absolute best guitars in the world.

McInturff is still building a quality instrument. He has failed to maintain a good market presence among the smarter and more intelligent buyers . His attitude towards change is not to my liking and his prices are no longer as competitive as they were when I first took on his line.  In fact I believe he disregards the customers ideas and is quite hardnosed about doing it his way.

For example, I requested a small knob location change, I was told "that would be impossible".  None of my other custom builders would have even charged for it.  I also figured out that the Empress model would be the best model to carry except that it came with 1 humbucker and 2 single coil pickups. (I don't recommend that configuration, I believe that 2 humbuckers is the best way to build a guitar of that style.) Again I was told that I could not buy the Hum Hum configuration,  to get that Configuration I would have had to buy a more expensive model. The more expensive model was for all intents and purposes the exact same guitar except it came with an inlay that I personally thought was unattractive and didn't do much for the guitar.

I wanted Ebony fret boards instead of cheesy Indian Rosewood,  Terry said no, I wanted a slimmer body option, Terry said no...  I wanted 24 frets, Terry said no,  I just stopped asking for anything because I don't respond well to being told "No" all the time. 

I know that it costs less to use 2 Humbuckers than it does to use a Hum Single Single.   (So why does McInturff charge more for it)
There are only 2 routes instead of three and only 2 pickups to wire instead of three. Plus the actual cost of the pickups are a little less.  There are no tonal sacrifices made in fact it allows for many fat sounds that are not available with he Hum Single Single.

I prefer Seymour Duncan Pickups to DiMarzio and Terry uses Dimarzios,   Dimarzios may be a little bit cheaper but the Duncans are well worth the extra 6 dollars they cost at OEM wholesale, As a result of this posting Terry has emailed me and informed me he now offers Seymour Duncans now.  Now there is a step in the right direction. Terry was concerned and rightly so that my statements may have insinuated that Terry only used Dimarzios.

I have never been involved with a guitar company that has 4 levels of paint costs.  Some of these colors look a little nicer than others. McInturff tends to charge more for nicer looking colors. I know it doesn't cost any more to do certain colors and I think it isn't fair to charge more for Deep Purple than for Trans Black,   It's exactly the same amount of work but the Deep Purple is $200.00 more.  (Give me a break)  I was born at night but it wasn't last night.  He even charges dealers for tone chambers,  No one else does that.  It simply doesn't cost more than a few minutes to do.

Again as a result of this posting, Terry states that "the Deep Purple color is a three part process and therefore costs more". OK, maybe it does cost a little more to do. I can't think of any other production guitar company who charges more for color upgrades.  (Heritage charges $100.00 but that is only on light colors where they have to use a more expensive piece of wood). I think most production companies charge a set price on paint, I think they cost average it out.  I personally charge all different prices for finishes. But I offer metalflakes, pearls and stains & candies.

When I first started carrying the McInturff guitar they came with what he calls the "Vibe" Tremolo.  Today he still calls his tremolo the "Vibe" but it is definitely not the same model.  It appears to be much less expensive and I'm not sure but judging by it's looks it might even be an imported unit.

Terry did not deny my statement that the unit was imported.  I am waiting to hear from him as of this posting.

There were several other rebuttals that I didn't fully understand so I am waiting to "SPEAK" with Terry about them. After our conversation I will present a completely fair rebuttal on any and all subjects.

Simply stated   "As of 1996 I will only take on guitar lines that are superior to Paul Reed Smith"

When I first carried McInturff I truly believed the guitar was Superior to PRS.  I no longer believe that.

When I first picked up the Terry McInturff line it was before I carried Gary Jacobs.   Now that I have Gary Jacobs guitars Terry McInturff's guitars are no longer the least expensive guitar I carry that knock PRS out of the box. Terry's guitars are quite nice, but they are harder to sell today than they were several years ago because there are a number of new guys coming up behind Terry.

You may wonder why I chose PRS as the benchmark or in this case as a whipping boy.  Simply because they are usually the  best guitars that can be seen in  every city USA.     Remember everything is relative.

One of the cool things about Terry McInturff is he is one of the few builders to still use a Nitrocellulose lacquer finish.

 His woods are quite good but not as good as some of the other names listed above and below.

I have seen some beautiful guitars in his full page advertisements lately. Incredible quilts with beautiful vivid colors. The paint jobs look better than PRS and PRS doesn't use Nitro. It's harder to make nitro look as good as polyester.

Speaking from personal experience The whole time I was buying from Terry I never got guitars that looked as good as those. If I had I wouldn't have stopped ordering them. Also I have never seen another McInturff in any store that looked that good either.

Those finishes in Terry's ads look like the old pre 2001 McNaught's when Dave McNaught was still doing the painting.

McInturff guitars employ a much better stop tailpiece than PRS. However PRS uses a better Tremolo.  But what I really hate about the McInturff guitar is that it does not come in 24 frets.

If Terry built a 24 fret 2 humbucker model with Seymour Duncans, Tone Pros Bridge and had tops like the pictures in his advertisements. I would buy as many as I could.

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