Data on acoustic guitar manufacturing and/or sales?

[rufjbn]

Originally Posted by 619TF

Because they told us (well, he did say "unofficially"). It's also fairly apparent when one looks at guitar shops and what the pros are playing on stage.

Cruising guitar shops to find out which guitars are hanging on the walls could indeed be the best method of estimating which manufacturers are producing the most guitars. "I know it's not much but it's the best we can do"?

[lowrider]

So of the four major American acoustic manufacturers; Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Guild, only counting American guitars, how does it break down?

Martin and Taylor must be at the top with how many guitars sold?

Where does that leave Gibson, half of that?

Guild seems to be limping back. How American made guitars do they sell per year?

[619TF]

Originally Posted by rufjbn

Cruising guitar shops to find out which guitars are hanging on the walls could indeed be the best method of estimating which manufacturers are producing the most guitars. "I know it's not much but it's the best we can do"?

Of course that also depends on which shop you go into. My local small owner one decided to no longer rep Taylor at all so it's strange going in there and seeing a ton of say Alvarez and Seagulls and zero Taylors. So there's clearly a bias in just shopping around...but it helps a bit to see what's out there.

[rampix]

From the Martin serial number chart we know;

1. From 1898 to 2021 Martin produced 2,576,415 guitars

2. From 1921 to 2021 they produced 2,559,657 guitars

3. From 2020 to 2021 the produced 122,191 guitars

Is this the type of info you are searching for?

[Osage]

Originally Posted by lowrider

So of the four major American acoustic manufacturers; Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Guild, only counting American guitars, how does it break down?

Martin and Taylor must be at the top with how many guitars sold?

Where does that leave Gibson, half of that?

Guild seems to be limping back. How American made guitars do they sell per year?

I would think that Gibson sells more than Martin. They make electric and acoustic guitars and both are super popular. Martin has made electrics but never with much fanfare.

[Br1ck]

The thing that surprises me is how overwhelming the figures are favoring cheap guitars. $300 and under are a huge majority, and $3000 and more is like 3 to 5%. Don't quote me, I'm going by and article I read years ago. But it was staggering. We nerds think everyone wants great guitars.

[rufjbn]

Originally Posted by rampix

From the Martin serial number chart we know;
1. From 1898 to 2021 Martin produced 2,576,415 guitars
2. From 1921 to 2021 they produced 2,559,657 guitars
3. From 2020 to 2021 the produced 122,191 guitars
Is this the type of info you are searching for?

It's interesting to know how many guitars Martin makes each year (say 122,191) but it could also be useful to know something about the methods used to arrive at these kinds of estimates.

Some sources of estimates of the numbers of guitars produced by each manufacturer that have been mentioned in this thread include:

1) records of serial numbers placed on each guitar produced by a given manufacturer
2) cruise guitar shop(s) and guesstimate the number of units produced by each manufacturer that are hanging on the wall
3) "an article I read years ago"
4) disclosures of financial performance filed with tax authorities (at least for publicly owned companies that manufacture guitars)
5) extemporaneous report of a luthier who makes guitars for a certain manufacturer

[rufjbn]

One possible conclusion seems to be that for the most part we really don't know which companies manufacture the largest number of acoustic guitars each year or how many acoustic guitars these companies are manufacturing or which models of acoustic guitars are most popular etc. The reason that we don't know is that nobody keeps track of that kind of thing (or if the do, they don't make the information public).

[Italuke]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

The thing that surprises me is how overwhelming the figures are favoring cheap guitars. $300 and under are a huge majority, and $3000 and more is like 3 to 5%. Don't quote me, I'm going by and article I read years ago. But it was staggering. We nerds think everyone wants great guitars.

Yup, this exactly. In the grand scheme of things, guitars are just another consumer product. Like...I dunno, like toasters. It's only people like us who geek out on wanting production figures, etc. And yes, Cort is king. And many of them are very good guitars. Korean quality is top notch.

[Highroller]

I wouldn't look to the manufacturers for that kind of of data, as most of them are private companies and aren't obligated to publish it.

But trade associations track that kind of stuff. Somebody at NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) probably has some numbers.

How to go about getting it? I'd guess they have some kind of Public Relations department you could contact.

They're in the business of making the musical instrument industry look good. I'd think they'd be happy to help out, the last few years have been pretty good for the guitar industry.

[Sadie-f]

Originally Posted by rufjbn

One possible conclusion seems to be that for the most part we really don't know which companies manufacture the largest number of acoustic guitars each year or how many acoustic guitars these companies are manufacturing or which models of acoustic guitars are most popular etc. The reason that we don't know is that nobody keeps track of that kind of thing (or if the do, they don't make the information public).

At present the generally agreed US top 4 in $ sales order are, Fender, Gibson, Martin & Taylor. All 4 are privately owned, and so the only one for which there's reliable production data is Martin, which has been using ordinal serial numbers since their start, and publishes those numbers, so we know units.

Gibson has been bought out by various companies over the years,.and on the 2010s went on an attempt to become a larger market force, diversifying into electronics etc. That didn't work well, and Gibson filed for and emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018.

For worldwide numbers it's more complicated, however Asia is the only other major production area.

[rufjbn]

Originally Posted by Sadie-f

At present the generally agreed US top 4 in $ sales order are, Fender, Gibson, Martin & Taylor. All 4 are privately owned, and so the only one for which there's reliable production data is Martin,

The contradiction in these two sentences almost jumps off the screen. "Although we have no reliable information (with certain notable exceptions), here are the "US top 4 in $ sales". Why would people agree when they have no information on which to base an agreement?

[rufjbn]

Originally Posted by Highroller

I wouldn't look to the manufacturers for that kind of of data, as most of them are private companies and aren't obligated to publish it.

But trade associations track that kind of stuff. Somebody at NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) probably has some numbers.

Many thanks, Highroller. That makes a lot of sense. The auto industry has the "Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobile" that tracks production by year, by country, by company etc. Perhaps NAMM does the same for musical instruments (including acoustic guitars).

NAMM does publish an annual "Global Report" but unfortunately it is available only to members. The brochure for the report asks "How do you get sales data in an industry where most of the business is done by privately held companies, and there are few, if any, reporting sources?"

Good question, NAMM. We were wondering that ourselves.

[rufjbn]

Perhaps because there are no reliable sources of information, speculation on which manufacturers produce the largest number of acoustic guitars (worldwide or at various places and times) runs rampant and doubtless will continue unabated.

Which Manufacturer Sells the Most Acoustics (04/11/2008)
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=123400

10 biggest north american guitar manufacturers (01/04/2011)
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=173216

Most Popular Taylor (04/01/2003)
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...ad.php?t=19604

Martin's Best Selling Model? (02/02/2010)
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=175720

What is the margin on "mainstream" guitars (07/19/2017)
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=476936

what's the most popular guitar used in country music today? (10/11/2014)
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=360339

Worship Leader - Which Acoustic Electric Most Popular? (12/23/2008)
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=142320

What Dreadnoughts Most Common For Folk? (11/04/2019)
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=562805

What kind of acoustic guitars were popular in the 80's? (04/19/2017)
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=467209

"Today, Martin builds 80,000 guitars a year"

"Read it on another forum, apparently a salesman at Hugo Helmer Music Store told a customer that the Taylor GS Mini is now the third best selling guitar in the world."

".... Cort ranks in sales (their brandname & all relabelled brands) compared to Samick. Also consider that Samick & Cort have produced many acoustic guitars as well, sold under numerous labels."

"I think you're going to get a lot of unqualified opinions here. Because most of these companies are private, they don't report their sales publicly; the best you'll find is some speculation." Aaron Smith

"I don't know it for a fact ... I just know it's true." Bill Maher

[rufjbn]

Originally Posted by Highroller

I wouldn't look to the manufacturers for that kind of of data, as most of them are private companies and aren't obligated to publish it.

Not only are they not obligated to publish those kinds of data, they could have an incentive to keep the information from becoming public.