In The Wind...

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Zandit75

This comment is an interesting one, as it helps to put some of this into perspective by looking at some facts.

As of today, there 101,200 members registered on this forum.
56,222 members have not made a single comment!!

Of the remaining 44,978 members, 27,395 members have made less than 10 comments since joining!!

That leaves 17,583 members who have made more than 10 comments.

Now, consider how many members are regularly active. By this, I consider the amount of people who have made more than 1000 comments.
This number all of a sudden drops to only 966 members!!

This number represents less than 1% of the membership
Starting to sound a lot like politics now, doesn't it??!!
Less than 1% of the population representing the remainder of the membership. Does everyone agree that this less than 1% represent all of our views?

Nope!!

Interesting numbers...

Still, a discussion held by about 1000 generally well informed guitar players on a forum like this does represent some insight for a manufacturer if people are discussing something about a particular brand. It doesn't mean that a manufacturer is going to change anything just because people like or don't like something.

In the end, the thing that really impacts a manufacturer's impression about a product are sales numbers, profit and loss information, warranty numbers, and possibly information from customers about satisfaction levels. A lot of opinions expressed by people on forums comes from those who are not actually customers.

- Glenn

[Don Lampson]

Originally Posted by Paddy1951

There is much information and opinion expressed on AGF.

I think it is fair to say that those who routinely post opinions and information may represent many who don't post or don't even belong to AGF as a member.

Do the guitar builders large and small pay attention to what is said on AGF and other forums? Do expressed opinions influence how Taylor or Gibson or Martin or Larrivee market their guitars?

What about boutique builders?

Your thoughts.

I'm sure there's plenty of agreement about some things from those who don't post when it comes to favorite brands, body shapes, and choices of guitar building materials. I doubt there's very much agreement about "bling", picks, or what strings sound best, on which guitar?

I suspect folks in the guitar industry follow guitar gossip forums on the internet constantly, looking for favorable testimony, slanderous comment, and / or possible future trends, but doubt how much influence these forums have on them, unless reading such advice gives someone who has the ear of Chris Martin, or Bob Taylor, a "eureka moment"?

Don

[JC.]

It would be remiss of marketing departments to not be reading these pages, at least on a casual basis. (And probably the legal departments too).

As to the extent that the opinions here then inform the management decision making of the larger manufacturers - my uneducated guess would be "not much."

Most of the discussion here is about products that have already been brought to market. So, we (the forum) are not so much informing the company decision making as, in effect, commenting on it after the event.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

No, sorry, I can't. The real point, though, is that I am sure manufacturers are aware of major discussions going on at a forum such as this one.

- Glenn

If this is true and Gibson,if your watching, please do not discontinue offering your Uncoated Masterclass Strings. If you won't do that then at least tell us if we can get them from whoever made them for you.
Thank you and have a nice day.

[Paddy1951]

Originally Posted by JC.

It would be remiss of marketing departments to not be reading these pages, at least on a casual basis. (And probably the legal departments too).



As to the extent that the opinions here then inform the management decision making of the larger manufacturers - my uneducated guess would be "not much."



Most of the discussion here is about products that have already been brought to market. So, we (the forum) are not so much informing the company decision making as, in effect, commenting on it after the event.

Does anyone know for a fact that the forums are read by any of these companies?

If any of these companies are reading the forums then I think there may be at least some influence on what is or is not addressed.

Ie. What if a new guitar is released and is well received but forum comments indicate that some players would buy this guitar if it were offered in a sunburst finish?

Then, there are those things that are not liked. Sometimes, they are removed or improved. But why?

Are there any industry or ex industry people that are members and have thoughts about the forums?

[RP]

For several years I ranted here and on UTGF about how Taylor should make wood binding a standard feature on their higher series guitars. This is now the case, and you'll never convince me that someone wasn't listening....

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by JC.

As to the extent that the opinions here then inform the management decision making of the larger manufacturers - my uneducated guess would be "not much."

Agreed. But I have had discussions with one smaller company about the future direction of one product, so there are some companies who listen and take at least some cues from this group.