If you are like most people your "tastes" will continue to evolve/change. To your specific question has my custom ordered bows met my expectations -- yes and then some. Now for the shocker -- I have traded or sold all of them, reason being my tastes / preferences in a bow continue to evolve. For my money I will try to find ( and have)bows that fit my needs ( looks and for me more important performance / accuracy)from the used / stock bow route, thanks Jerry.

That is really interesting ChetterB.  I wonder how many other guys are in the same boat with their customs having sold all of them (or some of them.)  I may have to start another thread.

As ChetterB said, tastes change.  That's the reason you see so many customs on the classifieds.  Part of the fun, I suppose.  I have come to prefer the "old school" look of colored glass and have a neat gray glass Hill on the rack, a Fred Anderson Skookum in brown glass, and will soon be adding a green glass Northern Mist Shelton.  They remind me of the bows that I loved as a much younger man when I started on this road.  Nothing says beauty to me like a classic older bow or one made in the same style.  Frankly I'm tiring of the exotic looking stuff.  I realize that is heresy but it's how I honestly feel.  Some view bows as works of art, some as a tool to do a job.  I guess I'm some place in between.  

Im A "Fox Man" through and through, I have never bought a new bow but I have some on my rack that are so pretty they hurt my eyes. I prefer a bow to be a sweet shooter first of all , and I had some come through my hands that were supposed to be the bee's knee's but I still passed them on coz they didn't feel right. That is only my opinion though and they could be "the one" for the next bloke.
I really admire bows that are jawdroppers and the workmanship and skill's that the bowyer has crafted them with is awe inspiring but I would hate to drop one down a rocky hillside or jam it in the face of an angry boar that I had ticked off. I think alot of them "jawdroppers" only get to walk the target range.

I've got two customs and a plain jane from Bama Bows but I love "beaters" as well.

One of my favorite bows is an old Silver Creek longbow that Ripforce acquired in a trade with his neighbor. I'll end up with it eventually as I shoot it every time I come home. We call it the "mule".

The nice thing about a used bow is the history. I like to imagine where it may have been as I don't get out of the Michigan much.