The Market Has No Idea

[Cypress Knee]

Originally Posted by Goodallboy

Identify this "rom full of guys". Since they're in a room, that shouldn't be hard to do. How many can it be? Is it 10 guys? Is it a small room or resort hotel conference room?

The market is the entire guitar (since that's what we generally discuss) buying public, not a "room full of guys".

One person's opinion that "it is very much the wrong target market, and the buyer will be lucky to make a sale at the asking price", is simply a biased opinion and has little to do with what the market will bear.

The examples of a selective groups of people, such as "wealthy women who appreciate jewelry", is not relevant to the overall jewelry market.

These types of examples aren't productive in accomplishing an instructive environment for those that might be trying to understand more complex issues than just another subjective opinion.

There's plenty of room for that in capo/tuner discussions. This is economics 101.

Let me be specific - there is "the market" and within "the market" there are very defined "target markets".

Let's say that I am putting on a convention. I will have five thousand prospective buyers in the room. It will cost Goodall Boy $2500 to buy a booth to sell diamonds. Here's the catch - all the people coming to the convention are coming to a Comic Book convention. Perhaps they are coming to a Guitar show. Perhaps they are running a marathon. But they are not coming with the intention of buying jewelry.

Are you interested in shelling out $2500 to try and sell diamonds to a bunch of marathoners? I will take your money and set you up with a booth, and then when you look around and see all the people buying Nike shoes and Underarmour clothes and GU and body glide and GPS watches, but nobody wants diamond jewelry, well, maybe you will figure out that your money would have been better spent at a convention where the participants are interested in jewelry.

There is "the market". There is marketing. Then there are "target markets" and there is target marketing.

The OP was wondering why his guitar was not sellng. If he was selling on the AGF, and through Reverb or other sites, well, those buyers are telling him something like not interested at that price. If he is trying to sell it at the weekly neighborhood garage sell, those buyers may be sending a different message, such as not interested in any musical instruments.

CK

[Goodallboy]

I thought I made it plain I was describing an overall market concept.

That seemed to be the topic, not trying to sell diamonds to marathon runners.

Anyway, I hope your example was helpful to someone.

[gitarro]

The op is upset that hamblin guitars are fetching what he considers to be absurdly low prices given how well made those guitars are. Mr hamblin who was a well respected luthier has recently retired from building.

Firstly the price that a particular thing fetches on yhe open market does not denote its intrinsic worth and its value in relation to other things. It merely explains how much other people interested in such a product, how much they are willing to pay for it and how much other people desire to own it. It also may reflect the lack of familiarity others have with the products of this luthier despite his good reputation within the narrow confines of agf and other guitar forums.

The most famous and high priced things are not necessarily the best - there may be others better but unknown to the wider market due to poor marketing or endorsement by opinion leaders.

Secondly mr hamblin may not have enjoyed the patronage of a famous musician which fans demand for his guitars among fans of that musician. This is unfortunately true of most solo luthiers no matter how good they are.

Thirdly this phenomenon is merely the harbinger of the plummeting demand for the guitars of most solo luthiers who are currently building after they have cease building in the years to come - no matter how good they were in their heyday. That is one advantage factories and well established small shops will enjoy over the solo luthier - they will continue to build guitars for future generations of guitarists into the future beyond the careers of individual luthiers thus maintaining customer awareness of their brand and market presence.