sellin' yo' goods

[Jim]

to those of you who make cbg's to be sold, what guidelines do you consider while priceing? i am thinking about making a few to sell at a craft fair and i am not sure what i should sell em for!

[Jonathan]

i'm not rying to sell anything yet but...
my first build took me over 30 hours (maybe over 40 hours, i forget). i put like 70 bucks into it with frets, hardware and all. I asked my friend what he would pay for it and he said "about fifty dollars."

at that exact point i thought who needs to sell them, i'll just make em for myself.

however if I ever get to that point; I would choose my clients and sell only something that would come back to me and me only for repairs, refrets and whatnot. though, I better start using hide glue ;)

anyway, why sell them, you should barter instead. let's start "cbg's for food!"

[Crow]

@johnathan

you said it brother!

you can spend lots of time building a CBG but others just aren't going to see it as highly valued as we'd like.

i say, leave the build-n-sell stuff for the guys that can build the good ones, and who are able to support the customer base.

i've found it's much more fun to give them away or trade them like baseball cards.

anyone up???? would anyone like to build and trade for a signed "Uncle Crow"? i'll trade with anyone! it's like pokemon, gotta catch em all!

[Jonathan]

call me wartortle cuz i'm slow and blue.
i build 1 like every month and a half.

Crow said:

@johnathan

you said it brother!

you can spend lots of time building a CBG but others just aren't going to see it as highly valued as we'd like.

i say, leave the build-n-sell stuff for the guys that can build the good ones, and who are able to support the customer base.

i've found it's much more fun to give them away or trade them like baseball cards.

anyone up???? would anyone like to build and trade for a signed "Uncle Crow"? i'll trade with anyone! it's like pokemon, gotta catch em all!

[Dave Breault]

I've mentioned before, once I got my head around all the sticky bits on a build, like fretting, tappering the neck and setting up the nut and bridge I began giving them away. I put them into the hands of people whom I know will play them and play them well, who will showcase them during performances and put in a pulg or two for me.

The price point is irrelevent in so far as I'll never recover my actual time on task costs if I charged what I feel my time is worth. That said, I have gotten some orders, one just recently delivered. Pricing is also dependant on who I'm selling it to, if it is some one I don't know then $200.00. Some one I know, $140.00. Some one I know well, $100.00. Some one who will probably never play it (generally these would be bought as novelty gifts) $300.00. I don't really want to sell to these people, I have too much of me invested in every build for it to be nothing more than a wall hanger or to end up in a yard sale. My philosophy is " I don't need the money and I don't intend to make a living at this."

Crow said:

@johnathan

you said it brother!

you can spend lots of time building a CBG but others just aren't going to see it as highly valued as we'd like.

i say, leave the build-n-sell stuff for the guys that can build the good ones, and who are able to support the customer base.

i've found it's much more fun to give them away or trade them like baseball cards.

anyone up???? would anyone like to build and trade for a signed "Uncle Crow"? i'll trade with anyone! it's like pokemon, gotta catch em all!

[Julz aka Varnum Slim]

For the sake of your wife ;o)
Free cards. Just pay the shipping!
http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/ns/studio3.aspx?pf_id=064&combo_id...

Roger Martin said:

Jef raised a very good point that I had forgotten.
Not all folks can buy right that moment,I'm asked for cards every day.My stock answer is , and its true, that" I'm WAY too cheap to have cards printed,instead my poor wife sits down and writes out a ton at a time, one by one.That gets a laugh as I explain that printed cards cost money, that I'd have to turn around and tack on to the CBG,so to keep THEIR cost down, we write our cards.
My "be back" rate hits roughly about 75%, thats pretty dang good in my area, where everybodies "coming back later in the week"as they say.
Jef I'd suggest when you go out and busk, to take at least 1 extra CBG with you, or take one you dont mind selling on the spot if you can get a bite.Thats what I'd do if I was busking.

[MichaelS Country Boy Guitars]

I'm going to a craft fair tomorrow with 3 new cbg's asking $125 each. My wife is selling artwork, we'll see how it goes.

[Wichita Sam]

craft fair is usually the bottom of the market, personal one on one better, music shows, high end festivals and art galleries the best,

every town/city is different.... a 3 string that I can barely get $ 85 in Wichita, some guy in Cleveland can get $200 for.

The only good advice I've ever heard is don't price'em too low.... You can always discount, but going up is tough.

But the best advice I ever got was from Shane Speal... when I asked him which CBG sold the best, he replied... "the one that sells the best is the one you play the best.".... If you're going to sell, work on both your building and playing skills...

Good Luck,
the best,

Wichita Sam

[L.J.]

I ask 100 for fretless 3 stringers and cant seem to build them fast enough. If I add electric options I charge more.I have built a few fretted instruments and havent sold them yett. I am asking 250 to 300 for them but really havent showed them. I use nice woods. and I spend alot of time with my neck finish.I always tell my customers they can find cheaper on ebay but you never know how nice the finish is or how good it sounds unless you test drive it. I think it takes about 10 hours of labor to build one these days so I aint getting rich.Its just help me buy better tools. When I first started building I was letting them go for 40 and 50 bucks. Then I found myself trying to meet deadlines and not having much fun building anymore. Decided it would be worth 100.00 to me, raised my price and sell them just as easy. It used to bother me when I thought people were keeping prices down. selling fretted nice instruments for less than 100.00.But soon realized it doesnt affect my sales.(as long as Im not selling on the net)Im really not in it to sell anymore.Ive aquired most of my tools and have gotten bored with the fretless builds. I am more interested in building for myself these days. And if I sell a few here and there thatll be ok.I guess I still need a lathe and a planer. Better get building.

[The Phrygian Kid]

Blind Doughboy said:

But Shane and Sam are right. If you want to sell, you need to play. That's the only way I could ever imagine someone making a living (or part of one) off building CBGs.

& Jef!!!

2 months has gone since i typed that.. Nothing has changed but my prices... Pulled out a short scale strummer on a 767 coming back from Sydney 3 weeks ago, and sold 2 by the time i hit the ground; $300 each paid for my little dirty weekend..

Learn to play guys.. and build diatonic necks otherwise, ppl luv em, + you can get the non players too then with a quick 'oh anyone can do this' 5 minute lesson.. ;)

[Michael R Cossey]

I found this discussion very interesting, I am just now getting into building CBG, I'd seen em off and on in my lifetime but for whatever reason the bug did not hit me...tell of late...now I won't say that the idea of selling a CBG that I made doesn't interest me cause it does but as with song writing I just wanted to see if I could do it. Now I've never sold any of my songs, but that is not the reason why I "attempt" to write them, they are an expression of who I am, I expect any CBG I might build will be the same, and I probably have a better chance of selling one that I would ever have selling a song...smile...Also, there must be a little money in selling "parts" to build CBG......I have bought a fretted neck (to see exactly how one should be built and feel and I was blown away by the price and quality, I would like next to purchase a pre built neck with the fret slots cut and I put the frets in. I have also bought several Cigar Boxes, yes your right! off of Ebay...the wife plans to make a few purses out of some of them, she wants to make them for family I think. Well actually that's what I want to do with a couple CBG that I hope to build, One for my sister who plays many instruments but does not have a CBG, also I want to build one for a very good friend who lives in the UK a fellow musician and songwriter. BTW I'll try to put a link to a page where you can go if you'd like to take a listen to a couple of my songs, no , nothing for sale there, well at least not by me......just some home brew songs in the style of folk/folk rock? I guess. I can't really sing and am not a good musician but I LOVE writing songs......


I plan on doing this for fun and creative expression, now all I have to do is find or should I say, make the time, to get started, I'm sure I will be inspired to use it on a new song or two or three!
Thanks to all on CBN for their wonderful help I have read and been given........Mike "kamikaze"

[Michael R Cossey]

Here is the link to my Reverbnation Page:

[Michael R Cossey]

Gee can't get a handle on this linking stuff and can't find a delete post button.....

Here is the link to my Reverbnation Page: http://www.reverbnation.com/michaelcossey