Boggs Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 Unanimous and most enthusiastic thumbs up by all at 5 guitar shops! One of the evaluators is a luthier and he put a value of the padauk one at a $2000 selling price... All agreed that the range of tones available were amazing and that my electronics layout was first rate and NOBODY is doing it that way and it is very intuitive and effective... All loved the look and the playing comfort and positioning the body shape creates. All were taken back by its tone and loved the wood choices... One actually liked playing the prototype better because it weighs nothing and still sounds great even though it is more of a jazz box tone and uses cheap woods. I have to go back to Stutzman's when Dave (the owner) gets back as both of the player/sales guys would love the opportunity to sell them... and they were the luthier/highest dollar value evaluators of the bunch. 2 customers asked me for a card or how to get ahold of me... They seemed to gravitate to these guitars! One of the other shops' employees builds amps and he was setting up the bias and such on one of them for a musician (Funky level of player) that was going to be using it that night for a gig and they both decided to use my padauk guitar as the guitar of choice (over everything in the store) as the reference to set up the amp!!! I kind of know what I would have to build them for price-wise and I will have to look much more seriously into either making jigs for this design and/or getting them manufactured (are you listening, Carvin?!). They were a HUGE hit at the various shops!!!! All features I incorporated into them were immediately acknowledged and appreciated... They weren't sure why they felt so comfortable until I pointed out the offset waistline which positions the guitar so well and then the lightbulb came on...!! Anyway, I'm really babbling... HOLY CRAP... My wife is on her way back from the Renaissance Faire with one of the music performers' prized guitar with the hole warn through the top that he wants the top replaced on... He loves the work Tim and I did on my homebuild that he wants US to do the work!!!!! My wife told him that we (Tim and I) have never tried doing anything like that before but that we would do our very best and would do it much cheaper than anyone else would ever do it as it would probably be too expensive to do otherwise... He said he had faith in us and just handed her the guitar to bring back!!!!!!! Excuse me... I must go $hit myself now... Boggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted July 18, 2004 Report Share Posted July 18, 2004 Unanimous and most enthusiastic thumbs up by all at 5 guitar shops! One of the evaluators is a luthier and he put a value of the padauk one at a $2000 selling price... Tell him to buy it from you for $2000, and then see his reaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Unanimous and most enthusiastic thumbs up by all at 5 guitar shops! One of the evaluators is a luthier and he put a value of the padauk one at a $2000 selling price... Tell him to buy it from you for $2000, and then see his reaction. He builds his own. Why would he want to buy mine? You had to see his archtop he made... Beautiful piece of work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 swoosh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Nothin' but net...!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 What im getting at is.... Most people are full of praise until they have to take on your work. $2000 is a huge call, and if you challenged him to take your guitar, his reaction would speak volumes about his sincerety (sp?). Not saying it aint worth that, just making comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maher Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Congratz man, $2000! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 The range of estimates from all 5 shops were from $1500 to $2000... The high price came from the luthier. Not too shabby for a first time effort! I understand your drift, rhoades. No dis taken in the slightest... Boggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 While it's true that people rarely (especially to your face) will say something negative about a thing that you've hand-crafted, it's not likely that these people would be saying $1500-2000 just to be nice. If it was a piece of crap and they just wanted to be polite, they'd probably say $900-1000 (even if in reality they'd only give $100). So, I'm taking it as a good sign. The guitar REPAIR, on the other hand-- I'm shitting bricks on your behalf. If you make it clear to him that you have practically nothing for experience and he still wants you to do it, well that's pretty cool. Otherwise, you might be better off giving it back to him for a while. On the other hand, no matador ever won a set of bull's ears by hiding behind the wall. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 Thanks, man. My wife told him of our lack of experience and I told him of our lack of experience. He knows. He just has faith based on our work with building the others, I guess... and of the work we did resetting the neck of my 12-string and my work on leveling the fingerboard and building up the bridge of it, etc. I told him all that is involved in replacing a top. He didn't hedge. Now, I must live up to that faith shown in us. Boggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 If you guys are trying to start a business you are definitely on your way! Word gets around fast and the financial potential in making quality instruments/repairs can be immense. Case in point, here is a website of a local luthier. Have a good look at her work and her prices. Manzer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 Thanks for the support and well wishes, all... It means a lot to this amateur! Boggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 If you guys are trying to start a business you are definitely on your way! Word gets around fast and the financial potential in making quality instruments/repairs can be immense. Case in point, here is a website of a local luthier. Have a good look at her work and her prices. Manzer Hardly a good example, it has only taken 30 years to get to those prices. Most luthiers struggle to survive, no matter how good they are. Some are simply lucky.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maher Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 are you starting a repair shop i want to do that someday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 I hope to someday be able to supplement my income through repairing, setting up, fixing up and reselling guitars, and maybe building a few new ones. I would never expect to make a living off of it alone, but it would give me something useful to do during my retirement that might give me a little spending money. Right now, I am learning by doing. I need to aquire a lot of tools to make it efficient enough to make any money at it. I don't want to work on expensive gear. I want to work on beginner and intermediate gear to make "newbies" want to play their instruments because they are easier to play and sound good. That's my goal. I'm not in it to build up my ego. I would like to be able to inspire others to play their guitars and to learn how to work on them themselves... and maybe take the plunge to building one! Boggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 Hardly a good example, it has only taken 30 years to get to those prices. Most luthiers struggle to survive, no matter how good they are. Some are simply lucky.... I'd say thats a good example to illustrate the potential for guitar building/repair as a business. Shes been selling guitars at those prices for many years now and her waiting list is backlogged 3 yrs plus, even when building 15 + guitars a year. Don't under rate the potential, anything is possible. Most luthiers are struggling because all they know is guitar building but they have no idea how to market themselves and establish a reputation where it counts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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