Official Luthiers Forum!

Dear Folks,
I have noticed over time that you have built some beautiful guitars. What are some tips for selling your guitars?

Do you consign your guitars?
Advertize in newspaper classified?
Any help or input would be helpful?

Thanks, walter Kiralla

Walt mate, you gotta get em out there, that's all. Get people playing them and they'll come to you. Take some lessons and show your teacher. Take a couple to a local music school. Take one or two to a local guitar shop, ask 'em for an opinion, people love to give you their opinion. If the guitars are good they'll ask you to make them one, especially if they think they can get one cheap.

If you build it they will come...

In England, the best way is word of mouth. Having a great reputation on the web is really important.

Let people play 'em.

You could bung them on ebay, but you'll not get full value, (though I've been delighted as a hobbyist to more than cover costs!!)

The last one I sold on Ebay had over 900 hits on the auction. OK, having the wourd "Handmade" and "Irish" probably helped, as did spamming a couple of the forums I spend too much time on.

On the Jam Session forum I help out with a load of people's problems (usually by having learned the answers here!!) so over there they THINK that I know my stuff as far as building is concerned

I don't intend to give up the day job. I'm happy to maybe double my investment on each build, and not make a career of it.

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

Put your guitars in the hands of musicians-Mike Collins.

That is sage advice

Good luck Walter, keep us informed, will ya?

Serge

You got to get your name out there.... friends, musicians, etc.... after that even Ebay is a good place to sell them.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Put them on consignment at reputable stores.
When a customer sees your guitars at a store along side other instruments from well known makers,it gives them credabillity and gives the customer confidence.
The trick is getting a store to take one of your instruments-I have found that persistance (and a good product)pays off.
I look at the commision I pay as cheap advertising for the amount of exposure I get from their websites and stores.

Sell!!!!!!!!!heck I just give em away
Not really,
Seriously I have a few friends that I will drop one off with let them play it for awhile to see if they think it needs any adjustments. If they think there ready for sale I put them in consignment. So far I haven’t had any trouble finding a shop to take them.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

I would ***** NEVER ****** do a pure consignment deal in a store that was also selling new mass produced guitars. Most of the companies impose quotas on thier dealers and it puts a lot of pressure on them to move those units.

I have seen first hand a small builder get trashed by a store owner pushing a guy towards a Tak over a hand built.

If he doesn't have his own money in it I would never ever put on on consignment.

If you want to do a deal with a store like that give him one for "display" and "not for sale" but give him a 20% commission if he lands an order for you. That still carries some risk of your brand being tarnished because they need to move production guitars... but perhaps less so...

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Brock,
Perhaps I used the word "store" wrong. These are not big box stores
They are really more high end "studios".
Places like Mandolin Brothers
and Guitars'N Jazz.
Yes, they also sell factory guitars among the hand builders.I know they are not "trashing" the small builder to sell a factory guitar.
There are no "quotas" because they have no or few employees.
I have never been able to get one of these shops to buy my guitars outright-I just don't have a big enough "name" for them to invest their money -maybe one day!.

Brad,

When Brock says "quota" he means that the factories make them sell a certain number per year in order to obtain a more favorable discount on what they buy from the factory. That can work against the luthier's sales of instruments they sell there on commission. I suspect that in the smaller high-end boutiques, it's not as much of an issue as with the Guitar Centers of the world. But it is a reality.

There is, as you mention, that one small problem of the dealers not being willing to purchase your instruments until they feel your brand has been established and becomes an easier sale for them. Sometimes that just takes time and you being willing to consign them for a few years until you build that rapport with them.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

The places I was talking about only carry hand made or used. I understand what Brock is saying, you got to be careful. I just scoped out the stores in advance. Pretended to be looking for a guitar and then when I was comfortable with the sales technique used I offered a guitar for consignment.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

Don,
I know some pretty "heavy" guys who consign there instruments.
When it comes to archtops,I think the quota thing is out the window since there is realy not many factories putting out large amounts of solid wood instruments,(the exception being Eastman )and when they are they are close to the price of handmade.

Frank Ford told me that the more it looks like a Martin, the easier it is for him to sell. His best line is Collings; basically an 'improved' Martin: he cant get them fast enough. If you can't copy a Martin, don't make anything that looks at all like one, since people will assume you tried to copy a Martin and didn't have the chops. This automatically cuts into your sales, of course, since most people won't look at anything 'odd'.

A good guitar is a big purchase, and poeple want to be sure they're not getting stung. It's hardly surprising that they would go with a 'name' against a 'no-name'. Martin's been around for over 175 years; who are you? I think that's as much a reason for the inability of stores like Gryphon to sell handmades as anything else.

Since you can't put 'that name' on the headstock you've got to give the customer something that they can't get elsewhere. It could be 'art', it could be 'science', it could be shear chutzpah, but you've got to have it. In other words, you need to establish a 'brand' or a 'position'.

The 'easy' way to do that is to have a lot of guitars out there in the hands of good players. If John Williams, Muriel Anderson, the Barenaked Ladies and Sir Paul all play on your guitars, you've got it licked. If every worship service anybody goes to has one of your guitars up front, you'll sell a lot of guitars to Christians. That begs the question of where you get all those guitars, and how you convince all those folks to play them.

In this business, a big part of the brand is the luthier. That's not much help: most luthiers are nice, helpful, nerdy folks who smell like sawdust and lacqer fumes, or French polish if they make Classicals.

'Art' is tough. It's not just that you have to have at least some talent, and work for a long time to develop it. Art is so much a matter of taste; not everybody wants what Fred Carlson makes. OTOH, there are enough people who want that to keep him busy if he can get in touch with them.

It's hard to sell on superior craft, since the level is so high and rising all the time. If workmanship had been where it is now 30 years ago, I'd be an accountant.

You could try to corner the market on fancy wood. Good luck. Ditto for pearl.

In the end, I think, a lot of it comes down to what one of my students pointed out. One third of the folks in the company he worked for, 3Comm, were in sales. If you spend about 1/3 of your time selling in some way, that's about right. You probably didn't get into this business to become a salesman: I didn't. But 'sales' is not all fast-talking customers. Well, it is, but it can be in a good way. A lot of my rep comes from the time I spend on line, talking to folks on newsgroups and mailing lists about guitars, and trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about. It takes a long time to build up 'web creds', and it doesn't mean a thing if you don't have pretty pictures for them to look at, and the ability to deliver on promises. That's ultimately what a 'brand' is. It's not what you say you can do, or what you want to do, it's what you do, over the long term. All of it. And there's no easy way to get there.

[QUOTE=Brad Goodman] Don,
I know some pretty "heavy" guys who consign there instruments.
When it comes to archtops,I think the quota thing is out the window since there is realy not many factories putting out large amounts of solid wood instruments,(the exception being Eastman )and when they are they are close to the price of handmade.[/QUOTE]

Ok. That makes some sense... but I would still fear the consignment deal.

Also... there are some shoppes that are SOOOOO busy that they easily nail their quotas from the big boys. Those might be ok too... but again... I would be very fearful about it.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Like the boss has told me, there are places that do consignments, but the word "heavy hitters" is key there.

The stores/dealers mentioned that do some of the major consignments are not out to make you famous or a brand. They may tell you that you have a good guitar and they will watch you a few years and see what you have done to make yourself a brand. They are going to make sure your going to be there and do the work and what it takes to be sucessful in this business.

This isn't a "I'll make a few guitars and then sell a bunch fast business" There are alot of really great builders out there who have through years of hard work have made it. There are alot of great builders out there who have worked hard alot of years and just getting there.
What does it take to sell guitars. Hard work, great guitars, longevity, Hardwork, shows, festivals, hard knocks etc. More hardwork.

Do some make it faster than others, sure, are they better, maybe not, but that is a whole other subject. But most part one makes the brand, and then stores and others come along, they won't bring you along on their ride to make you famous. If know folks who own music stores and are friends or relatives, consignment might work, but for most part they are selling what they know will bring in the bucks, even if not as good as your handbuilt,. Just a fact of business and life.