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I sold it used (it's been my beater/experiment for more a couple of years) to the first Jo Public that tried it.
Went into a guitar shop basically just for an opinion, they said it was great, but their customers are basically only interested in brand name guitars, which is what I expected.
Anyway, this customer was in the shop next to me, just in for a pick and strings, and I asked if he played.
The upshot was he tried it in the shop (with owner's permission), we haggled a bit and he bought it cash on the spot.
He's happy, I got my money back for all the materials (and maybe 25 cents/hour), and have learned a lot from it.
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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Congrats. Colin.
Now you have to make another one or two.

Mike

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Mike Collins

Hey ya gotta love that.

That's awesome! Congrats.

Nice!

And now you spent it on a little saw which will help you make the next one better/faster, and so on it goes...

Well done, Colin! Here's to many more!

Good deal on your sale...

it should show the store owner that some of his customers are open to purchase other than 'brand name' guitars
....I hope you were able to give the store owner some of the money from the sale, since it was his store that facilitated the sale...
maybe you can build one and have it hung in the store for future customers. If your builds have good fit and finish and sound and play well, you'll sell guitars.
congratulations!
jack

Ummmm... now that you have posted it on the internet, uncle sam gets his share right? There goes the .25/hour. Don't worry, the new friendlier IRS will make a deal for payment over time.

Congrats!

BUT... I have to comment on your smooth pick-up line. A guy is in a music store, buying picks and string and you ask if he plays... brilliant!!

Reminds me of a time when i first got out of HS and went to a bar in NYC (Back when the drinking age was reasonable) and i noticed a cute girl kept looking over at me... so I walked over and I saw she was drawing my portrait, so i brilliantly asked, "Did you just draw that?". That pretty much ended the conversation. Glad yours worked out better!

Congrats, Colin! I hope you took some pictures before it left for it's new home to show us.
I don't think the IRS has enough reach to get you, though!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Congrats Colin - that's a big step and something to be very, very proud of too!

Good going!

Cool story and congrats on making the sale! I agree that throwing a little love to the shopkeeper might be a smart move. You never know, it could be the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship.

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George :-)

Congrats also on a real milestone!!! Agree with Jack and George that it might be good to develop a relationship with that shop owner, since he now knows that some of his customers might be interested in something other than a brand name. I would, however, give myself a rasie, if I were you. I too would like to see a few pictures of that guitar, if you get have them. Anyway, good for you Colin.

Jack, George and Martin make a good point... Hourly rate may go down but it's academic really.

Love it. Way to go!!!

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EddieLee

Well, how do I say this.
The guy running the store had just told me it looked, sounded and played really nice, but he (quote) "wouldn't give it wall space because it may detract from sales of the 140+ Taylor, Takamine and Tanglewood etc etc, guitars on his wall which was all his customers wanted" and the best thing I could do was put it on an auction site (like craigs list) suggesting a price range.
When I spoke to the customer, I was just looking for another opinion on the guitar, and I did ask the owner's permission to do this in the shop.
I handed it over out of sight of the store - he had to go to the bank anyway for cash (he asked the store owner where the nearest bank was...)
I then went back with him to buy a case for my ex-guitar from the shop, so the store got its cut.
Mind you, the buyer asked for my details to pass on to a friend who might be interested in a commission.
So I did feel a bit cheeky asking for a business card from the shop to write my name and phone numbers on for him.
But I will admit to taking some guilty pleasure in it.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Pics in thread here http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=40344&hilit=+monster

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

wonderful news, way to go Colin. now you have to increase those 25 cents/hour...

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement.

Mike/Mikey/Michael,
Thanks for the congrats, and the next one is half way there, next again in the planning (Parlor/Classical).

Meddlingfool – TAS is a terrible thing!

Hi five for Hesh.

Mqbernardo – yes, move the decimal point a couple of places to the right would be just about right!

I forgot to mention, the store also said they would have to take 20% V.A.T. (sales tax) - on top of at least 20% commission = 40% of the selling price - 400 greenbacks out of $1000 - Not going to happen.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Wait, they wanted to charge YOU 20% tax??? That makes no sense.


Ken Jones
Mountain Song Guitars

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Colin my friend a couple of things to consider if I may please.

First - regarding selling though music stores here is what I learned when I did this, sold though a music store.

These days, at least on this side of the pond, Mom and Pop music stores are closing all over the county.... It's also not uncommon to see a store pack it in and hang it up without even attempting to sell the store.

Why? Internet competition.... Things are sold on price and sadly on price alone. Traffic in music stores is often with smart phone in hand and savvy enough to check prices on that Taylor or Tak. Folks these days use the brick and mortar stores as "show rooms" to go try stuff out and then often they go to Guitar Center or on-line to MusiciansFriend or Sweetwater, etc to make the purchase actually adding to the sad plight of the traditional music store.

What this often means to the customer is that they are purchasing an instrument, at times sight unseen.... on price and since customers can't know what they are in for they rarely realize that one of the best value-adds that traditional music stores did for folks was to take the f*ctory instruments and pass them through the repair department at the store to have them properly set-up. Even many Mom and Pop stores are not setting up instruments these days because of the small margins and again Internet competition where price seems to dictate for many....

So Mr. and Mrs. customer takes the new ax home from say GC never knowing or understanding that the f*ctory set-up may suck so badly that the instrument with high action is best relegated to slicing hard boiled eggs or cheese.... Just made myself hungry here...

With all of this in mind, an understanding of the world of the music store owner, the market, and ultimately and most importantly the buying "styles" of Mr. and Mrs. Customer we, individual builders can use this understanding to better position ourselves to realize economic success through the selling of our creations by addressing some of the above.

So the pitch to the store is, when looking for a place to sell your stuff, that what you have represents real differentiation from other stores and Internet resellers in so much as it's one-of-a-kind and not something that everyone else has. Many music store are going the boutique music store route these days in exactly an effort to do something that the Internet resellers can't do. As such they may specialize in vintage and used stuff and this is also where individual builder offerings come into play as well.

What you offer is different, superbly set-up and ready to go making sweet music with the only thing being needed to add here is a happy customer to be the new steward of the instrument.

If you get my drift here my point is that what we do IS different, often one of a kind, often better made in my view too... and very capable of being just as individual as the clients themselves AND the music that they produce.

That's the pitch and it works because it understands and meets the needs ($$$) of the concerns of music store owners and managers.

Consignment sales can be good to do especially if you can hold the line at 15% consignment and have a decent relationship with the store owner.

Regarding selling spec stuff vs. commissions. I successfully avoided doing commission work with my own stuff for lots reasons:

1) If I had to look at someone else's idea of what a guitar should be for say 150 - 200 hours I would go nuts and likely not even want to complete the thing...

2) Many commissions may be personalized either in design, woods, or perhaps even personal inlays that may flip the switch of the prospective client but may also be impossible to sell to anyone else if and when the customer backs out of the deal. Not easy to sell a guitar with someone else's girlfriend's name on the fret board....

3) Stuff happens. In the time that it takes to do the commission deal and then build the instrument folks can have life events, not always good events either, that can cause them to back out of the deal.

4) Through the years with my own forum participation and personal friendships with many, many Luthiers I have heard one sad story after another about how some commission deals go south. And if you guessed that it's often the builder/Luthier who gets screwed you guessed correctly.

5) A commission build has to be eventually delivered. Thing can go south on the build as well. Where with spec guitars only after the instrument is completed and YOU are completely satisfied that you want it out there with your name on it you retain complete control of what the world sees from you and your work. If one turns out well enough and you want to sell it - go for it. If you are not happy with it take it out back and shoot it. It's all up to you!

So I just stayed with building what I was interested in, which was more fun for me by the way... and when the current guitar was finished if I didn't want it, have someone to give it to, and wanted to sell it I simply hung it in my shop and repair clients would invariably see it and ask to try it. This led to sales. At times I hung them in the "qualified" music store and by qualified I mean that they understood product differentiation and were chasing that boutique music store vibe in their own efforts to survive the relentless decay that has happened to brick and mortar stores because of Internet competition.

Anyway sorry to be long winded but I thought that I could give you some ideas that may help you now that you have officially gone commercial with your guitar building!

Congrats again!

there is a big difference between hobby and pro. I sell my guitars through a well known dealer . I found working through small Mom and Pops seldom worked out. The Internet is a wonderful medium , but doing this for a living , or even a serious hobby , the fastest way to go out of business it by going in too soon.
I know how cool that first sale is but be honest with yourself.
Hesh points out some good things to think about. Keep working on details. Look for your weakpoints and strengthen them.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

The way it works is the store selling the item has to pay to the Government 20% "Value Added Tax"
So, $800 guitar's sells to the customer for $1,000, and $200 must be paid to the Government.
Make sense?
Does for the Government...... Tax you when you earn it, then tax you on the same money when you spend it.
Two bites at the cherry. Good business.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Point(s) taken.
Thanks for spelling things out.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

OK..
Maybe I gave the wrong impression here.
I am building about 1 guitar/year.
I don't get out a lot.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Hey Colin, Congratulations on your first sale!

I am sure it makes you feel pretty good knowing that the first person that you talked to bought it. And I bet he is a happy guy.

I understand where you are coming from in your excitement. I am not even finished with my first but have fantasies of people appreciating my work enough to want to buy them.

Well... a guy can dream can't he?


The difference is yours came true...

Now get back in the shop and stop gloating

Cheers,
Bob