Kiesel Guitars - Escondido, California

Steve Herlin

Brother, when I tell you this guitar made me a better player overnight I am not lying—it’s so easy to play and every time I look at it it’s like trying to overcome an addiction just to not pick it up. Excellent craftsmanship, excellent customer service. Never thought I’d need more than 1-2 guitars, but now having bought a Kiesel, I need 7 or 8 more. Who needs to save for retirement anyway?

Waylon Wood (WW)

Love my Delos. Best guitar I own. Amazing company. Great customer service.

Eitan Metcalf

Fantastic experience and product is how I would sum it up. I live 30minutes away from the factory, and ever since the military put me in the San Diego area, I wanted to go here and order in person. Well after 5 years I pulled the trigger, and the guitar I got is flawless.
I previously ordered from them in 2006 and the customer service I had then has been just as good now. Flock made the build process smooth and gave great suggestions that lead to the beauty you see in the photo. This guitar plays silky smooth. the tone from the illusionist and beryllium pickups produce tight, aggressive sounds (I’m a huge Jeff Loomis and Keith Merrow fan).
Worth the money I spent and may consider another in the future.

Ben Lewis

Very helpful, customer friendly. Guitars to your hearts content. If you live within 7 hrs, make a day trip and play, design, and /or order the guitar or bass of your dreams!

Jimmy E

What a nice showroom! Large clean with 3 full walls of custom shop guitars. I always played the big names but the quality and craftsmanship at a much lower price. Call Chris, he can answer anything about guitars and help you build a custom just the way you want it.

Rich Ruenzi

My advice if you're buying a custom finish is to at least be prepared for disappointment and stuck with an instrument you really don't want after spending thousands of dollars. I'm attaching two pictures. One picture of the Kiesel Guitar I saw on the internet and asked them to make and a second picture of the guitar I actually got.

I immediaetly called to complain as soon as I looked at it. This is NOT the guitar I ordered nor is it what I was expecting. The response I got from Jeff was that "I have a beautiful bass". Different lighting causes finishes to look differently is something another Kiesel employee told me. I agree that it's a beautiful bass. But the world is filled with beautiful basses that I didn't order, want to own and certainly didn't spend over $3,000.00 on!!!

Making matters worse was that it took double the promised time to get the bass. This was during covid so I (and any reasonable person) can understand time delays. The problem was that I had to keep tracking them down to get updated lead times. The very basics of customer service is you contact your customer if you can't meet a promise you made.

Also they don't have a hardshell case for this guitar. I had to pay a ridiculous sum for what I call a padded dust cover. I just don't see a company making an instrument costing over $3,000.00 and not offering a hardshell case to protect it. I was assured by the sales rep that the softshell padded case protects the guitar better than a hardshell case.

I waited over a year to start writing reviews because I wanted to see if it would grow on me. It hasn't. This was supposed to be my dream guitar. I saved for a LONG time and made LOTS of sacrifices to afford this. It still makes me sick to my stomach thinking of saving and spending all that money to get what I didn't want. I barely play it because of this. I really wish I would have just said "make me a Green or a yellow guitar and paid half the price.

I'm giving Kiesel 2 stars instead of only one because despite all of this, it plays and sounds really nice. And I'm hoping to recoup my money by going to the NFL and telling them I plan on selling them new helmets that are foam lined with a canvas shell rather than those inferior foam lined hardshell helmets they've been using.

Mike D1

We recently moved to SD county. I was very interested in seeing the Kiesel showroom as two years ago I started getting back into guitar after a 40 year+ hiatus. During that time I had founded a factory-direct company in a different industry. I knew that factory-direct distribution could very well offer the end consumer a great opportunity and value. I also figured there was no way that I was ready to take the plunge and order a custom guitar.
Within minutes of being in the showroom, I had picked a beautiful SH 550 off the wall and Flock set me up in a room with an amp, told me to have at it, enjoy, and let him know if I had questions. As I started to play, I realized this guitar played better than anything I’d experienced. My wife saw the big smile on my face and I told her how perfectly it played. As we walked back out into the showroom I said something to the effect, “I’m going to get real serious about learning now so I can justify coming back here and ordering a custom guitar in a year of so.” As Flock smiled, my wife said “Hey, you aren’t getting any younger, why don’t you order one today so you can enjoy it sooner.”
The next hour or so was a lot of fun as we worked out the details of the build. Flock and the other fellow (can’t remember his name, but he was very helpful), helped me work out all the details. At one point, Flock went back into the shop to see if they might have a particular wood upgrade available that would be thick enough to be carved down into the arched SH550 top. I put a deposit down on my credit card and figured it would be tough to wait the possible 8-10 week lead time. I was more than a bit excited when Flock called only about a month later and said it was ready to pick up! I am so glad I went with the custom Zebrawood top as it turned out absolutely gorgeous, and unique. I’ve now been playing this guitar 2-4 hours daily for three weeks and am just extremely happy with how it plays and how it sounds. The factory-direct model really does give people the opportunity to have a remarkable guitar custom made to their heart’s desired specs at a very reasonable cost. Very highly recommended!

David Wiles

I have now 2 guitars from Kiesel. They are the best guitars I own and play super well. Their customer service is top notch. I have worked several times with their guitar expert Flock and he has always gone above and beyond to help me.