M Fowler wrote:Getting to understand the mentality of the local musicians has been quite the trip.
1. They would rather give their money to online retailers then local.
2. They buy well known brand name amps and follow online reviews and their friends opinions over yours.
3. They sell their equipment within 1 year on Craig's list to fund another online buy because now the online opinion is you have to have XYZ amp to get the tone man!
4. Only a hand full of local guys appreciate what you have created for the low price your asking in return, wish I knew more of those guys.
Mark
This is so true. I probably do more work on guitars than I do amps, and I had a guy hit me up for a finish on a Tele body he had. I'm pretty inexpensive (told him $70, and probably half of that was materials). When it came time for him to pick it up, I called for months leaving voicemails. One day he finally answered a Facebook message, saying simply, "Keep it." It wasn't the first time, and I'm sure not the last.
Interestingly enough, my best customers are people who aren't really musicians; they just like to fart around. They usually pay right on time, and tip a little extra. I need more of those around here!
I have 3 amps at home now, and I love them all. Each one sounds different and inspires me to play different things on the guitar. I'd hate to part with any of them, but it's come to the point where I need to sell one to fund the next build! The wife doesn't see the point of having so much money tied up in them.
I would gladly build amps for friends for the cost of the parts. I gave up trying to make a profit long ago (and Phil had a good point about the liability issues). But as Mark said, most people would rather spend their money on something with a recognized brand name, than pay us to build a far superior amp for the cost of the parts. That's their loss, IMO....
If I can occasionally sell off one of my builds for the cost of parts, at least it keeps me building without accumulating too many amps at home.
M Fowler wrote:Getting to understand the mentality of the local musicians has been quite the trip.
1. They would rather give their money to online retailers then local.
2. They buy well known brand name amps and follow online reviews and their friends opinions over yours.
3. They sell their equipment within 1 year on Craig's list to fund another online buy because now the online opinion is you have to have XYZ amp to get the tone man!
4. Only a hand full of local guys appreciate what you have created for the low price your asking in return, wish I knew more of those guys.
Mark
preach it brother Mark....
and how bout all those hacked up Vox's I keep reading about on the gear page trying to cut out the bright caps..
anyhoo, shits piling up in my workshop. Trippin over chassis and the wife is starting say do you really need more parts or amps. At least she's encouraging me to try and sell a couple in my store.
Phil_S wrote:
One thing you can do is to expand your hobby. Learn how to make nice looking cabs for your amps. Then you can show them off as if they are furniture. Besides that, it's a great excuse to acquire a pile of tools and equipment you don't really need but that are nice to have.
Ken Moon wrote:.......I I think that's a sure sign of addiction - like keeping whiskey in the underwear drawer
That's a sign of what? Where else could you keep it?
The Last of the World's Great Human Beings
Seek immediate medical attention if you suddenly go either deaf or blind.
If you put the Federal Government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years time there would be a shortage of sand.
M Fowler wrote:I have 12 speaker cabinets and over 50 amps.
haha you have more amps than me omg that feels great (smiley)
but I have more cabinets than you (frowny)
There was a time, and I love to say this in ever conversation I have, when you were up by 4:30 most every day of the week and posting gut shots of two different new amps inside a single day occasionally. You nut.
Signatures have a 255 character limit that I could abuse, but I am not Cecil B. DeMille.
My wife keeps telling that I have to many amps I dont need.The three Kings stacked together and she said get them sold.Thats My express,LP,Rocket.You never play them get rid of them.Nobody wants then Honey,They dont even work right yet.Well take pictures and get then sold,No No No Forget it!!!!!
Im a little pissed off here,My best days were building them amps and you can tweek them for years.Im not listing my Trainwrecks ever,End of conversation,Mikey
I tried explaining to my wife how Eric Johnson and Stevie Ray Vaughn (and others) often used three-amps-together to get their sound. I extrapolated that to get the tones of 10 different guitarists in a set of cover tunes implies using about thirty amps, since every guitarist wants their own signature tone and rig.
