From Personal Experience Only...
Off-The-Rack Semi-Custom Houses: Ed Brown, Valtro, Les Baer, and Wilson (in descending order) are likely to give you a pistol you'll be happy with.
Mainline Companies: SIGarms GSR (if the S/N is >2000 or so) and the various guns from Springfield's Custom Shop (Professional, TGO,
et cetera) are also probably outstanding.
Base Guns: Colt's 1991A1 still holds a slight edge over the Springfield MilSpec, even though 2005 pricing seems to have slightly widened the Springer's price advantage. Odds that you'll be disappointed with either are slim.
The Ideal Solution: Get yourself a good slide/frame/barrel, find a competent 1911 'smith, and build to suit. It helps to do a lot of research before embarking on this path, though. An example: Myself and a couple of co-workers were chatting at work about our dream carry guns. One said "SIG P-229"; another said "Kimber CDP Compact"; yet another opined that the Novak Commander we'd just transferred was pretty nice. They asked me what mine was, and I replied: "Caspian forged frame & slide. Maybe a damascus slide & Ti frame, if I intended to carry openly. Cylinder & Slide hammer & sear, STI trigger, Greider slide stop, Trijicon sights, Ed Brown tactical ambis & memory groove beavertail, Smith & Alexander 20lpi flat checkered MSH w/lanyard loop, Kart barrel..." It all depends on how you look at a gun, I guess.
In the Knoxville area, I'd have it assembled by Bob Delmore or Phil Jubb at Coal Creek Armory, Shannon Jennings at Randy's Guns & Knives, or Bob Howard at Predator Customs; all have proven themselves quite up to the task over the years. This route is only feasible if both you and your 'smith know what you're looking for...
