Wait. So What’s with the name & VIBE again?

Yeah, we admitted it earlier - we have an evil streak! (recap here)
But no way we’re 100% completely wicked. As a matter of fact, Sinister Hand is on a sort of mission for good. When looking for some original and unique (aka: “custom”) guitars, we found that there are very few shops to see, play and hear the guitars made by the many different independent luthiers and makers crafting those kinds of instruments. So SHG was founded to work with a carefully selected band of highly skilled and creative builders making some of the sickest, dopest and rocking-est instruments on the planet and to bring those creations to you - to help put them in the hands of like-minded players, artists, music-lovers and noodlers who are looking to break out from the crowd and play something truly original!

So, “Sinister Hand” - Does that mean you only sell left-handed guitars?

Sure, the Hand can be diabolical AF, but there’s nothing truly evil about the left hand, or lefties! Sure, most of the guitars we have are right-handed, but we can definitely get you what you want. If you’re a lefty, please reach out to SHG. We’d love to help!

Cool stuff! But where are the X-brand guitars and the Y-brand guitars? And don’t forget the Z-brand guitars? Don’t you have any of those?

Look, don’t get us wrong - all those guitars are great! Who are we kidding?!? ALL guitars are great! [OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but… you get the idea.] We love those guitars and maybe even own some of those guitars ourselves. But those brands don’t need the Sinister Hand. They have PLENTY of other guitar stores carrying them and plenty of wall space in those other stores. Not to mention the gigantic piles of marketing dollars of those brands. They definitely don’t need the Hand! And to be really honest, they rarely make anything new or unique. We’ve all seen those guitars countless times - and we all know and love those guitars. The looks, the shapes, the tones! They’re all tried and true for a reason, but not really new. And the Hand’s mission is to feature the latest instruments from a new breed of creative artisans and makers from all over the world.

Where are the basses? The acoustic guitars?

Basses are a work in progress. Coming soon!

Sinister Hand Guitars was created to bring unique expertly-crafted instruments to like-minded players and musicians so they can discover new axes from new brands - so they can see, play and feel those instruments and hopefully connect with the guitar or bass they’ve been dreaming about! In order to provide the highest quality instruments and services to our customers, we had to focus our products to best align with our interests and experience. So we chose to focus on electric guitars.

While SHG doesn’t currently offer any acoustics, there are plenty of small independent luthiers out there making their own brands of acoustic guitars and doing incredible work. If you need some help finding them, give us a shout. It’s not our specialty, but we’re happy to help out if we can.  

I’ve got an idea for a guitar. What’s the Hand’s process for spec’ing and building my own custom guitar?

COOL! You can give us some basic info and get started on a quote here. At Sinister Hand Guitars, we LOVE this stuff! Basically, the deal is: We get some details about what you’re looking for, any particular builder you have in mind, what you want to spend, and then we’ll get rolling. We can jump on a call and talk through everything or we can send emails back and forth to gather all the info we need. Whatever is best for you is fine for us. Once we have a pretty good outline of those ideas swirling around in your cranium, we’ll work with our builder to get you a price and an estimate on build-time. At that point, all we need is a deposit and we’ll place the order with our partner. Usually the deposit runs 40-50% of the total cost of the guitar.

So What does a completely custom-made guitar cost?

It all depends on what you’re looking for and the specs you dream up. Exotic woods, specialty bridges (think Evertune, tremolos, etc.), boutique pickups, detailed inlays, real gold - every part and piece of material contributes to the total cost. To give you an idea of your potential cost, you can get a rough idea from the range of prices of our in-stock instruments on this website. And to answer this question: $2500-$4000 is a good estimate. But again - it all depends!

How long will it take to build my own one-of-a-kind custom guitar?

Building this level of quality and craftsmanship takes time. Every custom instrument from each of our partners is painstakingly crafted to match your style and your specifications. Ultimately, that unequaled final product becomes the perfect counterpart for the craft you put into your own music. The builders selected by SHG generally have waitlists and multiple guitars at different stages in the build process all at the same time. Some of the waits are over 12 months. As an estimate, you can probably plan on a range of 6-12 months from the time your order is placed to delivery of your very own one-of-a-kind custom guitar!

I know a SUPER-RAD Luthier. Are you looking for more builders?

Oh, HAIL YEAH! If you know a guitar maker or if you’re builder interested in working with the Hand, definitely get in touch. We’d love to hear from inspiring new guitar builders and get to know their story, their brand and their creations!

Do you take trade-ins?

As a retailer Sinister Hand Guitars is 100% focused on featuring brand new custom and small-batch instruments created by our selected partners. Anything else would distract from that mission. So unfortunately, we cannot take trades.

Can you ship to me?

SHG can ship to most places! We ship everywhere in the U.S. and Canada. If you’re somewhere else get in touch and let us know where you are so we can get you an accurate cost for shipping to your location