p90jr Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 But... beginners tend to buy new guitars. Even beginners who've advanced but are still young teens (the reason I spent $735 on a new Yamaha SC 400 - truly a well-made and great playing and sounding guitar that helped my playing make great leaps of advancement, if a bit dated-looking now and small for my "adult" frame - instead of stocking up on all those vintage Jazzmasters and Jaguars and Fender Bassman heads that littered pawn shops here for $50-100 each at the time and needed TLC... my parents were against me "getting ripped off with junk"... and the same reason I can't talk friends out of spending too much on a Squier Strat pack for their kids instead of letting me find them an orphaned MIM Strat for cheaper and the same amp for $20)... and this is about the future, as in "the kids." So it's a good gauge of that, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p90jr Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 An article by the writer of the NYTimes piece, about the piece. How Much Did This Guitar Story Cost Me? $2,376.99 The story behind my story on the death of the electric guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d halfnote Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Yes, as I have learned looking into this article, tryna get statistics is an expensive enterprise. Basically ya can't fact check the story b/c the cheapest place I've seen for info on gtr sales for recent yrs is almost $100 for a basic list. However, I wonder who paid for that info in the case of the NYT story...if it was the writer, I doubt if he made any money from the Times &, were that the case, an experienced writer wouldn't pay for the info w/out an idea he'd make a profit. If t was the NYT, then writer didn't pay all that. :idk Back aft I read the link..... BTW, I came across an article similar to the one from the Times bu in Forbes...2013. This isn't a new thing. ------------------------ Aft reading the 2nd article.... While I, for one, appreciate the time/effort spent in gather that article, it seems a waste of time. Read it yerself. Edgers never adds up the "costs" of his article. What he mainly did was write abt getting an old Supro repaired, something no sensible person would really do. Sure some of those gtrs have been used to great results. Jimbo Page used one early on. Bob Dyl, the singing pickle apparently bought 1 c. USA bicentennial era (can be seen in pix). However---& this is the sort of thing that Edgers doesn't seem to know---y'can get a great basic beginner electric gtr these days for under $100 bucks. Almost all factory made gtrs are machine made & have the same basic qualities as far as fret placement, etc. There may be an occasional flaw but if y'got a pal that knows what to look for you can easily bypass the flawed gear. Stuff such as pups, etc, can be upgraded at much less cost than buying a "pro level" instrument. ---------------------------------- BTW & FWIW, here's a list that I accumulated & am working my way through looking into this subject: http://valuationresources.com/Reports/SIC5736MusicalInstrumentStores.htm [1] http://www.firstresearch.com/industry-research/Musical-Instrument-Stores.html Excerpt from Musical Instrument Stores Industry Profile Companies in this industry sell new musical instruments, sheet music, and related supplies from physical retail locations; some also offer musical instrument repair, rental, and music instruction. Major companies include Guitar Center and Sam Ash Music (both based in the US), as well as Shumamura Music and Yamano Music (both based in Japan), and Musikhaus Thomann (Germany). The global market for musical instruments and audio equipment was about $17 billion in 2016, according to Music Trades magazine. Key markets include the US, Western Europe, and China. Rising middle-class populations in emerging markets, such as Brazil, are driving growth. The US musical instrument stores industry includes about 3,700 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $4.5 billion. Musical instrument stores and sales have steadily declined as the total number of musicians in America has remained flat or fallen over the past decade. The number of establishments in the US industry fell by 17% between 2007 and 2014. Sales at US musical instrument and supplies stores declined by 21% between 2007 and 2012. [2] http://www.firstresearch.com/industry-research/Musical-Instrument-Manufacturing.html Excerpt from Musical Instrument Manufacturing Industry Profile Companies in this industry are primarily engaged in the manufacture of musical instruments. Major companies include Fender, Gibson Guitar, and Steinway (all based in the US), as well as Roland and Yamaha (both based in Japan) and China's Pearl River Piano. The global market for musical instruments and audio gear is worth some $17 billion, according to The Music Trades. The US, China, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, and South Korea together manufacture about 90% of the world's music and audio gear. Brazil is among the fastest-growing markets for the industry. The US musical instrument manufacturing industry includes about 600 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $2 billion. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE Demand is largely driven by consumer income and education demographics. The profitability of individual companies depends on cost efficiencies. Many large companies benefit by offering a wide range of products. Small companies can compete effectively by specializing in high-end or niche instruments. The US musical instrument manufacturing industry is highly concentrated: the 50 largest companies generate more than 80% of revenue. Imports account for 60% of the US market. The largest supplier to the US is China, which accounted for 42% of imports in 2016. Major export markets for US instruments include Japan, Canada, and the Netherlands. Exports account for about 40% of US production. [3] http://www.musictrades.com/quarterly.html https://www.namm.org/library/playback-magazine...........nat assoc of mus mfg https://www.namm.org/library https://www.census.gov/econ/isp/sampler.php?naicscode=451140&naicslevel=6 http://www.ericgarland.co/2015/04/17/the-radical-future-of-musical-instrument-retail/ http://www.anythingresearch.com/industry/Musical-Instrument-Manufacturing.htm http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/musical-instruments-market http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/musical-instruments-market http://www.musictrades.com/international.html http://brandongaille.com/17-fascinating-guitar-sales-statistics/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/440131/us-guitar-market-retail-sales/ https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/report_electric_guitar__amp_sales_are_heavily_down_acoustic_guitar__pedal_sales_have_strongly_increased.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2013/10/08/the-demise-of-the-electric-guitar-in-music/#6e51c1932295 http://www.reportlinker.com/report/search/theme/guitar https://www.google.com/search?q=gtr+sales+statistics&oq=gtr+sales+statistics&aqs=chrome..69i57.6871j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=guitar+market+trends https://www.google.com/search?q=gtr+sales+statistics&oq=gtr+sales+statistics&aqs=chrome..69i57.6871j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=guitar+demographics https://www.google.com/search?q=gtr+sales+statistics&oq=gtr+sales+statistics&aqs=chrome..69i57.6871j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=guitar+playing+statistics https://www.google.com/search?q=gtr+sales+statistics&oq=gtr+sales+statistics&aqs=chrome..69i57.6871j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=number+of+guitars+sold+per+year https://www.google.com/search?q=gtr+sales+statistics&oq=gtr+sales+statistics&aqs=chrome..69i57.6871j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=guitar+sales+statistics+2016 More & more this sems to be a subject covered by Billy the Shake in his play Much Ado Abt Nothing d=halfnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 It's still the prices on new guitars that are causing the demise IMHO. If you bought a 57 Chevy in the 60's for $400, it would be worth $100,000 today. If you bought a $400 Strat, it would be worth about $3,000 if it was sought after. As a beginner there was no way I could afford a new LP for $400 and I had to settle for a cheap used Silvertone for $60. Then I graduated to a cheap used Pawn Shop Kawaii $150 (this was a major step up to my 1st guitar which was a cheap used acoustic Stella for about $25 bucks LOL! Then I bought a cheap used Aria Jazz box for a couple hundred. Eventually I saved up the $400 bucks and bought that new 72 Deluxe LP. It was my 1st new guitar after playing used ones for about 9 years or so. The best buys are on the used market today and it's giving the big box toys a run for their money IMHO. Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Iverson Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 It's really market saturation, I think. Although "guitar heroes" are not the superstars they used to be, I see no evidence that the guitar (electric or acoustic) is going to disappear in our lifetime. I see lots of people carrying guitar cases here in NYC; presumably, most of them actually PLAY the thing... If Guitar Center is having financial difficulties, it's probably more due to their poor business decisions than to kids no longer buying guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Saturation? No doubt. There DO seem to be far more makes and models of guitars on the market than probably people who PLAY the guitar. And WITHOUT adding the number of those just starting out or just considering taking it up. It seems funny that guitar makers seemed to be doing better when there were LESS players than there are now. That market seems also to have gotten to where the AUTO industry was mid 20th century. Remember how many automobile companies there were once the "horseless carriage" took off? Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.