In all honesty, they beat them in every way. There's no contest. The J Customs are much more adorned with details in binding, inlay, etc but besides purely cosmetic things they just don't compare. The Californians feel rock solid, like you could gig with them, sweat on them, bash them around, and they'd stand up to it all and still have tone for days. J Customs just don't feel that way to me.