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Friends of mine tell me I should sell mine, I would like to some day, but not for much.,.....I'm not greedy and they are not worth a real 6 string at times. I just tell all my friends I am trying to perfect my craft, and maybe one day I will sell one. But with that said, I put a lot of heart into what I make and it gets hard to think about selling some of my cbgs. I only have a hand full made, but one day (and I am sure soon) I will have a huge pile of them in the corner and need to think the herd. People buying stuff at crazy prices? Some have so much money they don't know what to do with it, and some of those same people could not nail two peices of wood together to save their lives. Some times, and this I think comes with a lot of ebay stuff, people don't really care how much they pay, even if they could make it for half the price or nothing at all, they just want it, and they know they can't make it. There are very many that are not crafty enough and just want a cbg and find one they like, and cha ching, they buy it,
Don't expect a lot. I would say a good [read: good] build will go for about $60 - $150 depending on the market, and where/how you sell. John McNair [RedDog Guitars], and I mean absolutely no offense here, makes boxes that are really expensive to me, but he does make great boxes and he sells them which is all good. He also has a great reputation and can market the crap out of them. I can even tell when I hear one of his being played, so he has a sound quality that adds.
I dunno what John Lowe sell his for but he has a great reputation, following, and quite a unique instrument so his would also be higher priced.
- WY
Like Sam said earlier,the market itself decides what your product is worth.Our market here ( and its even more important now with the economy imploded) is very tough to gauge.So I base it here on keeping IMPULSE buy to under $100.At that price here in TENN, say $77.95 with tax it goes to about $85.55 before they get their purchase out the door.(Remember I'm trying to stay under that magic $100 number)
To do that I build sort of factory style. In that on a session I just build a slew of necks.While the necks are drying I get the boxes ready,( all my boxes are beefed up slightly .I'm aware that beefing up can kill some sound, but I strongly feel that its worth losing a bit in order to make the instrument tougher.Most of my sales are to people that never heard of a CBG or a DB.Their Simply walking into a tourist MAll and hearing an instrument for the 1st time and decide they want one, ( with a little help from me)
Because its an item they never heard of you'd be amazed at the questions I get concerning a box thats not perfect.They want a perfect box that appears like its never been used for cigars and looks perfect.
The numbers that I build to keep enough stock means that there's no way I can always have perfect boxes on hand.SO I have to do a song and dance to explain the history aspect of the instrument to counter their idea that its a professional made instrument that looks perfect.((((A lot of times they ask about the guarantee.))))
I really dont know how much time I spend on each one because I've never built just 1 instrument.If I had to guess how it breaks down I'd say,not counting drying time ,maybe an hour per piece, maybe,,,,,
With that build time in mind my prices AVERAGE about $77.95 for a simple 3 string CBG, depending on the price I PAID for the box itself and its desirability on its own etc.No frets, just drawn on.Its the reason I ONLY build sliders.
There is NO market here for fretted ( cost based on time ) unless your willing to give your time away,, and I'm not.
I try not to build CBG's that just look good hanging on the wall of the shop. In retail you have to pay rent on that section the CBG is hanging on, you cant afford to waste too much space on instruments that look good but dont sell.Its just the way retail is.
If you want a quick lesson on retail, say, you know how much that square yard of space costs you each month to rent,now multiply that by 12 months and you know how much you wasted on that space that didnt make you a dime.
Retail can be fun sometimes but it has some rules that you have to go by , if you want to make money.
I do love building these things, but not enough to lose money in the process.
I find it hard to make any money at this. Im happy if im buying a tool every now and then. But when it comes to time spent.I dont think any of us are making fair money. I go on ebay and see fretted 3 and 4 strings going for 60 and 75 bucks. That was a real eye opener back when I thought I might be able to make money at this. People that I sell too hear this every time. "You can go on Ebay and beat my price,But Ill sell you this one If you like"I have probably sold 50 now. I mainly do it because I love it. And it brings people Joy. As long as the hobby/addiction is paying for itself Im ok. I ask 100.00 for a fretless 3 string acoustic. It takes me about 12 hours to build one.So I figure I aint makin much , esspecially after expenses.And people pay it. I can hardly keep any inventory.I am building 3 or 4 at a time now to try and speed production a bit. Thats helping me alot on my time spent. And the addition of a tool here and there is a nice way to trim the hours and improve the builds.Just ask what you feel is fair. whats going to keep you happy after the point of sale. Ask whats going to keep you building more. If you feel like your spinning your wheels you might view them differently.
When I came up with the 100 dollar price. I sat down with a piece of paper in my shop. I wrote down a mark for every tool setup, and a mark for every point of labor on a standard build(3string fretless)not counting the oops factor. counting coats of poly,sanding,holes drilled, everything involved from start to finish. I came up with over 30 tool setups and over 100 points of labor.(youre builds may be more or less) then I thought about my costs at home depot and lowes for Glue,blades,tools,etc and my money for wood at the lumber yard,boxes,strings and tuners. My prices seemed more than fair after doing that. Probably not fair to me. Haaaa!
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