Official Luthiers Forum!

The newest Luthier Tips du Jour instructional video is on Youtube. The topic is meet the player Steve Devries, This is part III of an interview with Steve at the Healdsburg Guitar festival where we discuss what actually makes a guitar marketable. Part III deals with what actually makes a guitar sell. Topics include Headstock design, tuner buttons, body shapes and styles, set up action, soundports, arm bevels and much more. This is valuable information for all luthiers making instruments for sale. Subtitles are available in both English and Portuguese and you can translate them into any other language by using the CC option on Youtube.
As always, comments and discussion are welcome.
Enjoy!

Robbie -

Your videos are excellent and very helpful ! Thank you for documenting everything you learn -

Will you be interviewing and videoing while in Spain as well, specifically a tips video from Romanillos ?

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

Thank you John. Let's see what I have time for while in Spain.

Great stuff in this 3 part series, very interesting. Some questions that come to mind from this is how to form a relationship with a retailer. With the exceptions of some big city shops, most smaller towns the shop is mom and pop and works to maintain some brand name dealerships. How do we appoint, price, and warrantee an instrument to make the dealer want to sell it over a Martin or Taylor, or is that a lost cause. What are some specific price point features that can move the guitar up or down the ladder in price and competitiveness against a high end factory guitar. What is a good instrument to get in the door with, is a new builder better with a basic scantly trimmed but great sounding guitar at $2500, or are you never going to be taken seriously without an appropriately competitive guitar in $7000 range.
To take the advice of the video, an newer builder makes an EIR over Sitka OM with cut away, 1 3/4 x 2 1/4 spacing with a bit of style on the headstock and a gloss finish into a music shop to sell. What can we expect from the initial conversation with the shop owner?
I guess these are questions for part 4 if there will ever be one, I would love to hear from the forum population if others have thoughts on these questions.
Thanks for this and the other videos, all very interesting, informative and enjoyable.
Rob

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This is an excellent discussion and very timely for me in fact. Robbie, I've watched every one of your videos - thank you so much for the wealth of knowledge you make accessible for so many new Luthiers like myself. I really appreciate it.

I hope this discussion takes off. I'm currently building my first custom guitar after having built a couple of kits, with the hopes of displaying the guitar for sale in one of our local guitar shops. A friend of mine and I have just begun our adventures in luthiery and your video above answers a lot of questions we've been discussing lately, including 'what the heck sells!?'

One of the things I'm struggling with is guitar pricing. How the heck do you set an asking price for a guitar you've made? What makes a Martin HD28 a $3600 MSRP guitar? (Besides what Martin tells us it's worth). There seems to be an infinite amount of info on pricing for the guitar repair shop, but for the luthier selling their guitar, there seems to be very little.

My first custom build is a wenge back and sides with an Englemann spruce top, curly maple bindings, Purflex rosette and purflings, maple neck with ebony bridge/fingerboard/headstock. I can figure out how to make a guitar, I just can't figure out how to price 'em! Lmao!

Anyways, looking to hear back from the more experienced guys and gals on this.

Rob

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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
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