Official Luthiers Forum!

Is anybody going to the Guitar Foundation of America convention this year? I know it's tailored to classical guitar, but there will be a bunch of great vendors, luthiers, concerts, etc. There will be a big-name concert every night, along with the classical guitar competition in the day. The turnout will be big and it's a great opportunity for many different reasons.

It's being held at the Oberlin Conservatory of music just outside Cleveland, Oh. Here is their website for more information:

GFA convention

There will be a ton of college students majoring in classical guitar all looking for that "perfect" guitar. Bruce...this is what I had in mind when I said there is a big market for handmade classicals.

Cheers!

John

John, I agree whole-heartedly that some day I should tackle building a classical. That customer is out there and with my superior sales ability, should be able to convince him of my prowess to take the same pile of wood and build him a house, a piano, a guitar or just a nice fire to cook his supper....

I spoke with a classical builder and he told me that classicals are much harder to sell as the buying public was soooooo much different than the steel string community.

_________________
tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

It's true that the crowd buying classicals may be different, but in a good way. From what I've seen, EVERY classical player wants a hand built guitar and will not be content until they have at least one, if not more. This is especially true of the 2,000+ entering freshman every year into a classical guitar program at a university. On the other hand, it seems steel string players (and the general public) are less likely to see the benefit of a handmade guitar. Most would be content with a Martin or Taylor and never realize what they're missing. I think the sale is harder to the steel string crowd.

As a side note, almost every classical builder I'm familiar with has a waiting list of anywhere from 1-7 years. They just can't keep up with production. I know I could call Cumpiano or Fox and have a guitar in production by next week. No disrespect for these guys, but the market it just different.    

Cheers!

John