New Website Going Live

[fryovanni]

I think a large part of the skill in this game comes from being able to interpret peoples ideas on there perfect guitar into something that actually works and they are happy with. It also means you will keep getting new challenges so you can learn and develop as a builder.

I also enjoy producing my own designs and have developed a few that i keep coming back to because they are popular and attract attention. I am just about jigged up for them and i can produce them relatively quickly.

I think its important to be flexible and open to a challenge.

I think the goal to me is to build a guitar that fits the person like a glove, and has the sound they are seeking. That to me is a "custom". A guitar that is pre-made and a part of a line certainly can be a hand made instrument, but is not what I view as custom. The "Soup Nazi" thing does not cut it for me, just shows lack of concern for the customers dream. If you can't create the guitar the customer wants just politely decline the commision.

Peace,Rich

[Mattia]

+1 to Rich.

Half the fun, half the challenge is building a little outside your comfort zone. Something you wouldn't do for yourself. Something that the person getting the guitar will go 'wow, that's great!' at.

[Mickguard]

Zachary always strikes me as a bit self righteous.

No, he's a downright arrogant blowhard. Which is the biggest problem with him that I have-- to me, a person with confidence in himself and in his ideas and designs has no need to blow his horn. Let the ideas speak for themselves. I think he has some great ideas, some interesting design choices. Too bad some of the blather gets in the way.

I figure this is partly because he's still relatively new at this --he says he started in 1992 on his kitchen table (in other words, like most of us). So figure he did that for a few years before trying to go pro...so maybe he didn't have his confidence level up yet when the site was designed.

Now, he's got a body of work now that speaks for itself--doesn't matter whether you like it or not--It's time to tone down the Ed Roman-speak on his site, if you ask me.

[GregP]

Not that we're Dan's business advisory committee or anything, but I see nothing wrong with doing both at the same time, particularly until his calendar is filled with true custom orders.

In the meantime, I say keep making guitars (as long as you can afford to), and thereby build up a collection of saleable "on-hand" items, plus grow the gallery pages so that customers can know what kind of variety, quality, and aesthetic to expect when they decide to approach for a quote.

Greg

[Daniel Sorbera]

but I see nothing wrong with doing both at the same time, particularly until his calendar is filled with true custom orders.

Thats basicly what we are doing now.

Building guitars and sellin them until we start getting enough custom orders that we don't have time to build the ones that are not custom.