Project fully funded in April...3 string "build yourself" guitar kit. Almost $25,000 raised!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on March 11, 2011 at 5:01pm

Gotta love it tho. Great for the kids.

 

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Vinter on March 11, 2011 at 5:24pm

too bad they are planning on charging 215$ , you can get a cheap electric kit for what 125$ with an amp? cool business model but not for the price

Wes "Moanin' Mule" Yates said:

Gotta love it tho. Great for the kids.

 

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on March 11, 2011 at 5:43pm

Yes, I agree the price seems a little stiff, but if it ever would reach the national advertising level, say as a TV commercial, it should do well. I am very interested in seeing what happens. Regardless, very impressive the money he raised in donations to start a business. Very slick promotion. Maybe the real gem is in learning a new way to start a business using the internet! Enjoy. 

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Permalink Reply by joe cerroni on March 11, 2011 at 7:10pm

That's lame.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on March 12, 2011 at 2:03am

I saw this and felt it was an interesting college project. I reckoned that he just needed to out-source it to China and get a distribution deal....(well, "just" is downplaying it a lot, that's big task), but the pricepoint looks way off in my view. You can buy a McNally Strumstick for WAY less than that. Well, marketing and setting the price is all about how big your cojones are....

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Permalink Reply by MBliss on March 12, 2011 at 7:52am

Here is an excerpt from an exchange I had with Rafaal a while back while he was canvassing for donations for his start-up funding:

 

Just discovered your project and wanted to share some thoughts after reading your presentation.
 
First off, great concept, nearly spot-on.
 
My first concern is that the price point is a little high, kits at $215 will have a hard time in a market where you can buy something like a Squire strat copy, complete starter kit with practice amp for less.
 
Next, one suggestion for tweaking the presentation, it is biased towards the kids. Adults love this stuff. A little more push there would help you in the long run. The picture of the dad and daughter should have had him playing a long necked Loog instead of the conventional acoustic 6 string. Maybe the conventional 6 string should have been sitting nearby in the back ground.
 
My next suggestion would be an expansion of the concept.
1: Optional necks without the toyish fretmarkers.
2: Optional 4 string necks/hardware.
3: optional piezo pickups and a line of inexpensive practice amps, possibly re-branded practice amps. Take a look at the "Honeytone" battery powered practice amp, its cheap and sounds great! http://cgi.ebay.com/Danelectro-Honeytone-N10-Mini-Guitar-Amp-Aqua-/...
4: Optional metal string upgrades, Optional open tuning upgrades, etc.
 
There is a large underground movement building home made 3 and 4 string instruments, Potential sales of kits and parts by adults who want to play traditional, folk, blues and old time music is pretty large. I think there is a market for selling individual parts as well as kits here. Nearly all these groups have classified/for sale sections where you could list these products. You should also consider banner ads on some of these sites.
But again, your projected price points may hinder your overall success!
 
A few examples:
 
www.cigarboxnation.com
 
http://handmademusic.ning.com/
 
http://homegrownmusiccollective.com/
 
http://www.tedcrocker.com/cigarbox.html

 

I really appreciate the intentions toward getting this to kids, as I love to see young people involved in music. But the success of this business model may depend on a much broader market base.

 

As an example, if you were in production now, and offered a 24" three stringed model (without the fret markers and pick guard please) that was srung with bronze acoustic strings and tuned GDg, at for example $149.99, I would buy one on the spot. If the neck build and fretting were decent I would buy two more.

Oh and I nearly forgot, you need to have a left handed player option too.

 

The options are pretty vast, with just the offering of various nut/string packages you could offer models in with the short neck to be tuned as ukeleles, 4 stringed mandolins, long necks as dulcimers, tenor guitars, four stringed banjos, etc. etc.

 

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on March 12, 2011 at 8:51am

I feel it is just a matter of time until we see a large coorporation picking up on a 3 string guitar or CBG. I am still really impressed by his funding campaign. The style of guitar reminds me of Swedish Furnature like IKEA sells. I could see this in their store. The price might be slightly high, but that would come down with a larger market. Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts. Enjoy.     

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Permalink Reply by jason fitzgibbons on March 12, 2011 at 2:01pm

if i had kids they wouldn't want a lame looking guitar like that

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on March 12, 2011 at 5:43pm

Agreed. Way to $$. But they are cute.

 

-WY

Vinter said:

too bad they are planning on charging 215$ , you can get a cheap electric kit for what 125$ with an amp? cool business model but not for the price

Wes "Moanin' Mule" Yates said:

Gotta love it tho. Great for the kids.

 

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Bluesdog on March 13, 2011 at 7:39am

So this is a shop set-up on donation money? Smart idea, a bit shameless in asking a high price when you where basicly just given the money but none the less a good idea to get your shop up and running.

 

25 grand buy's a lot of timesaving tools and cheap but usable wood.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on March 13, 2011 at 8:05am

Hello Bluesdog. I am not sure, but I am assuming the guitars are being manufactured in China. I have some knowledge of this. Start up cost for the design and prototype can be in the $10,000 range to manufacture a guitar. Full size guitars that may sell for $500 can then be produced for about $100 each. Besides raising the money, the work is in the promotional advertising and distribution to sell enough units to pull a good profit. I agree with you. Using the internet to get "donations" to start a business with a slick promotional campaign is truly the most interesting part of this presentation. Taking a CBG type idea to market is a promising concept. No major manufacture is producing a 3 string instrument commercially "yet". Thank you for your comment. Enjoy.     

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Permalink Reply by Bluesdog on March 13, 2011 at 9:31am

I get the advesrtising bit but c'mon, you can buy 6 string kits for half of what this guy is asking from "reputable" compagny's like Boston while this guy is just starting out and (no offence) could just aswell be selling crap.

 

It may be a promising concept but there are compagny's out there making simular instruments in a pretty comercial setting like McNally's strumstick or Elderly Instruments selling cbg's at the same price or cheaper for a finished product instead of a kit that need's finishing.

 

They are cute and probibly sound good too i'll give you that, but for a compagny that's set-up by goodwill, no loan to pay back to a bank or such and sells imported stuff that's probibly being mass produced in factories the price is just way to high for me.

 

It also seems strange to me that a young compagny askes so much money for a product they are just starting out with, most of the times a starting compagny sell's their product cheaper to get their name out there and later raise it.

 

I do like the goodwill concept though, great way to start a buisniss!! Me thinks my next project will be a collection box hehehe

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