Halo Custom Guitars has created a Real Miracle – a unique fully one-piece guitar (its body, neck, fingerboard and headstock carved from single solid maple blank). However, the guitar lead time from the originally promised one year increased to two years, after each payment (50% deposit and remaining balance 10 months later) communication from Halo only got worse, the guitar came to me in a custom fitted Halo hardshell case with completely damaged interior due to polyfoam that was not fully glued and broken in four places (for all that the outer packaging and the exterior of the case were in perfect condition and do not even have cosmetic damages), also the guitar body contour (profile of the body surface), string gauges adjustment and t-short size did not match what was ordered. I also extra ordered and paid stainless steel frets. Halo did not manufacture this option, but instead made forced agreed replacement. On my penultimate mail, I received a response from Halo only a month later,
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Hello Oleh - we apologize for the issues with your order as well as the slow communication you received. Thank you for also reaching out to us directly to give us the opportunity to continue communicating with you via email until all issues are amicably resolved. - Jeff Lee, Halo Custom Guitars
(11/7/2022)
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UPDATE:
[3-star rating changed to 5-star rating]
Jeff sent me a new guitar case to replace the damaged case. Now my ideal Halo Custom Shop Seraphim will have a solid protection. Other shortcomings were also successfully eliminated. I am very satisfied with everything and I am sincerely grateful to you. Thank you so much Jeff!

I like it a lot. Its everything I hoped for.

I orderd my guitair last summer and it still hasnt came in yet

*** Sorry, Bill... but we do not have any records whatsoever of an order placed under your name. Please reach out to support@haloguitars.com as we do not have a way to reach you. Thank you. - Jeff Lee, Halo Custom Guitars ***

Salvus 7 fanned fret guitar. There were very minor errors... but it was easily fixable. Otherwise, the communication, service, and product were all excellent

Got a custom 7 string Merus. Sounds absolutely amazing. I’ve had nothing but great experiences with Halo. Love the service and the way the guitar feels. The quality of it is out of this world and I couldn’t be happier

Custom GVK 7 String with Evertune Bridge... 5 stars

I am very happy with the guitar...a custom designed 8-string electric... I may order another 8-string but with different woods, colour and electronics.

I ordered a custom guitar with mostly stock features, outside of body shape, headstock shape, and a push/push knob for coil-splitting, which is not a standard option.

Once I got the guitar, the guitar looked great out of the box, played fine, I made some minor adjustments to the neck relief, and plugged it in. The guitar and the pickups sounded and felt great, but the volume knob had actually been wired as a tone knob, so I couldn't turn the guitar down until I took it to a local tech to have them rewire the volume knob. Now that it is fixed, I am ultimately happy with the guitar, but would have liked to have been spared that initial shock of something not working correctly after shipping. 4/5 stars, but definitely would be willing to get a second and rate it 5/5 if it shows up right out of the box.

The guitar looks and feels awesome (Halo Merus 6). It is a really professionally, high quality built instrument. The service of Halo is impeccable! How can Halo improve in general? Warn for duty cost op front. Delivery time could be deal breakers for some.

I'm very happy with the guitar, the sound and configuration is exactly what I wanted. Thank you very much

The guitar I received may be the nicest, highest quality, solid piece I have ever held in my entire life. I ordered a custom seven string with Floyd rose, and it is amazing. Surgical, accurate, pristine.

The amount of time it takes could be improved. If it didn’t take so long I would probably buy another one.

It's a phenomenal instrument. Couldn't be more pleased with it. Fits beneath my fingers the way you'd expect a guitar built just for you would do, and there is magic in the bridge pick-up especially.

Communication was sparse and delayed. A more functional updates page or more frequent updates would help during the long build process, just to allay any fears or worries.

Ordered a custom 7 string... Halo did a great job. Completely worth every penny, and does exactly what I wanted it to. I'm honestly surprised at how good it is. Pinch harmonics are unique on it, I think because of the way the pickups are spaced and the length/scale of the neck. They take a lighter touch than I'm used to, but there's an extra kind of resonance that I haven't really heard before. Everything else is perfect. Switching between pickups clean shows the range of tone it's capable of (bareknuckle black dogs). Love the 7 string 27 fret range as well. Sustain and resonance are great (string through). Sings like nothing I've heard with the neck pickup, and screams with the bridge distorted. Action and neck speed are amazing. Smooth finish on the neck is incredible. And it stays in tune. Seriously 10x better than any Les Paul, ESP MH, or anything else I've ever played and has the best of both worlds. I can tell the bridge is cheapish. Will probably replace it.

I received my guitar after a little over 2 years of being given multiple new estimated dates that kept falling through. I understand that unexpected things happen but I think that saying you will reach out to your customer on a certain date to give updates and then silence for weeks or months after said date has passed only to give them a new date and have that repeat is kind of ridiculous. I'm understanding of the COVID situation but I had this same issue a few years before with my previous guitar I ordered so I know this isn't the root of the problem.

The neck pickup on my guitar ended up breaking not too long after receiving the guitar but thankfully I was told I'm still under warranty. I am however at the 4 month mark of waiting for an update on that and have messaged them at the 2 and 3 month marks respectively without any response. I'm assuming that they will eventually send me one but I don't know if it'll be in a month or next year.

The guitar came in on Friday night and I haven’t set it down since! Lovely work on the neck and it plays very smoothly. It is simply amazing! Thank you so much for the guitar!

It would be nice if they were quicker... however it sounds and plays amazing, so I can honestly say it was worth the wait! Thank you so much!

The custom guitar I received from Halo is absolutely beautiful and feels perfect in my hands. I don't think I've ever been more satisfied with a purchase, and I've never held a guitar like this before. Every detail is precise and the woodwork and paint and everything is just stunning to look at and feel. Just overall a spectacular job. I honestly feel any critique I could make is ultimately acceptable given the nature of their work and the quality of the product they produce. They're well worth the wait and every penny spent.

I ordered a right-handed six string Altus w/ Alumitone Lace Sensors and a Dimarzio Crunchlab pickup at the bridge, custom vine inlays in the neck, clear finish, neck-thru construction & black hardware. The guitar is absolutely beautiful and of the highest quality construction. After playing it for about 10 days I've found the tonal range and tones within that range extremely satisfying and versatile; the cleans are crisp and ringing, the overdriven tones and distortion tones are deliciously meaty with clearly defined tonal core (a very slight intonation adjustment on my part was required to really dial in the nice tight tonal core - an adjustment I'd chalk up to personal preference). Overall I'd say I am extremely pleased with the instrument.

For the most part I'd say Halo was good to deal with, Jeff was always an email away. If I could offer a friendly critique of anything about Halo I'd simply say that you guys may be so close to so many beautiful custom built instruments that the "unique special place" a buyer holds for their custom build, might be getting forgotten. For most of us any one-off custom build of anything is a very special occurrence. We want to be involved as much as possible. I know that catering to every customer's desire to constantly get updates and make changes would seriously undermine Halo's ability to through-put its production.

Here's what I would suggest: monetize the option for customers to receive a photo and/or video record of their custom build, and include 2 in-build customer reviews where the customer gets to review and approve the build's progress. Many people who have something custom built will gladly pay an additional premium for this value-added option. Halo need only determine its cost to provide this service, devote an employee (or employees to this function) and decide what kind of mark-up they want for providing the service. Make more off the instruments you're building anyway, and improve Halo's customer interaction.

I would have paid a premium to have a permanent record of the build's set-by-set progress, photos of the builders, etc. to show-off in addition to the instrument itself, and I would have felt more personally involved in my very personal one-of-a-kind instrument. For instance I would have loved to have a record of the Halo paint guru's comments on the custom black-cherry pearl paint I used on build 8879 (Reckoner) when he got to use a new paint additive.

No complaints guys, just some hopefully helpful feedback - monetize the cumbersome add-on services your customers want and get paid for the additional aggravation that those wants cause toward hampering your build through-put. Thanks again for a beautiful instrument.

Ordered a 6 string V style guitar with EMG active pickups. Playability of the guitar is a 9.2 as I had to make very minor adjustments to the the bridge. Very beautiful guitar but hard to admire unless under specific lighting as it is pretty dark.

I only get the perspective of the consumer and would prefer more communication, but I don't know the daily challenges of this business so I can't see all aspects. with an 18-35 month production turn around mistakes and details can get lost more easily. There were things forgotten in my build but I was accommodating and understanding of the situation. Part of the thought process behind paying extra money to designing a guitar was that I would get exactly what I wanted. For the price of upwards of 3,000 dollars there are a lot of guitars that are already very well built that play well, sound well, and are good to look at. The customization feature is what really sells going down this road, but with my experience it really was kind of a mystery of what I was getting until I opened the box.

Overall I am proud to have a Halo product and look forward to seeing this business grow and be successful. I have learned more about the process of guitar building, and am excited to do business in the future again.

I’m in love no imperfections and brilliant finish. Would highly recommend to anyone looking for a touring guitar and a guitar with unique specs and a outstanding building tool