|
Post by fretter on Jul 31, 2015 9:46:39 GMT
This makes an interesting supplement to another thread on boutique guitar pricing. The base price of one of these is £2500. It would be very easy to spend more than that on a factory built name guitar. Admittedly you don't know what your guitar will sound like when you order, but this doesn't seem expensive in comparison.
|
|
|
Post by fretter on Jul 28, 2015 15:28:20 GMT
You are not wrong about the Calton case Jonny! Even the price for a secondhand one has gone through the roof. The last couple on a certain auction site have gone for well over £300. Gulp.
|
|
|
Post by fretter on Jul 26, 2015 19:38:56 GMT
Well, well, well - many points raised. It's a slow evening, so I will bother to respond to a few.
Of course a very expensive guitar isn't 'proportionately better' than a cheaper guitar. 'Better' is a purely subjective term, and can't be meaningfully quantified. It may be different in many ways - woods used, fittings, complexity and difficulty of 'extras' such as sound port/bevel/binding/abalone etc, but better, no. Different, yes.Personally, I like different things, in different ways at different times.
Public perceptions of brands change over time in all areas. Skoda, anyone? Once the butt of - unfair - jokes is now a highly respected mainstream car. Japanese motorbikes? 'Jap Crap' in the early 1960s. Now the market leader. Maybe in twenty years Chinese 'derivatives' will take their place.
This has happened with guitars as well. In in order to increase market penetration, well known names have launched cheaper ranges to run parallel with higher end ranges. Martin/Sigma, Ovation/Applause etc. Did it make the more expensive brand any worse? No. Did it make the brand seem less 'exclusive', and therefore less desirable to some? Quite possibly.
Apprentices? It has happened in throughout history. No one works completely in isolation - rather people absorb influences, imitate and produce their own version. Somogyi has written a two volume dissertation called 'The Responsive Guitar'. Why on earth wouldn't a budding guitar maker read it and take pointers from a man who has been building guitars for forty years, and is generally regarded as brilliant at what he does. If the opportunity arose to work with him and learn from him ..... well, you'd be daft not to , if that was your chosen career path. The experience could only improve your skills in particular, and guitar building in general. Rubens aped aspects of Caravaggio's work - it would be difficult to argue that they weren't both great artists in their own right.
''The boutique guitar market is very much the domain of those with considerable disposable income''. You could substitute the 'guitar' bit of the sentence with almost anything else. Mayfair penthouse Market? Sandbanks waterfront property market? Aston Martin? Miele equipped kitchen.
There are a couple of very good reasons why I live in Aldershot. Nightlife isn't one of them, but affordability against my income is!
GAS! A double check has confirmed the presence of five guitars. A quick calculation reveals that their total value is less than the cost of a new 1.6 Fiesta. They have been collected over a twenty year period, so over time, it is not a particularly large expense. Not that I would feel the need to justify it if it was.
I've got more than one guitar. I like them all. I sometimes play one rather than the other and couldn't always say exactly why. Not a problem or cause for much deep thought! Quite nice really!
|
|
|
Post by fretter on Jul 17, 2015 13:41:15 GMT
Quite agree with you Andy. All of a sudden a commission doesn't look too expensive of you compare it with a well known factory model with added bling!
|
|
|
Post by fretter on Jul 16, 2015 9:51:18 GMT
Very unscientific and purely speculative!
Say a solo luthier makes 10/12 guitars a year and charges £5000. That is around one a month on average. 200 working hours - that works out at around £25 ph. That is without the (high) cost of the woods and tuners etc. Finishing is an expensive process, if farmed out.
All of a sudden it looks pretty reasonable, if you consider the level of skill involved. Try getting your washing machine/car etc fixed for £25 ph!
|
|
|
Post by fretter on Jul 12, 2015 20:38:36 GMT
Great thread. I must admit, that my eyeballs swivel when I see what you can pay for a sought after boutique guitar. However, I would guess that the majority of luthiers aren't living in the lap of luxury, and probably rely on routine set ups/repairs etc for a good chunk of their income.
In 1995, I was in the happy position of being able to commission a guitar from Nigel Thornbory. At the time, he lived just around the corner. He offered fantastic advice throughout the ordering process, and, at regular intervals during the build, I was able to go and see how things were going. The result was a lovely guitar, which was made just for me and which I play most days. Probably the best money I have ever spent. It is still possible to pay sensible money for a similar build, if you avoid the stellar names.
As an aside, I bought a Martin kit a while ago, with a view to building one myself. A hideously complicated and frustrating few week's work resulted a roughly (very!) assembled body, and a neck that would have required the grip of Giant Haystacks to get the string within a short bus ride of the fretboard. Like many seemingly good ideas, the whole thing has lived in a box in the garage ever since.
Anybody who can make a aesthetically pleasing guitar which sounds good, has my undying admiration. The attention to detail, patience, and skill required to avoid the endless possibilities for a complete and expensive cock up is unbelievable.
|
|
|
Post by fretter on May 2, 2015 11:45:06 GMT
Really pleased that this thread has started. Al Pettaway is a great guitarist. He also does some very accessible tuition on You tube. His instrumental version of 'Wayfaring Stranger' is lovely, and is not that difficult to learn.
His best known tune is probably 'Sligo Creek'. This was used as the music to accompany an American TV series called 'National Parks. It has an incredibly catchy hook, and he can be seen performing it on You Tube. It is on an earlier album called 'Caledon Wood'. I bought a copy of the tab book very cheaply from the USA. This album also has a beautiful tune called 'Fy to the Hills in the Morning' (no spelling mistake!) which is in standard tuning. it really is a lovely tune and not too difficult to learn.
I have spent many happy hours learning some of his music, bar by painful bar! Very worthwhile.
|
|