Axes of Evil -- Marketing Guitars in a Down Economy

"Talkin' 'bout hard times, who knows better than I?" - Ray Charles

Imagine being the maker of fine guitars in this particular economy. Like autos, you don't turn your design, production and sales strategies around on the turn of a dime; and the economy pretty much tanked seemingly overnight. Meanwhile, the industry seems increasingly clueless as to the needs of the working guitarist -- more and more toys keep getting produced, at the expense of bread and butter tools for making music. 

Case in point: Fender's new idea to create a "Road Worn" series of guitars . It's not a bad idea; we all love the look and feel of guitars that have been through the mill, and there's something very sexy about a Fender Strat or a Tele that has notches, nicks, scrapes and fret wear. It tells you that there are many stories around the guitar, many nights of sweaty, sultry, loud seductions and screams in ill-lit bars and stages; battered days and nights of rehearsals, performances, broken strings, amazing solos, adoring fans. So I see where Fender is going here. Sell the sexy without the sex. 

But really, who wants that? Not players. Collectors who don't play may feel proud to put a guitar that looks beat up on the wall and make up stories about it to admiring guests. But players want the real thing -- players want to put their own miles on a guitar, or buy one that has real wear and tear on it, not some prefabricated ideal. You can't prefabricate history, you have to make it one hard day at a time.

Fender is selling these guitars for a little more than the price of the same guitar without all the manufactured wear and tear, which is, frankly, kind of insulting in this economy. I would urge our friends at Fender to instead start focusing on a quality line of guitars for working players that feature top-notch woods, tuners, bridges, etc., at price points players can afford. Boutique stuff is nice for those for whom price is no object, but please, Fender, don't forget the core constituency here. We are the ones who keep you in business, who have built your brand and rely on your product to tell our stories. Please stop catering so shamelessly to those seeking cachet over utility, or otherwise the market will work its magic, and you will become an obsolete name replaced by hungrier, more responsive companies.

The same is true for Gibson; innovation and modernization is great, and essential, and it's a bold move to delay the launch of Dark Fire , which will apparently play your solos for you, make a chai latte and wash your car. But while you're doing all this great innovative stuff, please continue to focus on your core constituents as well. Gibson guitars have been falling significantly in quality for the past ten years, while the price tags continue to increase. Sure, I'd love a new Firebird from the company that created the guitar, but it's $2,500. I can see paying that for a new Les Paul, but not for a Firebird. Sure, you let me buy the Epiphone version for half the price -- that tells me that if I buy the Gibson model, I'm paying you at least $500 for the cachet of the Gibson logo. Working musicians don't have the luxury of paying for cachet, unless they're working in places like coliseums. Have your brilliant minds come together to figure out how to make great guitars at prices more in line with the players who play them.

I believe in market forces, sure. And the guitar market has plenty of room for collectors with tons of money to throw around for collectables. But what's happening with the top two guitar brands is a little scary, frankly. It feels like both companies are catering to beginners and collectors, and not so much on the players any more. It would be encouraging if both companies released a product or two that was aimed at guitarists who knew what they wanted, and what they were doing, and what they were willing to pay for such an instrument. 

I'm not yelling, I'm just saying. . .