Spring 2010
Springtime Guitar
Spring has sprung a full month early here in northern Michigan. After a remarkably mild February, March and early April have been nothing short of spectacular. With much more reasonable heating and snowplowing bills there’s been a chance for me to save up for my next GAS attack. Finally! Hopefully full time employment will once again be available for us all so we can have something to save.
At the end of 2009 I was fortunate to add six new lefty lovers to my harem. Check these out in the galleries:
- Suhr S4
- R6 Les Paul goldtop
- Les Paul Supreme
- 1952 ES-125
- Gibson J-185
- Gibson EC-30 Blues King
I’d like to offer my heartfelt gratitude to all of you that purchased a lefty from me in 2009. In my first year of online sales a full two thirds of the initial inventory from my collection sold, with each sale representing a new southpaw friendship. Your words of praise and encouragement have helped deepen my commitment to this little enterprise. I hope to bring more valuable content to Pancho’s in the form of interviews of Luthiers and lefty players, a showcase for you to display your lefty collections, and slide show/video tutorials on all things lefty which will include guitar construction and upgrading instruments. After all this time the situation for lefties has finally made strides towards parity with our righty brethren and sistren.
We of the sinister persuasion are truly a community in our common plight. I’ve heard a common thread of sentiment in your phone calls and e-mails concerning the usual frustrations of having quality choices for left handed guitars and now, thankfully the much improved market conditions for a growing number of selections of great axes from an ever growing legion of builders. From big box brands to boutique – we are truly in the second golden age of guitars. Electric and acoustic, hybrids, from the classic to the eclectic there seems to be at least 3-5 new names on the scene each month. Sometimes I thank the stars that I’m not a righty – can you imagine the GAS? Anything we want and at any time? The horror! Refreshingly there’s a growing trend to offer lefties without the dreaded lefty markup. Kudos to those of you that have the soul and understanding to offer the lefty player the same price point as the righty. The net result will be more sales to southpaw slingers I assure you.
It’s a similar situation with amplifiers as well. What’s hard to fathom is the commitment these new amp companies bring to the market. Typically a new amp company comes to the floor with not just one or two models but an entire lineup of various wattage heads and combo’s. An added challenge facing any amp builder is a lower markup over wholesale cost. My head is wrapped around guitars and amps 24/7 completely and I’d venture to say that if I were asked to name as many amp companies as possible that I’d be lucky to name 50% of them all. With quality, features, and tone going thru the roof it must be a nasty dogfight to gain market share in ampworld. Their dogfight is our ‘gain’.
If anything remains to be addressed in 2010 it just has to be the retail price of American built guitars and basses. The quality of Chinese, Korean, and other imported instruments is on a trajectory to give a serious challenge to US builders. Many of the bigger manufacturers have ‘second tier’ company affiliates(like Gibson with Epiphone) now based in China, South Korea, and Indonesia with American, Canadian, and European supervision.
Gibson recently completed a new state of the art factory for Epiphone and the buzz on the street is that these new Epi’s are close to a US made Gibson in every way save for the name on the headstock but at 1/3 or even 1/4 the cost. While very few of these imports come in left hand mode the recent ones that have been made are outstanding in terms of both build quality, attention to detail, and high grade components.
And PRICE! The average cost of a new import is around $700 US. Oft times these are guitars that have a US-built counterpart that costs as much as 3 -5 times what the import would go for. Being true to the red, white, and blue this isn’t a plea for whatever can be had for the lowest possible price. I do wish that US companies become more down to earth with the prices they ask for. There’s just little to no justification in a line produced solid body electric guitar costing over $3000. The wood and components of a typical electric solid body cost approximately $300-400 at wholesale(or less depending on a companies buying power).
A recent trend for new guitars, basses, and amps has been a ‘hybrid’ business model whereby the body and neck is constructed overseas and then inspected, assembled to some degree and given a pro setup in the US. This business format keeps more Americans employed while bringing the street price well within reach of anyone. The timeworn concept of annual price increases is no longer valid. Just ask Fender or Gibson how that worked out for them in 2009(hint: it didn’t).
While these enlightened Luthiers and companies move forward in this golden era with a mindset of inclusiveness for players from both sides there’s always our old ‘friends’ at PRS to remind us that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This story has been several years in the making so I’ll leave it as a tease for the next Pancho’s Blog entry.
Peace, Love, and Tone
Phil(Pancho)
