Official Luthiers Forum!

It has taken a lot of thought and careful consideration for me to come to the decision to put into effect a new
pricing schedule. I haven't increased my prices on guitars since 2004 even though I've watched material, supply and
operating costs continue to increase around me....as well as the prices of guitars being built by other custom builders.

I will introduce a new price list for 2008 on May 1st that will be applied to all orders received after that date. Any orders
that have already been received by me that have had only partial deposits paid on them will be bumped to the new price
schedule at that time also.

It's just something that is necessary and overdue for me.

Thanks and regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

You sure you want to do that? Are these instruments for which you've already agreed upon a price, or are they merely deposits for clients whose guitar prices were "to be determined"?

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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."

+1.
I am also curious. So peple who put partial deposit have to pay the rest before May 1st to get the original price?

I just have a few guys who had sent me partial deposits without ever discussing any specs, details, options or even model intentions. Price was never discussed or agreed upon and my policy of locking in a price and spot in my build queue was made
clear as being when the full deposit of 50% of the full price of the guitar is received.

I do have several people who have discussed their guitars right down to the smallest details and appointments in their designs and have sent partial deposits because of special circumstances. Those folks know who they are and also know that their deposits have locked in their pricing and queue slots. They also understand that construction on their guitars can't begin until their full deposits are received.

This is nothing for anyone to be concerned about. I'm probably one of the easiest guys in the industry to deal with and the people who are in these positions are well aware of the policy and where they fall in consideration of it. The possibility of their falling into my new pricing was made known to them and they had the option of whether or not to take advantage of the current pricing or just allow the new pricing to roll in to effect. Some have multiple guitars ordered with me and just started working toward their next with small deposits that secured nothing in the business interaction that we'll have, but established a credit toward whatever price is arrived at when they decide to begin the design process with me. I'm just giving an opportunity to a few that would otherwise not be made available.

They've known about the upcoming price increase for a year or more, but this was just the first public mention of it.

With my backlog falling at about 140 guitars right now, they know that they have time to develop these guitars as they wait for their earlier ones to be completed. All orders that were placed and secured with a full deposit prior to May 1st are priced, invoiced and committed at my current pricing.

Thanks for the concern in any case, though.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

I think that you are entirely within your rights to do this and are proceeding appropriately.

But I'm left wondering about why you are posting this here? As worded, there is no question for discussion...

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

I wondered the same...

me too....

Maybe this, posting here serves as some form of public notice? But I was not aware that there was an abundance of potential customers for Luthiers on the OLF.

There may not be an abundance of customers here, but there are a few and it does serve as a public notice.
I'm sure that any time a builder here has an interested party approach them, they will make available to those
people the different places that they can visit online to see or read things about their guitars.

There really was no point of discussion since those it concerned would easily understand that it was posted
for them, but once discussion was solicited, I thought it merited clarification on my part.

Even the most skeptical builder should be able to understand that without too much trouble. It seemed all
too obvious to me why it would be included in a post here. It wasn't for the benefit of the builders here, but those
who frequent the forum that are affected by it....four or five folks in total.


Thanks for the concern, though,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars