The Middle East Fine & Rare Guitar Collectors Collective

[R J Luther]

or MEFARGCC for short!
Ok so I’m better at finger style than branding but here’s my question or shout out to y’all

Anyone else working away in the Middle East somewhere, leaving most o their beloved collection at home and trying to make do with their favourite couple of OMs or Dreads to keep them warm?

Ever get frustrated that you need to go all the way back to Europe or even the US of A just to go a Saturday browsing in your favourite store and strum the latest Collings?

Ever tried to treat yourself to a Goodall and after days of searching realising that the nearest dealership is listed as Singapore (only an 8 hour flight away)

And finally wish you could find like minded people to hook up, share pics and even try a social distance jam sometime with lovers of fine and rare, vintage and new instruments?

I mean there’s only around 500 million people in this region so there must be a few who want to shoot the breeze about all things wood, metal and acoustic

Well let’s have a look see, happy to post pics of my local collection, vids etc if there actually is anyone within a few thousand miles with similar interests

Over to you!

R J

[DCCougar]

Good luck with that, RJ, lol! On the other hand, that's why the internet has become so popular - you can shoot the breeze with folks on the other side of the world just as easy as if they're next door. Of course, it's a little tougher jamming or sittin' down for a beer or two, but hey....

Welcome to the forums!

[revive]

I've been in the ME for the past 7 years. Brought my entire guitar collection here, and subsequently sold my only expensive acoustic (a Mayes MJ) to another expat here, developed interest in electrics, and acquired 2 electrics from another expat. I have kept the 2 Taylors and a Voyage Air that I brought when I moved here.

Living here & being far away from any viable guitar store actually has helped me manage GAS (for the most of the times anyway) and focus on playing.

Which country/city do you live in? All the best to you with the current economic challenges in the region. Tough time.

[R J Luther]

Originally Posted by revive

I've been in the ME for the past 7 years. Brought my entire guitar collection here, and subsequently sold my only expensive acoustic (a Mayes MJ) to another expat here, developed interest in electrics, and acquired 2 electrics from another expat. I have kept the 2 Taylors and a Voyage Air that I brought when I moved here.

Living here & being far away from any viable guitar store actually has helped me manage GAS (for the most of the times anyway) and focus on playing.

Which country/city do you live in? All the best to you with the current economic challenges in the region. Tough time.

I’m in Dubai right now, used to be all around the ME then back and forward to London which allowed me to manage my collection pretty well. The shut down has really shown me how hard it is to find great guitars out here, especially if you want to play a few first!

I’m actually considering opening up a store, in discussions with a few high end suppliers as we speak. Hoping there’s a market in the gap as they say as there’s definitely a gap in the market

[Wade Hampton]

That’s interesting, RJ. I’m definitely not in the Mideast, I live about twenty miles north of Anchorage, Alaska.

This whole Covid-19 pandemic has definitely cramped the style for millions of people, hell, probably billions of people. During normal times I would have been in and out of Alaska several times during the period we’ve all been hunkering down at our homes, and I invariably visit music stores whenever I travel.

One interesting side effect of this, though, has been felt amongst guitar builders. One of my best friends is a professional guitar builder, and he tells me that he’s never had so many orders as he has right now. “It’s crazy!” he told me.

“Nobody’s going on fancy vacations outside the country,” I told him. “My wife and I aren’t signed up for any cruises for the foreseeable future.”

So some folks are spending the money that they might have spent on a fancy vacation on a custom guitar instead.

Which I thought was kind of intriguing.

So there might just be a market for what you want to do. The difficulty that I see in it would be how to let potential customers know that you’re in business.

I don’t have any insights or suggestions for you about that, I’m afraid. But I do see that as your primary challenge.

Good luck with this, and please keep us posted on your progress.


Wade Hampton Miller

[revive]

Originally Posted by R J Luther

I’m in Dubai right now, used to be all around the ME then back and forward to London which allowed me to manage my collection pretty well. The shut down has really shown me how hard it is to find great guitars out here, especially if you want to play a few first!

I’m actually considering opening up a store, in discussions with a few high end suppliers as we speak. Hoping there’s a market in the gap as they say as there’s definitely a gap in the market

Hi RJ,

I used to own an online music store back in the US. I can tell you that it's a tough business with high working capital, slow moving inventory, picky customers, and low margin on low-end stuff and just moderate margin on the med/high end stuff. You may have less competition here but also less demand.

I wonder how well Audio Dubai does. They sell high end electrics. Do they sell locally or ship in the region, etc. They could be a good case study in your research.
https://www.audiodubai.ae

[R J Luther]

Hi Chip
Thanks so much for the fb and thoughts, the positioning would definitely be high end as I figure:
A) there’s a fair chunk of v price insensitive folk around (still)
B) anything more premium than a standard run Martin and there’s zero, nil, nada stores in the whole ME to service that need (Kind of the positioning of this whole thread from the outset)
But your points are certainly well made and it’s going need a real point of difference and be a destination in its own right to work
By the way - Shows what a small world it is out here as one of the actual locations I was researching was next to AudioDubai - it’s been a pretty successful store for around 15 years selling über high end stuff - $80,000 For a set of speakers? What do you mean that only gets me 1?! So I figured über high end guitars in a cool showroom next too the super high audio stuff, why not?

[JayBee1404]

An interesting photo on the Brook Guitars website of a guitar and case left out on the ‘runway‘ (I’m guessing by baggage-handlers, on the apron whilst loading/unloading) of a Middle-East airport (Dubai, IIRC)!

I saw the guitar and case in question when I visited the Brook workshop just before the Covid lockdown started - a very disturbing sight! You guys should be aware when shipping your guitars to/from the Middle-East!

Scroll down - it’s the 10th photo...

https://www.brookguitars.com/WhatsNew/latest-news.html

[revive]

Hi RJ,
That sounds interesting.

Perhaps another good case study is the 1 or 2 high end acoustic stores in Singapore. Singapore is kind of like Dubai being a regional hub, etc. And I bet there is not many (if any) high end stores in the surrounding countries too. So how well they do and how they generate sales would probably be of interest to you.

[logansays]

Originally Posted by R J Luther

or MEFARGCC for short!
Ok so I’m better at finger style than branding but here’s my question or shout out to y’all

Anyone else working away in the Middle East somewhere, leaving most o their beloved collection at home and trying to make do with their favourite couple of OMs or Dreads to keep them warm?

Ever get frustrated that you need to go all the way back to Europe or even the US of A just to go a Saturday browsing in your favourite store and strum the latest Collings?

Ever tried to treat yourself to a Goodall and after days of searching realising that the nearest dealership is listed as Singapore (only an 8 hour flight away)

And finally wish you could find like minded people to hook up, share pics and even try a social distance jam sometime with lovers of fine and rare, vintage and new instruments?

I mean there’s only around 500 million people in this region so there must be a few who want to shoot the breeze about all things wood, metal and acoustic

Well let’s have a look see, happy to post pics of my local collection, vids etc if there actually is anyone within a few thousand miles with similar interests

Over to you!

R J

Hey RJ, im in Dubai. Been here for 12 years now. I come from India, so I hardly ever get to see/play/test some great guitars before purchase.

Having said that 4 of my instruments were bought online. A bourgeois Signature OM from a forum member. A D-18 Sinker from Guitartex, and a Gibson L-00 legend and a Martin 000-28ec from Japan.

I am an active blues harp player, and I have, in the past few years managed to connect with some players here!

[Tony Burns]

being away from your beloved collection - is hard
but it would be alot harder without any guitar
- you can do stuff like capo a different fret -
try different strings -sing something different or learn a local song
or learn some new tunings --
and try to make it funky !

[harvl]

First off I agree with Wade, I have already built more guitars this year than last year and I know from the folks at Martin, on line sales are very good for guitars. A lot of people wanting inlay work as well.

Back to Dubai... I think you may be onto something. I sold a guitar a couple years ago to a customer from Dubai and it was very expensive... like more than those speakers...and they (the guy I talked to was buying it for someone else) were asking about what else I had in the same realm. Unfortunately guitars like the one I sold them take me a couple years to complete so I didn't have anything at the time.

Harv

[R J Luther]

Hey Harv and Co thanks for the insights and info. Since this post I lived I Japan but been back to Dubai twice in the last two years and lo and behold there’s a super high end guitar gallery in dubai now - the artist of guitar I believe . I was a bit sceptical but having spent an hour or two there I can report back it’s the real deal - amazing selection of fine new and vintage guitars - not just RJ or the mill either - Ed Claxton Isaac Jang Dion to name a few plus a big selection of Santa Cruz Lowden Bourgoise and the rest. Staff seemed very knowledgable too, a real breath of fresh air compared to that little store in the mall that sells all the guitars to Iran and Russia ir seems! Anyone else checked it out? Rob