Recession is over, judging by new catalog

[blueman335]

Good news, apparently while we were sleeping, the world-wide recession has ended. Looking at the new American Music Supply catalog, there's no other explanation. No sane company would think they could sell guitars at these prices when people had stopped buying almost every other consumer item except food. Because if the economy was still in the toilet, charging prices like this would be equivalent to the auto makers converting their entire lines over to luxury gas-guzzlers. But we know that the car makers, and guitar makers, are in always our corner, looking out for us while we were losing our jobs & houses. Thank God that's behind us. Happy days are here again.

Gibson, long known for giving value for the workingman:
- LP Jr.: A true bare bones guitar if ever there was one, a mere $839, and $350 more than a nearly identical single PU Melody Maker. You're getting your money's worth here.
- '61 SG for $2,000, whereas the Historic SG is $3,100 (same guitar, same PU's, the main difference being the maestro vibrato). Maestros retail for what, a couple hundred after markup?
- LP Custom: $3,900, compared to the Std which is only $2,500, the main difference being the gold hardware & black plastic parts. But it's still a bargain compared to the "Class 5" quilt top LP at $4,700. That's some pretty nice quilt, you can be sure. Of course, technically you could buy another guitar for the difference in price.
- Dot 335: Only $400 extra for a flame maple top. You'd think for $2,700 flame would come standard. But hey, money's made to be spent.

Not wanting to be outdone by Gibson, let's see what the boys at Fender have been up to:
- '52 Hot Rod Tele, a mere $2,150 for a non-vintage vintage. The raw materials on this can't cost more than a couple hundred dollars.
- Clapton Strat $2,000. Didn't these used to be $1,300 about a year ago? Ditto for SRV & Yngwie Strats.
- '62 Jaguar: $1,900 gets you one of the ugliest guitars ever designed.
_ And of course, my personal favorites, the Road Worn series, "authentically aged to perfection", that someone else has beat the crap out of, so you don't have to feel bad when your toddler attacks your guitar with the family silverware while you're sleeping. Not like it would effect the resale price, more "road wear."

Get out your credit cards baby, if they're not maxed out already, and lets go shopping!

 

[Huntermb]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

I honestly can't beleive the jump in prices not only inthe higher end stuff but in the lower end series as well. The global economy is drowning and I guess their answer to keep their companies afloat is to raise the prices even higher. I knowthat I for one won't be buying anything from them.

 

[mrturtle_91]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

Guitar prices are ridiculous right now, I hope by the time I can afford more gear prices are way down.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

...here we go again...

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

That's why I shop at my favorite local music store. You might have heard of it, it's called "Craigslist"

They have this amazing policy where dumb guitarists buy stuff they can't possibly afford, then resell almost brand new equipment at a severe loss. They also have another policy, where cool people who simply like to trade up gear offer cool stuff for great prices.

 

[Karmadog777]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

maybe its just where I live, but I have yet to find a good deal on craigslist.Mostly I see people trying to make a mint on crap gear for barely less than it costs new...pawn shops around here are the same way
I have got some good deals on the Bay for guitars but not amps

back to Bluesman335 .....yeh I was thinking the exact same thing when I got my last AMS and MF catalogs.......the deals to be had are scratch&dent and closeout I guess

 

[FretFire]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

When companies move less product, they have to raise prices to keep the same amount of overall cash coming in.

 

[Huntermb]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

I wonder how long till Fender and gibson and a few others are applying for a "bailout".

 

[Wonker]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

Buy used that's what i do.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

I honestly can't beleive the jump in prices not only inthe higher end stuff but in the lower end series as well. The global economy is drowning and I guess their answer to keep their companies afloat is to raise the prices even higher. I knowthat I for one won't be buying anything from them.

Growth is negative and inflation is increasing. The economy as a whole is shrinking and the market for guitars is shrinking. Therefore the price per capita increases as manufacturers try to recover sunken costs on existing infrastructure and inventory. Each guitar is more costly to produce in small quantities, than in large quantities.

The answer would seem to be for guitar manufacturers to build simpler, cheaper guitars to meet peoples budgets, but at what point does that dilute the name appeal of your product? There's a very good reason why Gibson resuscitated Epiphone, so they could sell plywood guitars and not dilute the Gibson name.

Gibson has been smarter than Fender in its branding. They took a dead name and made it a market player. They filled their former price point with an inferior replacement and drove up the price of their flagship line to boot!

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

This is why I am going custom. I can have a custom made singlecut done for $1,800, with basic specs I want. For fancy maple top and custom inlays, it'd run me about $2,200. www.stambaughdesigns.com

 

[John Wymore]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

I think this may have something to do with the dollar gaining some strength again, at least on the import stuff.

I am also not so sure the music industry is in a slump. My revenue is up about 30% over this time last year so things are getting better, not worse in my case. I think Musicians have always been strapped for cash so situation normal!!!

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

I think this may have something to do with the dollar gaining some strength again, at least on the import stuff.

I am also not so sure the music industry is in a slump. My revenue is up about 30% over this time last year so things are getting better, not worse in my case. I think Musicians have always been strapped for cash so situation normal!!!

I wonder if your sales are up due to people maintaining their instruments better, rather than purchasing new ones?

 

[John Wymore]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

I wonder if your sales are up due to people maintaining their instruments better, rather than purchasing new ones?

I would certainly agree this is true to some extent. My Allparts type items are way up in volume while some of the bigger ticket stuff is off slightly but none more than 10% to 15%.

OTOH, I have had a ton of inquiries on the new DBZ line of guitars and have sold a few prior to them even being officially shipped. So, there are still people out there buying new guitars too!!

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

i'm so glad i bought my Custom Shop strat when i did... i'm not a rich man and i got a hell of a deal below the stores cost just because no one had bought it in over 5 years and they felt it was a boat anchor around the stores neck... the prices on these CS Strats are going from insane to beyond the insane

i have been eyeing more top Fender and Gibson products but it seems i'll just wait and see if something happens... i don't need anything, it's all just GAS... i have what i need and then some to last me for my life time... but i hope to oneday afford the good stuff again...

 

[Huntermb]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

For me I can see companies like Godin getting more of my business and all more parts being bought to restore/rebuild older guitars

 

[spule85]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

yea i baught a guitar just befor christmas aye, was the best buy, over here in perth it retailed for $1400. they then took 20% of after the deposit, then an extra 10-15% of after that because they were clearing the product. which means i got a guitar and hardcase for $1100. was so stolked. best buy ever.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

I wonder if your sales are up due to people maintaining their instruments better, rather than purchasing new ones?

hey that's me!:bling:

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

FWIW, we are just as much to blame for this as anyone else.

We´ve all been supporting the change towards cheap, high volume, offshore manufacturing for decades by our consumption habits. In other words we´ve become greedy and solely concentrated on our own instant gratification. As a result, we´ve shoveled billions if not trillions of dollars into the collective poskets of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese economies, completely oblivious to the fact that this is the reason that so many US companioes went belly up, laid off thosands of people, and continue to do so becasue our own consumption habits still force them to...

Now the direct results of that are slowly coming around to bite us all in the ass....

High unemployment = less money to be spent in our own economy.
+
Lower prices in comparison = less money actually spent in our economy
+
Decades of continued bashing of large, US based manufacturers (regardless of industry) as "Too expensive", "Not innovative enough" and instead buying the "oh so innovative" VCR /Lawsuit Guitar /Automobile that was nothing more than a **** forgery designed to get a foot in the door = Brand value goes down, and with it what people are willing to pay for the product.
+
continued support of the products that are NOW being developed thanks to us fricking ourselves over for 25 years and throwing money at "our enemies" = Not even giving ourselves a fighting chance at coming back.

=

People buying more and more offshore products, because US Products "Aren´t a good value"
=
Less uS products produced in general, and also a continued whittling away of the US workforce and by that the only real consumers we ever had in the first place.
=
Less money for US companies to work with
=
Less innovation and higher prices in the hopes of staying alive
=
even more bashing
=
criticism of the industry as a whole, usually with uninformed laymen making statements about trained craftsmen that have no footing in reality
=
another 5 years that Bob doesn´t get a raise
=
another 5 years that bob is forced to skimp on everything just to get by
=
another 5 years that bob will be spending most of hin money on consumer products produced overseas.
=
another 5 years where it´s not gonna get better
=
5 years that Bob is gonna be pissed off about when he gets his pink slip on Monday after spending 20 years with the company.
=
another unsatisfied, unemployed consumer
=
repeat cycle from beginning until masses become intelligent (highly unlikely) or capitalist democracy implodes resulting in widespread chaos and anarchy (likely within the next 10 years).


Not to mention what this situation has done to the value of the dollar, which suddenly becomes real important when you realize that almost ALL of the raw materials in a guitar come from overseas, where US Dollars are currently just a step above toilet paper ... that alone is a 20% increase, but at least its not so bad becasue the reast of the world will pay double what we have to pay... IF they care more about the US economy than Americans do, which isn´t something I´d bet on, especially considering that US made products were already exhorbitantly expensive everywhere else before the recession got this big. US MSRP was usually LESS than Dealer cost for most products over here, for example. And If you´ll all think quick, MSRP is the superhigh price everyone´s always *****ing about that nobody ever actually pays...

These days almost anyone that purchases an american product is seen as a loon with too much money or a fanboy with too much money. Hmm, how did we get here? Didn´t we used to be the number 1 industrialized nation in the world, with R+D in most fields far surpassing most others? I guess times change, unfortunately people don´t

 

[hanumanlangur]

Re: Recession is over, judging by new catalog

FWIW, we are just as much to blame for this as anyone else.

We´ve all been supporting the change towards cheap, high volume, offshore manufacturing for decades by our consumption habits. In other words we´ve become greedy and solely concentrated on our own instant gratification. As a result, we´ve shoveled billions if not trillions of dollars into the collective poskets of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese economies, completely oblivious to the fact that this is the reason that so many US companioes went belly up, laid off thosands of people, and continue to do so becasue our own consumption habits still force them to...

Now the direct results of that are slowly coming around to bite us all in the ass....

High unemployment = less money to be spent in our own economy.
+
Lower prices in comparison = less money actually spent in our economy
+
Decades of continued bashing of large, US based manufacturers (regardless of industry) as "Too expensive", "Not innovative enough" and instead buying the "oh so innovative" VCR /Lawsuit Guitar /Automobile that was nothing more than a **** forgery designed to get a foot in the door = Brand value goes down, and with it what people are willing to pay for the product.
+
continued support of the products that are NOW being developed thanks to us fricking ourselves over for 25 years and throwing money at "our enemies" = Not even giving ourselves a fighting chance at coming back.

=

People buying more and more offshore products, because US Products "Aren´t a good value"
=
Less uS products produced in general, and also a continued whittling away of the US workforce and by that the only real consumers we ever had in the first place.
=
Less money for US companies to work with
=
Less innovation and higher prices in the hopes of staying alive
=
even more bashing
=
criticism of the industry as a whole, usually with uninformed laymen making statements about trained craftsmen that have no footing in reality
=
another 5 years that Bob doesn´t get a raise
=
another 5 years that bob is forced to skimp on everything just to get by
=
another 5 years that bob will be spending most of hin money on consumer products produced overseas.
=
another 5 years where it´s not gonna get better
=
5 years that Bob is gonna be pissed off about when he gets his pink slip on Monday after spending 20 years with the company.
=
another unsatisfied, unemployed consumer
=
repeat cycle from beginning until masses become intelligent (highly unlikely) or capitalist democracy implodes resulting in widespread chaos and anarchy (likely within the next 10 years).

Zerberus is my hero. :arms: