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.
![[:Y:]](./images/smilies/smiley20.gif "Thumbs Up")
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