Official Luthiers Forum!

Go to his website. He has an outline of the contents.

Does anyone know how to order the books? I didn't see an order place on the site.

i:

You wrote me a letter some time ago asking about the availability of my
forthcoming books titled The Responsive Guitar, and Making the
Responsive Guitar. The books will be here by the first of July.

The books are really good, and priced like any textbook -- which they
are. I’m offering them at a pre-publication price of $225 for the set.
Please read further on for explanations, descriptions, and details.

I can’t personally answer everyone who has writen to ask about these,
but I thank you and everyone else who has been in touch with me for
their interest. Many of the letters have been quite warm and personal,
rather than simply being an inquiry. Writers have told me of their love
affair with the guitar, their hopes and struggles with it, and even
bits and pieces of their life stories as they revolve around this
wonderful and fascinating intrument. I thank you all, with this
blanket email of my own.

Some of the mail I received was from individuals who own music stores
and were asking about whether they could sell my books. Of these, I
ask that they get in touch with me again now that my books are nearer
to being a reality. But this letter is about selling one set of the
books to you, at a pre-publication discount.

Let me describe the books. I’ve written two volumes, because there was
that much to say about the guitar. Volume 1 is 350 pages
long, spread
out among 34 chapters on every segment and function of the guitar; it
is about how, how much, and under what conditions guitar makes sound.
It also describes how the modern guitar came to be how and what it is.
Volume 1 is more or less a bible for guitar makers. Volume 2 is 300
pages long, spread out among 32 chapters that are equally
comprehensive; it describes my method for making the guitar in its
various forms: classic, flamenco, and steel string. It describes my
shop, my techniques, my tools, my jigs, my templates, and my work
focus. It also presents alternative methods for accomplishing various
specific tasks and procedures.

I have power tools, of course, but I do an awful lot of my work with
hand tools even this late in my career, and this is part of the
methodologies that I explain. Finally, this book gives more detailed
information about the specific tasks and skills of making a guitar both
playable and playing in tune, than other texts on lutherie do.

These books will be in hard cover, printed on good quality paper.
Volume 1 has a lovely 32-page color photograph section (most of the
photos and figures in both volumes will be in black and white), and
both have beautifully designed dust jackets, full lists of sources and
resources, bibliographies, glossaries, and indices.

After much thought I’ve decided to price these at $140 each, or $250
for20the set (plus shipping and handling). These prices are
significantly higher than most books on lutherie that are on the market
today. But they are very much in line with the cost of pretty much any
textbook in any college or university. These are both high-quality
textbooks that are brimming with non-technical and easily
comprehensible information of a kind that is available nowhere else.
Keeping in mind that it is common to spend this much money on a single
set of guitar wood from any lutherie supplier, I think they’re pretty
cheap.

I’m trying to raise money at this time to pay for the second half of
the printing costs. So, as I mentioned above, I’m sending this letter
out to offer them at a pre-publication discount price: a flat $225 for
the set (including shipping, handling, and whatever taxes may apply).
For an additional $10, I will sign them and attribute them.

I’m also planning to have printed a limited collector’s edition, bound
in leather, with fine slipcovers, and with all the bells and whistles
that really fine books deserve. They will be more expensive, of
course, and hopefully will become heirlooms. Let me know if you are at
all interested in any of these.

If you’re interested in this offer, please send me a check or money
order in the proper amount to 516 52nd street, Oakland, California,
94609. I will send you a receipt for20your payment, and when the books
are in my possession I will send them to you.

Yours truly, Ervin Somogyi

Is this a bad time to point out that textbooks are priced the way they are because students have to buy them? Literally, they have no choice.

They are also priced that way because, as books go, they are relatively low volume sellers. The market for a book of this type is pretty small. It won't make the NY Times Best Sellers list. The price has to be pretty high to recoup the costs of publishing. Text books are also changed frequently, so every year there is a different publication.

Flori F, have you ever met Ervin?

Sit and have coffee with him and you will walk away a better builder.


Lets stop trying to put a dollar value on his work. It is after all - his work. He can charge what ever he wants. The market will tell us/him whether or not its worth it.

At the same time, I find this talk of Somogyi "not doing it for the money" a bit incongruous. Isn't this description from the email an attempt to sell a product?
"These books will be in hard cover, printed on good quality paper.
Volume 1 has a lovely 32-page color photograph section (most of the
photos and figures in both volumes will be in black and white), and
both have beautifully designed dust jackets, full lists of sources and
resources, bibliographies, glossaries, and indices."

The paper is "good quality" the photograph section "lovely," the dust jackets "beautifully designed." What is that but an attempt to describe to someone how nice the product will be and to justify the price tag? It also indicates (to me, at least) that Somogyi feels the price needs justification. Speaking of the price, at its current level Somogyi only needs to sell 120 copies (both volumes) to recoup 30k.