Official Luthiers Forum!

here is the reply I got from him when I asked him to come see me at the IBMA show. This may be legit, but I will get a better feel for it after talking to them. Advertising is expensive. If this is for real, then it could be a boost to my business. Then again, It may be just someone fishing for a free guitar. I have changed the names and numbers in this email:


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Ken,

Thanks so much for your reply. I am suppose to be at the IBMA awards this year -- however, a dear friend John ******* who is a mandolin builder recently suffered alot from a forest fire that distroyed his home of 20 years plus his shop in Boise. I endorse John's mandolins and actually he just quit his job in order build full time. I currently have a thing on MandolinCafe for folks to send in donations and will have something on my website by tonight.

With all that said, I'm trying to get a benefit concert. And my only real free time is during the IBMA's. So I'm not sure if I'll be there or not.

But I would be greatly honored to play your guitars and I'd really like to speak with you further about your guitars. If you'd like you can call me at 434-851-****. Or email is fine.

Sorry this is so short but I'm trying to reply to all these emails of folks wanting to send in money for John.

Thanks
Christopher


"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and I could say that I used everything You gave me."



-----Original Message-----
From: Hodges Guitars [mailto:ken@hodgesguitars.com]
Sent: Wed 8/27/2008 8:45 PM
To: Christopher *******
Subject: Re: guitars

Hi Christopher,
God has blessed my business and I love to share in the bounty of his blessings. Please stop by my booth at the upcoming IBMA fanfest to discuss this.

Blessings,
Ken

_________________
Reguards,

Ken H

Steve,
I get requests like that all the time. I usually respond with a request for them to send me a few CDs
with their material on them so I can give them a listen and let them know of their style is something
that i think my guitars will work for.

Surprisingly, I get CDs back from good number of them. I listen and then offer them some sort of
artist discount that is very fair, but rarely hear back from them again.

We can't all afford to do things the way one relatively new mass builder is and saturate the marketplace
with our guitars by handing them out by the truckload to any artist with any level of visibility. The
power of endorsement is a very real thing, but the general public doesn't know the difference bewteen
honest endorsement given because the product is, in fact, what they chose to use and endorsements
given in return for free stuff. They see a face and a name and they jump on the bus.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars