The electric guitar is in decline?

The slow death of the electric guitar (Washington Post)

quote:

---

In the past decade, electric guitar sales have plummeted, from about 1.5 million sold annually to just over 1 million. The two biggest companies, Gibson and Fender, are in debt, and a third, PRS Guitars, had to cut staff and expand production of cheaper guitars. In April, Moody’s downgraded Guitar Center, the largest chain retailer, as it faces $1.6 billion in debt. And at Sweetwater.com, the online retailer, a brand-new, interest-free Fender can be had for as little as $8 a month.

What worries Gruhn is not simply that profits are down. That happens in business. He’s concerned by the “why” behind the sales decline. When he opened his store 46 years ago, everyone wanted to be a guitar god, inspired by the men who roamed the concert stage, including Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and Jimmy Page. Now those boomers are retiring, downsizing and adjusting to fixed incomes. They’re looking to shed, not add to, their collections, and the younger generation isn’t stepping in to replace them.

---

Because new Gibsons and Fenders are shite...and the smart money buys them 20+ years older for the quality.

I mean, DUh.

This stuff is cyclical. All it will take is one young guitar god and laptops won't be the coolest thing going anymore.

quote:

---

I've been waiting for the trombone to come back ever since Glenn Miller went down

---

I have no doubt that if you start walking around with a trombone in a place like Brooklyn people will think you're a genius ahead of your time.

Millennials will eventually decide that cigar box guitars are where it's at.

Big part of it is demographics.

Rock and roll and modern country are the primary genres using the electric guitar, and they are almost exclusively the domain of non-Hispanic whites.

And they ain't makin' them as much as they used to.

The author used a few manufacturers (albeit large ones) and a few retail vendors to attempt to depict the overall health and forecast for the market. Where the author and the WP failed - and miserably IMHO - is it included no information, not even anecdotal, on the used guitar market. No mention whatsoever of the huge hit traditional retail (even with market shifts from brick and mortar to online storefronts) have taken by Craigslist, eBay, now Reverb, etc.

Nor the hit those few major manufacturers cited have taken due to pure market saturation on their part at all price points.

And even with all the manufacturers of clones, booteeks, Asian forgeries, etc., with which they compete, there is no question in my mind Fender and Gibson's biggest competitors are their own products, products that basically replicate the same things they have been making for decades, in an absolutely flooded used market.

The story reported none of that.

How many of you guys buy new and only new, and then buy only products spit out by the big three? See my point?

"In the past decade, electric guitar sales have plummeted, from about 1.5 million sold annually to just over 1 million." I'm actually surprised (pleasantly) it's in seven figures.

I'll agree there are a lack of iconic heroes to carry and pass the torch and that today's young people are being drawn to other instruments/means to make music. The rest of their story, meh, a very weak story line very poorly reported.

I've been trying off and on to purchase a Les Paul for about 10 years now but just can't pull the trigger. The price and craftsmanship lines don't cross correctly.

The Standard model starts around ~$2200 and just isn't worth that. Neither is their ~$5400 VOS series.

A luthier made my last two guitars. One was an exchange for a favor so it only cost parts, the other was a bit north of $1000 for full cost. They have no resale value but they are constructed out of beautiful woods and play fantastic.

To pick on Gibson a bit. This luthier has a CNC machine that still operates on Windows XP. A CNC machine takes 75 percent of the labor cost out of making a guitar by hand. Insert wood, press button, drink coffee, wait for roughed out body parts.

What's wrong with Gibson is their gimmicky marketing department. Don't sell me a brand - sell me a guitar. There is no need to have such diversity in models, features, and farkles.

Lastly, to paraphrase a friend who was employed by Gibson: 'One of their owners is high functioning retard with the business sense of a squirrel.'

If I had $1000 and wanted a player guitar I'd buy a a pointy headstock Charvel.

Still want a Les Paul though . . .

quote:

---

I've been waiting for the trombone to come back ever since Glenn Miller went down

---

I thought you lived in or around NOLA. Troy Andrews ring a bell?