Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm probably the minority but I think a large deposit up front sends a bad signal unless the player is buying something with really wild wood combinations that would be hard to sell otherwise. A 10%-20% is perfectly reasonable. I'm on the wait list for a Hauser guitar with less than 3 years to go, and there is NO deposit required, and that is for a $15,000+ guitar. Full payment is due however before the guitar is shipped. I think somebody mentioned it earlier--if you make great quality guitars that deserve the premium prices charged, I don't think you should have a problem selling a guitar. I know most people here don't do this but I would avoid anything that sounds like trapping a buyer into buying the guitar. Brock summed it up pretty well earlier by stating your payment policy is related to brand and quality image. I would consider your payment policy very seriously before establishing policy.

Cheers!

John

John, I can understand why Hauser doesn't demand any money up-front. With a 10+ year waiting list, how long do you think it would take him to sell that guitar you comissioned if you were to forfeit on the deal? I say about 10 minutes...    Also, at 15k a pop, I don't think he's hurting financially either...

I think it all depends how deep your pockets are. If I were finacially secure and had a back log over a decade long, I'd even finance young (or old) deserving players.

It's the golden rule : He who has the gold makes the rules...

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Alain you hit the nail on the head .. Guys like Olson and Ryan dont need a big deposit ... heck, 10% of their guitar price is 50% of mine anyway, its all the same $$ - you want to cover some of the upfront material costs, and you want the buyer to be serious - this aint GC or L&M (canada chain). If this kid doenst want the guitar, there will be ten other punks in later today to check it out. Also, like Hauser, Ryan and Olsen will turn the guitar over if you dont want it in a heartbeat, no loss to them whatsoever, unless it has your name in pearl on the FB.

Most clients arent after you to build a better D28 either - the ones I mainly get want something different (I have yet to get one asking for a Dread), with their own aesthetic ideas incorporated, or things like custom neck and nut dimensions.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Hesh - it's probably due to poor wording on my part, but I think you're completely missing the intent of my original post.

The actual price point at which anyone sells their guitars is not and was not ever intended to be part of the discussion. My inclusion of the $2k figure was simply in the context of my brief summary of what I consider to be the "standard pricing strategy." In other words, it is somewhat out of the ordinary to find a luthier who:

1. reguires a large deposit up front
2. sells their guitars for less than $2k

It was also a mistake for me to include the sentence at the end regarding my business, as it's irrelevant to the discussion I was trying to initiate. I simply included it to explain why this topic was on my mind even though I'm not a professional luthier.\


So to restate more clearly and avoid misunderstandings, here's what I was trying to suggest in a nutshell.

Why not consider offering two prices for your guitars, one based on a small deposit up front and the balance due at the end, a lower one based on cash payment up front?

If someone's struggling to afford your guitar (i.e. the "player" market), they can save up until they can just buy it at the cash price, thereby making your guitar slightly more affordable for them.

Receiving cash up front is beneficial for you, so it's a win-win.

And if the "collector" market has the cash for an up front purchase, why not give them an incentive to do so for the other reasons described?

My reason for suggesting the maintenance of two prices is that I think moving far away from the expected pricing model (i.e. dropping the deposit up front/balance due at completion model entirely) would exclude a certain part of the market who expects it to be done that way for one reason or another.


Andrew

If you're genuinely interested in discussing what role I see for dealers in the custom guitar world/my personal "business model", I'd be happy to have the discussion offline. I never intended that to be part of this conversation, and I apologize to anyone who I led to that conclusion by my unfortunately worded initial post.harmonist3439088.4860532407