Interesting Guitar Manufacturer Business Facts
Now that I am a bit more interested in business [rather than engineering], I did some research about Taylor Guitars (Taylor-Listug, Inc.), Fender, Gibson, and Martin on my free time and found some interesting facts and figures to share.
Taylor Guitars - Taylor's revenue is approx $21.4 million - Approx 320 employees - Taylor has a strategic relationship with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation... This was really interesting, no wonder Fender hasn't competed with Taylor. - I found out that Fender actually distributes Taylor guitars (they were listed as their distributer) Fender Musical Instruments Corp. - Fender Musical Instruments Corporation acquired Tacoma guitars in 2004 - Fender acquired Groove Tubes in 2008 Gibson Guitars Corp - Gibson Guitars Corp acquired Baldwin Piano and Organ from General Electric Capital Corp in 2001 (they Baldwin had filed for Chapter 11 - which is merely a change in control, it does not mean the company is only losing money). Baldwins revenues were approx $81 million and had losses of $14.2 million (OUCH!) before the acquisition. - Gibson Guitars acquired Griffiths (Garrison) Guitars in 2007 and converted their production to make the Songmaker series. (Canada) - Gibson Guitars has approximately 2,800 employees. I also think its interesting that GE Capital financed Baldwin (as they finance Taylor). Even though I don't think that Taylor will have to raise capital or is interested in going public, I think it will be interesting what the next five years, where the music instruments business is expected to grow at 5% will have for us. I would love to hear more interesting facts from you guys. |
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Fender also owns, Kaman Music, which is the largest accessory distribution company in the US as far as I can tell. Kaman also owns Takamine, Ovation, and a handful of others. Fender is also now headed up by the CEO of Guitar Center who made it what it is today. Currently the largest growth area for musical instruments is in Ukes, of all things. |
Thanks for the info Jared. I would be interested in knowing what the strategic partnership with Fender is. No wonder Fender doesn't compete in the mid- to high-end acoustic guitars market!
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I do limited business research in my job. I access LexisNexis academic thru my local library and use Hoover's and D&B info.
Fender also owns Guild and Kaman. Quote:
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From Hoover's. I don't know why but when I click on the profile for Taylor today, it gives me an error.
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Now KMC (Kaman) was already an empire before being purchased by Fender. They own Toca, Takamine, Genz-Benz, Gibraltar, Becker, and Hammer Guitars. Other facts include, Martin helped Taylor get started and Taylor helped Breedlove get going. |
SWR says they are a Fender-owned Company...but have not been "Fenderized"
So we customers might perceive a good product variety in a SWR/Fender store even though there's no actual product competition. And by the same token, there's none of the desirable pricing effects of brand competition. |
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Thoughts? |
Fender manufactures, markets and distributes Gretsch guitars. The Gretsch family still owns the brand.
Fender is the US distributor for Takamine, it remains a Japanese company. |
Seems like Fender is a power house...
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The Fender factory in Ensenada, Mex. had 800 employees, when I visited in '96! I'd never seen such an operation! At the time, they were trying to set up another factory in Argentina. I don't know if they ever did?
I'm curious if there's any guitar company with more employees than Fender? Don |
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It would be great to see someone value Taylor... There aren't any public transactions or comparable public companies that I can think of. |
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