Quote:
Originally Posted by EvanB
I've enjoyed the directness of dealing with Emerald. That said, what I think might be valuable would be an Emerald service center in the U.S. Emerald is not perfect and there are cases where a guitar has to be sent back for diagnostics or repair--and transatlantic shipments are not cheap.
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Since this came up again... seems to me that this would be a bit like the Maytag Repairman. That may be a US-centric reference, but one has to be realistic on the costs involved. On the rare occasion a guitar has to be sent back for repair or diagnostics, I would prefer to see it go to the people who made the guitar.
One of the reasons the Emerald business model works is because you, the customer, are dealing direct with Emerald. There is no dealer or middleman who is the actual customer of the manufacturer... and then resells the product. This keeps your price down and gives you that connection.
Over the years, I have bought more Taylor guitars than carbon fiber guitars. Each purchased from a dealer. Taylor has no idea who I am, and if I requested "a bit more edge shading" like I did on my X10, that isn't going to happen. If there is a significant issue with one of my Taylors, a dealer may look at it, but ultimately it is going back to the people who made that guitar.
No one would expect Olson Guitars to have a service center located on the East or West Coast because Minnesota isn't convenient for those who don't live there. Realistically, Emerald is closer to the boutique maker than they are to Taylor or Martin size manufacturers. You deal direct with them. You make custom requests direct with them. You pay them. They ship to you (contrary to the misconception that every Emerald going to a US customer first goes to Kramster
). A US service center would add cost to
every guitar they make to support the additional expense.
I am a former business owner; I appreciate the cost/benefit balance every small business has to deal with. Salary, rent, overhead... how much of that cost would you be willing to support with additional costs built into your guitar purchase for the rare occasion that an Emerald needs something beyond a basic set-up? That $100 or so to ship a guitar is cheap by comparison.
I think I may be onto the "next, best concept": the Emerald Road Extravaganza! I think I'm interested in an Emerald... I call their 1-800-EMERALD number and the next day a semi full of demo guitars shows up in front of my house. The guitars are all out on display, including models with every imaginable custom option. I play several, say, "Thanks, I'll get back to you. Oh, and do you work on Emeralds?" A guy in a white jumpsuit (I don't know why the jumpsuit, but it adds to the fantasy) takes my current Emerald to the shop in the tractor/trailer and shortens the neck by 3/8" to better suit my comfort range. I'm a little miffed that this process takes 17 minutes, instead of the 15 I expected. I'll probably leave them a 3-star review on Yelp because of that. I thank them for their time, they leave a full place setting to go with the mug I have (nice touch), and they are off to the next potential customer, a mere 3 states away. This will completely eliminate all the "Where can I try one of these?" questions we see here and on Facebook.
The cost per guitar goes up a bit... I have calculated an additional $276,453 per guitar, based on that "600 Emeralds delivered to the US annually"... but think of the convenience!
Now that I have some time on my hands, I think I will take this reasoning to start my political campaigning.
If this seems a bit far-fetched, wait 'till you see the teleporting technology I'm working on to eliminate that pesky week or so it takes to ship a guitar. It may add a bit to the current $55 shipping charge.
