First sale of a homemade ...

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ED (Bad Finger) on May 5, 2012 at 9:13am

Popular question here. I thought I would sell a few to support the habit and found after my first sale I didn't like letting go. I have too much personal inspiration tied up in them to put on a price. They might not be the best builds or best sounding, but they were made by me and to see them change hands for $100 or $200 is a disappointment TO ME.

My advice is not to sell your favorite one. I've had to make this same decision. If you are going to sell, then make a git with that specific purpose in mind and keep your price up there. You don't have to justify it to anyone if it's $250. It's your creation as much art as craft. A price you feel good about at least means you will be happy with the money and you won't have a regret for letting it go for $60. If someone wants to shop for a guitar it is different than if they want to buy YOUR guitar.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rich on May 5, 2012 at 9:37am

Thank you for the input. I was hoping for a reply just like this. Good advice.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rusty Pup (Mark) on May 5, 2012 at 9:15am

Just me talking here as a woodworker, and free advice is worth every penny you pay for it. Figure how many hours you have into it and apply a decent wage to that total. Then look around for another comparable guitar and use that as a guideline. Come up with a price and tell the prospective buyer. If they're happy with it, great. If they want to haggle, figure out your rock bottom price and don't budge on it. If they want it, they'll pay you for it. On the other hand, I tend to price things on the high side, then let folks negotiate me down to what I wanted for it in the first place. Kind of manipulative, but it works.

Good luck!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rich on May 5, 2012 at 9:41am

That sounds better than what I was gonna do -  Start at a price, no haggle. This way I may get more than my bottom price.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Randy S. Bretz on May 5, 2012 at 9:18am

I sold one about 5 years ago and haven`t sold one since...just couldn`t get myself to part with another one. But bein i do a steady sales on my slides and custom bridges, keepin all my builds works out nice.Maybe someday i`ll thin down the herd and get rid of a few, but in no rush...to date i have 36.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on May 5, 2012 at 9:19am

time and emotional investment  is  yours  .  they  have none  in it ,,  hence  its  hard to  charge them for it .

you  kinda  have to  sell one  to  feel  the  rewards  of your  labour   through someone else .   that's your payment  .

 

of course   ..  you  can add a few  bucks   for  your time  . 

 but   your   emotional  investment and craftmanship  will sell the next one . think  of it as paying for advertising .   

 they will tell others  ..

by the same tokin ,   a crappy   slapped together  pice of crap, with  no  thought  put into it   .. people  will  hear about too  .. and your   wont be selling many more .

  hope that helps  ;-)

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on May 5, 2012 at 9:52am

Parting with em is hard eh

Don't name a price, ask ppl for an offer you might be surprised. The first person to put a figure in the table is at a disadvantage in any negotiation

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lonman on May 5, 2012 at 9:52am

I love this topic. I finally had an opportunity to sell some (I only had 4 for sale at a high school craft fair) I like you, build for the enjoyment and I enjoy playing them, but it is hard for me to play them all for any length of time. I also do not have the room to keep them. When I thought what price to put on them, I simply asked myself, "what would I pay for that". That really ended my dilemma. I did make $$ back for costs to build and the time and so forth. If you are happy with the price that someone pays (it is only work as much as someone will pay) then its a win-win all around. In case you are interested to see what I sold, they were the small checkerbox guitar and the diamond yellow top fretless CBG, seen on my pictures page. I still have the Ghiradelli tin and the wine box reso. Good luck on your sale.  ~ Lonman

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Don Barnhill on May 5, 2012 at 11:07pm

I agree with The Phrygian Kid. When I used to make custom jewelry for people, I had a box of gem stones and they would choose the stones they liked and I would ask them how much they wanted to spend and usually it was quite a bit more than I had in mind. Sometimes 10 times more. Let the customer tell you what they are looking to spend. If it's too low of an offer tell them it's worth more than that. Ed's advice is right on.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on May 6, 2012 at 4:07pm

Material cost x 2. Hours you spent on it, use what you get paid at your day job, this work should be no less than that per hour. Depending on what you do you may need to charge more for your time. Don't short change yourself.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rich on May 11, 2012 at 11:45pm

Thanks guys. This homemade guitar has made a metamorphosis. I got a good price and the buyer was happy.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lonman on May 12, 2012 at 10:07am

Rich, great- a win-win. That is a super plus.

• ▶ Reply