Personally, by not having the scratch to buy custom shop!😂 You'll have to post again when it comes in.

Not a custom shop order but back in 2021 while awaiting the arrival of my firstborn, I decided to treat myself to a Gibson ES-339 in transparent ebony during supply shortages. I’d call sweetwater at least twice a week to see if there was a any word on when they’d show up. Looked at countless YouTube unboxings and reviews, thought of which first songs to play on it, which amp I was going to run it through, essentially all the things you’re doing now.

One of the times I called Sweetwater my regular rep wasn’t there so I was connected with another guy (I’ll keep his name private in case this somehow gets him in trouble). Out of sheer curiosity, I asked him how much of a discount he could give me on a Sweetwater exclusive Lemonburst LP Standard and he said he could do $2100. I felt that was too good to pass up so I canceled the 339 order and switched to the LP. I’m so glad I did. It came a few weeks later and I haven’t looked back.

Moral of the story for me is, if I wait long enough for a guitar, I’ll lose interest and move on to something else.

Earlier this year I was really close to pulling the trigger on a Dunable custom shop order myself. I had everything picked out except for the finish. I wanted it to have kind of a natural, almost unfinished look, with the wood grain showing through, but I was worried about ordering something like that sight unseen. I kept thinking about being potentially disappointed by an ugly or uninteresting piece of wood. So I went back and forth between ordering what I really wanted, or going with what I considered a safer option of a solid color. This went on for a few weeks. Then one night I was poking around on Reverb, and the exact (well, very nearly exact) guitar I had been imagining popped up for sale. I looked at the pictures and read the specs, thought "Holy shit, that's my guitar," and ordered it on the spot. It's amazing, and everything I could have hoped for.

I honestly feel a bit bad now that I lucked into skipping the wait that you're currently stuck in. On the bright side I guess that's one less guitar in the queue ahead of you, so maybe yours will come a few days earlier than it would have if I had been more decisive. Hang in there, you're going to love it.