If you buy a car, a TV, or a washing machine, the more you pay the better the features, at least within a brand. It's simply not the case with Fender, where you can find a Squier that blows a Custom Shop out of the water. A good example for me is my Classic Vibe '51 Precision which plays, feels, and sounds as good, if not better, than my old Custom Shop relic 51 that retailed for almost 10 times more. There is variability in wood for sure, but far too much of all of this is smoke and mirrors; Fender would love you to think that a Custom Shop instrument is infinitely better than a Squier, but they know damn well the differences are often random, and that the purchase of a FCS instrument is often as much about bragging rights as about quality