Taylor Guitars : Direct to Consumer

[nellatrab]

I was talking to a few folks at Dream Guitars down the road from where I live. They are basically a consignment shop for vintage and highend boutique guitars from makers everywhere, some used, some not. The conversation touched on the saturation of acoustic guitars in the world. Not only the big makers here and overseas. Builders all over Europe, Mexico, Canada not to mention China producing guitars with stunning woods, superb craftsmanship at prices far below American builders and they sound and play great. Besides that, there are hundreds of "new" small individual luthiers in every state making only a few guitars per year and selling them for $3 to $5K....some are actually quite amazing. As for Taylor they are always trying to reinvent themselves in often drastic ways...when the switch to something claimed as new and better (not always the case) Taylor is champion at surreal explanations as to why they think it's better. Martin's SC model not really going over that great. As someone mentioned already competition for the acoustic guitar market is tougher than ever before in history. When we look at Reverb, You Tube and the like, we see dealer's selling/advertising new guitars direct on those internet & media sites. One thing that hasn't changed is the vintage market....prices higher than ever. But...I was watching a you tube story a while ago about a guy that bought a fairly pristine 30's Gibson L something for $20.00 at a yard sale, so you just never know.

But bottom line is I personally would never buy a guitar without being able to play it...although I'm sure they would allow returns, but that comes with a big hassle. So we will have to see how they employees at Taylor fare moving forward selling direct, guess it can't hurt. If there's one thing I know for sure playing and buying acoustic guitars for 50 plus years is there are examples of like models from manufacturers, some sound just OK, some good and some great!

[Murphy Slaw]

I would think there would be a limited number of GOOD brick and mortar stores left.

Alienating even a few of them might have consequences. Maybe not.

But hey, Carvin did the "direct to customer" thing for years.

Wait...

[zeebow]

there’s been a lot of interesting dialogue over various forums and social media platforms.

the guys at casino guitars do an excellent job communicating how Guitar Manufacturers selling direct can erode the quality of the guitar community,

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by nellatrab

I was talking to a few folks at Dream Guitars down the road from where I live. They are basically a consignment shop for vintage and highend boutique guitars from makers everywhere, some used, some not. The conversation touched on the saturation of acoustic guitars in the world. Not only the big makers here and overseas. Builders all over Europe, Mexico, Canada not to mention China producing guitars with stunning woods, superb craftsmanship at prices far below American builders and they sound and play great. Besides that, there are hundreds of "new" small individual luthiers in every state making only a few guitars per year and selling them for $3 to $5K....some are actually quite amazing.

I accept that the world is full of things I can't (or won't) understand but one of those things is the market for guitars...

It's beyond my comprehension how there can possibly be enough buyers and enough money in the world to keep buying all the $2,000-and-up (including many WAY up) acoustic and electric guitars being sold every single day, year after year after year. And these things last almost forever unless they are mistreated. So there have to be, what, hundreds of thousands (a million?) of very expensive guitars out there in USA alone not to mention rest of the world.

I mean I get it with affordable/inexpensive/cheap guitars like a beginner would buy. There's a million adults and kids a year wanting to learn to play guitar so they go out and a couple, three or four hundred bucks on one and there are factories in Asia churning them out like smartphones or video games. As it is, was and ever shall be. But how many $5,000 or $15,000 strings instruments can the living rooms, bedrooms and closets of the world absorb? There literally does not seem to be any limit to the number of people wanting One More Guitar in those sorts of price ranges.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

I accept that the world is full of things I can't (or won't) understand but one of those things is the market for guitars...

Well I am guessing it is probably hard for us who are not mathematicians,
to really get our heads around what 8 billion in world population actually means .

But to draw it down and in, for an easier conceptual grasp... In the US alone,, in 2021 there were 2.5 million NEW millionaires

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Well I am guessing it is probably hard for us who are not mathematicians,
to really get our heads around what 8 billion in world population actually means .

But to draw it down and in, for an easier conceptual grasp... In the US alone,, in 2021 there were 2.5 million NEW millionaires

And so maybe something like 1/3 of them immediately ordered a couple of new custom built guitars...

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

And so maybe something like 1/3 of them immediately ordered a couple of new custom built guitars...

At one point there was a poll that asked how many guitars people had, and there were as many who had 30 as there were who only had just one…

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

And so maybe something like 1/3 of them immediately ordered a couple of new custom built guitars...

Well we are just speculating-- but probably way less than that are even guitar players. But even 1% is 25 thousand players so I would think some good percent of them are going to buy 4k and up guitars And that does not take into account the number guitarist in the rest world juss sayin'

I could be wrong but I am guessing there are exponentially more custom luthiers in the world than 2 decades ago because the market is there. ?? but agin just speculating

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by KevWind

I could be wrong but I am guessing there are exponentially more custom luthiers in the world than 2 decades ago because the market is there. ?? but agin just speculating

Well there has to be, doesn't there? Unless those builders have an ever-growing stockpile of warehoused, unsold guitars then someone is buying them.

I reckon there still can't be enough owners or one or two or five guitars to make all this happen. My misconception has probably been in thinking the guys I encounter online who own 25 or 50 (or even more) guitars were some sort of outliers. There must be literally thousands of those guy just in the USA alone.

It's a bit easier to comprehend this whole phenomenon if I'll willing to accept that LOTS of people are happy owning enough stringed instruments to stock a small music store (and still be buying new ones constantly).

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

Well there has to be, doesn't there? Unless those builders have an ever-growing stockpile of warehoused, unsold guitars then someone is buying them.

I reckon there still can't be enough owners or one or two or five guitars to make all this happen. My misconception has probably been in thinking the guys I encounter online who own 25 or 50 (or even more) guitars were some sort of outliers. There must be literally thousands of those guy just in the USA alone.

It's a bit easier to comprehend this whole phenomenon if I'll willing to accept that LOTS of people are happy owning enough stringed instruments to stock a small music store (and still be buying new ones constantly).

Well Maybe but I suspect it not so much a matter of owning 25-50 or more driving the market . I think yes people with 25-50 are probably outliers and yes there could easily be thousands

But Again I think is more a matter of the sheer market potential represented by 8 billion people.

The projected world population on Jan. 1, 2023, is 7,942,645,086, an increase of 73,772,634, or 0.94%, from New Year's Day 2022.
During January 2023, 4.3 births and 2.0 deaths are expected worldwide every 1 second.


According to the Liverpool Academy of Music
"Did you know that 10% of the worlds population have, at one time or another, picked up and played a guitar?

So that would be aprox 794 million guitarists

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

Well there has to be, doesn't there? Unless those builders have an ever-growing stockpile of warehoused, unsold guitars then someone is buying them.

I reckon there still can't be enough owners or one or two or five guitars to make all this happen. My misconception has probably been in thinking the guys I encounter online who own 25 or 50 (or even more) guitars were some sort of outliers. There must be literally thousands of those guy just in the USA alone.

It's a bit easier to comprehend this whole phenomenon if I'll willing to accept that LOTS of people are happy owning enough stringed instruments to stock a small music store (and still be buying new ones constantly).

Originally Posted by KevWind

Well Maybe but I suspect it not so much a matter of owning 25-50 or more driving the market . I think yes people with 25-50 are probably outliers and yes there could easily be thousands

But Again I think is more a matter of the sheer market potential represented by 8 billion people.

The projected world population on Jan. 1, 2023, is 7,942,645,086, an increase of 73,772,634, or 0.94%, from New Year's Day 2022.
During January 2023, 4.3 births and 2.0 deaths are expected worldwide every 1 second.


According to the Liverpool Academy of Music
"Did you know that 10% of the worlds population have, at one time or another, picked up and played a guitar?

So that would be aprox 794 million guitarists

I suspect that there are way more people who own 10+ $10k guitars than there are people who own 10+ $500 or $1k guitars. Just like bicycles—I know plenty of folks who have 10+ bikes that cost $20k or more. 0.01% of the population can soak up a lot of demand for custom guitars, bikes, you name it.

[Rudy4]

Here's Alamo Music's brand new (March 4th, 2023) video "Death Of The Local Guitar Store" which is an honest take on the latest trends for direct marketing by manufacturers:

[H165]

In the US alone,, in 2021 there were 2.5 million NEW millionaires

We need a definition of "millionaire". If we define it as a person or family whose assets exceed their liabilities by current-day US$1,000,000, then just about everyone in California or New York who owns ANY real estate is a millionaire.

I suspect the number of new similarly-defined billionaires in the US in 2021 is increasing at about the same rate as millionaires did in 1921. The driver making millionaires commonplace is inflation.

[edward993]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Here's Alamo Music's brand new (March 4th, 2023) video "Death Of The Local Guitar Store" which is an honest take on the latest trends for direct marketing by manufacturers:

Guitar makers are simply late on the curve. What has happened to book stores, toy stores, mall anchor stores: closing doors every day across the nation over the last two decades and no sign of slowing. Any business that can keep a footprint and have a human to help you has likely found a formula that works for their niche, or has its days numbered.

With guitars, time will tell. Compared to finding most retail items online, a guitar is a markedly different item, replete with a clientele that is often detail oriented and will refuse to buy over one detail. While we all know that makers have gotta streamline to compete, how they do it will determine their success or demise.

Edward

[Batmitestar]

Originally Posted by edward993

Compared to finding most retail items online, a guitar is a markedly different item, replete with a clientele that is often detail oriented and will refuse to buy over one detail.

Edward

This forum is full of the buyer you describe. This forum represents a minuscule portion of the guitar buying public.