Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on February 3, 2010 at 8:13am

Folk dont know they are looking for a CBG until they see one......

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Permalink Reply by Michael Gajeski on February 3, 2010 at 8:17am

Absolutely true.

Roosterman said:

Folk dont know they are looking for a CBG until they see one......

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on February 4, 2010 at 10:35am

75% of my sales at our shop are tourists that had no idea they wanted a CBG, mostly because they never heard of one and never heard one played.
But hearing one grabs their imagination 1st I think , and then they want to be able to reproduce that sound when they get home.
I try to make sure I explain at least some of the history of these instruments as I play to get them interested and it works great.

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Permalink Reply by bucky on February 4, 2010 at 11:58am

I have sold four now and I have given away 4. I was just showing them off to friends some of them musicians. As I built them word got around, next thing you know people are interested in them . This is a hobby and I like to put every ounce of effort into each one so that it is an instrument that can be played on stage or at home. The last one I sold, I told the guy $140 he liked it so much he gave me $180. He showed his friends and now I have been comissioned to build a six string for a traveling musician and another 4 string. I don't wish to make a business out this. It is fun and as long as I make enough money to build another one I am very happy. To me selling on ebay takes a little away from the history and culture of this thing we do. The best thing to do is play for people and other musicians and get them involved. Vive la revolution!

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on February 4, 2010 at 8:45pm

I agree about ebay,it does seem to be so impersonal.
I enjoy explaining the history and the chance to meet people one on one.

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Permalink Reply by Jerryrig240 on February 5, 2010 at 3:53am

I can see what you mean about ebay.....plus, on ebay, they get a bit pricey..... I want to start wrapping my own pickups, I wrapped one last night...I am not sure hnow many turns or anything, but it sounds pretty good. The thing is, I still have to use a pedal to boost the signal. So basicly,....they are a primitave active pickup. It has sound, but I still need to use a pedal to boost the signal. I can build one with a peizo for way cheaper, and I have plans on how to make then sound a bit better. I can almost build a cbg in my sleep now, but as far a electronics go, I guess I am not sure what way to go. A lot of cbgs on ebay just have a simple peizo pickup in them....an they sell for around 60 to 80 bucks. Also, I like the idea of the primitave style of cbgs...with eye bolt tuners, I have some license plates with some bullet holes in them...stuff like that...would stuff like that sell?

bucky said:

I have sold four now and I have given away 4. I was just showing them off to friends some of them musicians. As I built them word got around, next thing you know people are interested in them . This is a hobby and I like to put every ounce of effort into each one so that it is an instrument that can be played on stage or at home. The last one I sold, I told the guy $140 he liked it so much he gave me $180. He showed his friends and now I have been comissioned to build a six string for a traveling musician and another 4 string. I don't wish to make a business out this. It is fun and as long as I make enough money to build another one I am very happy. To me selling on ebay takes a little away from the history and culture of this thing we do. The best thing to do is play for people and other musicians and get them involved. Vive la revolution!

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Permalink Reply by Joker on February 5, 2010 at 7:23am

When I began selling I used ebay there was not much cbg competition so it was easy to make a sale, now there are a bunch of sellers on there so it's a bit more competitve.

It would be a good place to start though. I enjoyed selling more at music festivals because of the interaction with people.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on February 9, 2010 at 2:41pm

To me building selling ,shipping via ebay would get old fast.I prefer to deal with my customer in person.One reason is I know my customer is happy with his/her purchase when they go out the door.Rather then getting a call later saying it wasnt what they thought it would be when they open the package at home.When that happens you have to have them ship it back, either do a refund or RESHIP something else etc.
Now if that happens how much money have you made after all the shipping charges are added up, not to mention all the time you lost dealing with ONE CBG that should have been buy n go deal?
I dont do very much experimenting anymore,I built and sold until I found a formula that I can duplicate over and over that has proven itself to be a seller both in CBG's and Db's.
My 3 stringers are basically the same thing different boxes a given,the only thing I change per piece is colors of necks etc. But most all follow the same formula.It makes building much faster and faster equals more income.
When you decide to start building for money your 1st decision,is simply, do you want to build artsey pieces that show off your abilities or do you want to make money.
Art takes time,in my market here I cant convert that time into money,so I pretty much stick to the tried and true sellers, and leave the art to the real artists such as the many true artists builders we have here.
When I have a customer that wants a more upscale piece then what I build I give them the link to this site and suggest they contact one of the fancier builders here.
I did build a few fretted etc pieces to start with but quickly found they were hard to move.I dont build anything that I dont think will sell within 2 weeks.Or , if I have to dust it 1 time , its here too long LOL.

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Permalink Reply by darren brown on February 9, 2010 at 3:49pm

Roger Martin said:

To me building selling ,shipping via ebay would get old fast.I prefer to deal with my customer in person.One reason is I know my customer is happy with his/her purchase when they go out the door.Rather then getting a call later saying it wasnt what they thought it would be when they open the package at home.When that happens you have to have them ship it back, either do a refund or RESHIP something else etc.
Now if that happens how much money have you made after all the shipping charges are added up, not to mention all the time you lost dealing with ONE CBG that should have been buy n go deal?
I dont do very much experimenting anymore,I built and sold until I found a formula that I can duplicate over and over that has proven itself to be a seller both in CBG's and Db's.
My 3 stringers are basically the same thing different boxes a given,the only thing I change per piece is colors of necks etc. But most all follow the same formula.It makes building much faster and faster equals more income.
When you decide to start building for money your 1st decision,is simply, do you want to build artsey pieces that show off your abilities or do you want to make money.
Art takes time,in my market here I cant convert that time into money,so I pretty much stick to the tried and true sellers, and leave the art to the real artists such as the many true artists builders we have here.
When I have a customer that wants a more upscale piece then what I build I give them the link to this site and suggest they contact one of the fancier builders here.
I did build a few fretted etc pieces to start with but quickly found they were hard to move.I dont build anything that I dont think will sell within 2 weeks.Or , if I have to dust it 1 time , its here too long LOL.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on February 19, 2010 at 5:10am

Leanna is right on Jerry,,
If you worry much about your product being good enough , you'll never get that 1st one out.If your selling in public , folks are going to ask you "what is that thing?" So 1st you have to explain WHAT IT IS,and give some light history on a CBG.
They love hearing the history part. If their still standing there, then your ahead of the game.They GOTTA HEAR IT.
Bang on it, play loose ,relaxed ,the easier it seems to play the easier the sale. (Most of MY sales are to non musicians)
One thing I tell them is that Fender, Gibson and Martin probably wouldnt want me to say that all you need are 3 or 4 strings,,,,,,,, I put on a sort of show, telling jokes ,making fun of me, making fun of them, almost anything is liable to come out of my mouth.
That makes it easier to sell the instrument , because if they dont know what their going to hear next its easier to keep their attention.
Husbands and wives together,, I tell the guy not to worry about the money then point at momma and explain that momma's got money he dont know about hidden in her pocketbook,,,,,,,,Always keeping their attention.
I ask where their from , how many kids ,then marvel over mom being much too young to have #$% kids,,,,
Its a form of old fashioned dog and pony show ,,,
After a sale its not unusual for them to thank me for ENTERTAINING them while they spent their money.Sometimes I think I enjoy that more then the building itself. But I've always been a show off and selling these gizmo's gives me an excuse to show off big time.
Go out there show off and MAKE SURE THEY KNOW how much fun YOUR having.Your own passion for the instrument goes a VERY long way to making that sale!!!!!!!!!!!
During our busy season I play and try to draw a crowd,it's easier for me to work a group of people rather then 1 or 2.The idea is to work THAT group and maybe get 1 or 2 sales out of that session.
My partner sometimes goes nutz trying to keep the money straight ( I've since bought a cash register to replace his cigarbox he was using),to help cure that problem.
After working a group sometimes they'll be in a line waiting to pay for their purchase.
Its FUN make sure THEY KNOW it is, and knock em dead, but get their money 1st,,,,,,,,

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on March 2, 2010 at 5:32am

For some insight on what your trying to accomplish when you make a sale as far as customer satisfaction goes,,This is a blog one of my customers wrote after a vacation trip his wife and he made to Gatlinburg this past month.They bought one of my instruments ,and apparently had a very good time.He gets some of the info wrong, as far as my other jobs and such goes but the jest is there.

Anniversary Adventures (Part 4)
Beyond all the changes to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, we already knew this trip was going to be different for us in another major respect: cash.

During our actual honeymoon, in February of 2000, I was only doing weekend work in radio in Charlotte (not precisely lucrative) while my wife was in transition as a retail clothing store assistant manager and was only then about to start in a new position in Charlotte, though not at the good store she'd been promised when she agreed to stay on as manager for a store that had closed in Shelby, but instead the assy store, where the customers regularly let their kids s*&t in the dressing rooms. We didn't have a lot of dough going into our marriage. (In fact, we didn't have a lot of food for that trip, either, because while our family had quite thoughtfully assembled for us an enormous sampler pack of the grub from our wedding reception--none of which we'd been able to get more than a bite of during the actual reception because we kept getting shuffled around to cut cakes and open presents and pose for pictures--they'd also quite thoughtfully put it in the wrong car. I still have a craving for Lil' Smokies to this day.) So while we had splurged a bit on our honeymoon cabin (or so it seemed at the time), we were still trying to keep to a budget for the rest of the trip were very careful when it came to actually buying anything while we were there. Within a year and a half after our marriage, the wife was accepted into med school here in WV and we were soon living even poorer than before, in a depressed job market in an already financially depressed state and my job at the "liberry" was, again, not exactly lucrative. However, for the past year and a half, the wife has been a practicing physician. And while that's certainly not as lucrative a job as most people think it is, (one word of advice to future docs whose goal it is to make a buttload of money: specialize) vacation impulse purchases are not so much of a problem.

Probably the best example of this, for me, was when we came to a shop in the mall selling cigar box guitars. I'd seen the tiny shop earlier during my solo run and thought it was interesting, but it was closed. And it had remained closed even when the wife and I passed by again. Then, while browsing a different store two shop spaces down, I heard the most wonderful music and followed it back to the shop where the proprietor was playing away on one of the cigar box guitars. The method he was using was to rest the guitar on the table in front of him, its neck nestled in a cloth-lined notch cut into a block of wood, then strum the strings with his right hand while his left hand held a three-inch section of copper pipe, which he used as a slide, moving up and down the strings to change the notes in the chord. For a three stringed instrument, there was a lot of complex sound pouring out of this one, cigar-box or not. He also clearly had a lot of skill at it.

I stood and listened for a bit, then went and fetched the wife. After he'd finished playing, we struck up a conversation with the man and soon learned that the shop was kind of a side project to another job he and his wife had running a candy store in the mall itself. He made all the guitars himself, buying his cigar boxes from a lady in another state whose house was apparently filled floor to ceiling with boxes. I suggested that this seemed to be a case of a positive hoarder, though this is just my theory.

Now, I'd seen cigar box guitars before, but had never given them much thought. But the shop owner explained their significance in early blues in the Mississippi delta, as well as in Appalachia. Suddenly, owning such a historic and beautiful instrument (despite the fact that I can't yet play it) seemed a no-brainer.

"Which one do you want?" the wife asked. I picked out a guitar with a glossy red neck, made from a gorgeous wooden Manolete cigar box. He pulled it from the wall and played it for me to show me how great it sounded. It certainly did.

"Happy anniversary," the wife said.

I still haven't learned to play it, of course, but thing it's all around awesome all the same.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)
Posted by Juice S. Aaron at 11:16 PM 0 comments

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on March 14, 2010 at 2:26pm

This is Sunday and I made a sale I never dreamed I would make.
A couple came in ,both were deaf so we had to make do with simple 1 finger type sign and writing notes to each other to find out what they had in mind.
A very nice couple that simply cant hear.But we managed to get through the sale anyway.We even managed to have some fun along the way.
They bought my high end 3 string,a Honeytone amp ( the only kind I'll sell) and the little clip on pickup we offer to folks that wanna make more noise then the standard acoustic I offer will make.
So they ended up with a CBG for $77.95,an Amp for $45 and the clip on that we offer for $15.
I made a little money and they got a lotta bang for their buck.
All in all I had a good day for a Sunday,roughly $350 for about 1 1/2 hours time with the shop open.
Note- Because I cant get sales on higher end CBG's ( fretted ,electric etc) in a timely manner I dont offer those type pieces.So (most) of my 3 strings ( unfretted average less then $100.
I dont do custom work anymore either because I cant get my time back (money wise) to make it worth it.
So I only offer 3 string unfretted sliders and Db's almost ALL acoustic only.These I can move with no problem at all most of the time.
I always give this site link to any that want a higher end piece and tell them that the crafts people here can do most anything they want built.

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