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Bozeman Custom Shop Acoustic Guitar Orders


Sauron

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I spoke to Bozeman on the phone awhile back, very nice folks and apparently as excited as me about my most recent Gibson purchase, and while speaking to them, they indicated that I could order anything I want built by them through my friendly neighborhood Gibson dealer. Now...

 

1). Is there a website or any sort of guidance available for ordering a custom acoustic from Bozeman? Truthfully, the last two Gibson dealers I spoke with didn't know what the heck they were talking about. I've been playing since 1968, and don't care much for some kid whose voice hasn't broken yet getting hostile because he's dead wrong and disagrees with me. In spite of the suffering, I nevertheless bought a Gibson from the second one, but not because of the dealer!

 

2). How much pain am I asking for? With some of the lunatic prices I see on Gibson products, plus the nobody knows why "Top Secret" approach to advertising and pricing, I'm wondering if I should proceed with this crazy idea, or just jump ship and go after a Taylor BTO or Martin Custom Shop model.

 

3). Does Gibson offer any sort of discounts? You never know. I'm one of those 100% permanently and totally disabled veterans who came home with what they're (DAV, VFW, et al) now calling the "Signature Wound" of this war, the coup contra coup TBI with attending seizures. I fully intend to milk the discount cow every chance I get forever. I'll want 10% off mead in Valhalla, LOL!

 

Gibson ought to think about the fact that their own people, i.e. OWNERS are having to dig up info this way. Maybe it's time to repent of weird company policies, and also do your part toward lessening the economic pain for guitar players everywhere, eh?

 

Cheers!

 

Rick...=D>/

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... they indicated that I could order anything I want built by them through my friendly neighborhood Gibson dealer. Now...

 

1). Is there a website or any sort of guidance available for ordering a custom acoustic from Bozeman? Truthfully' date=' the last two Gibson dealers I spoke with didn't know what the heck they were talking about. [/quote']

 

If your local dealers can't handle the job, go through one of the big dealers that does a lot of custom orders and has a good relationship with the custom shop people, such as Music Villa in Bozeman or Fuller's Vintage Guitar in Houston. If you know what you want, you can start by talking to the dealer. If not, you might want to talk to someone in Bozeman first to help you figure out what you want and get some idea of whether you're considering for features that are really expensive or not all that expensive.

 

2). How much pain am I asking for?

 

Depends on what you want. Sometimes a custom model will cost about the same as a comparable production model' date=' sometimes the price will be astronomical. It's hard to predict, but having a dealer get a quote is free.

 

3). Does Gibson offer any sort of discounts? You never know.

 

You do never know, but I'd be surprised. Gibson doesn't sell guitars to end-users like you and me, they sell guitars to their dealers and their dealers sell the guitars to players. Gibson's per-guitar profit is pretty small (much smaller than M***** or T*****, since they spend more on both labor and materials). And dealers that discount heavily also don't make much per guitar. There's really no margin to allow for a much better deal on a typical custom order.

 

Gibson ought to think about the fact that their own people' date=' i.e. OWNERS are having to dig up info this way. Maybe it's time to repent of weird company policies, and also do your part toward lessening the economic pain for guitar players everywhere, eh?[/quote']

 

I can give you Henry's e-mail address if you want. One advantage of having a compary run by someone who's a notorious micro-manager is that you know who's mind you have to change if you want something different done. +:-@

 

-- Bob R

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For a vendor, ordering a custom, is not much work, and turn around is fast. THERE is where you go for your discount. With a custom order, they don't have to have their money tied up in a guitar hanging on their wall for a year before selling. So shop around like Rar says, someone may be willing to handle your order for a few hundred dollars. On a custom order there are HUNDREDS of decisions to make regarding the guitar right down to back stripe, fret markers, and heel cap. So some sort of form would be a great asset, Martin has one, but I'm not sure about Gibson. Good luck on your choices. Maybe a trip to Bozeman, and a sit down with Ren would be a good way to go? Have fun!!

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Whew! Now that's what I call good advice! Thank you both! Ya know, Bozeman really isn't that far away...

 

And the "They don't have to floor plan," tip is a tremendous way to view things when negotiating.

 

I'm going to check out Music Villa and bear in mind the "Quotes are free!" idea, and start figuring this out. If I do it, expect pictures!

 

Thanks for the solid advice!

 

Cheers!

 

Rick...:-

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The advice here is spot on IMO but raises an interesting point about profitability for the shops.

 

I do not know but would be very surprised if the RRP of a Gibson in a shop is not approx 75-100% more than the price the shop pays Gibson. I know that here in the UK Gibson will insist on a minimum spend per month otherwise they don't sell Gibsons. I understand Fender have a similar policy.

 

Now, nobody pays RRP and there is typically what appears to be some more headroom on price. But the shop will have to keep the guitar on their wall for months often years and that's alot of working capital tied up in expensive Gibsons.

 

Cash is king at the moment and having 10s of £000s worth of Gibsons on your wall does not generate cash.

 

The trade off with a custom order is that you are comitting without touching, feeling, playing and smelling your guitar so the returns policy has to be good too.

 

So a Custom order ought to be very attractive to shops. They can get a deposit up front and minimise the working capital lock up. So, as OWF says, there ought to be more discounts available. And you'll go back for your next one and also buy the cash generators i.e. strings, straps, picks etc.

 

Who'd be a guitar retailer? Not me. I'll carry on counting beans and playing guitars.

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So a Custom order ought to be very attractive to shops.

 

I think your analysis is right on the mark, and some dealers definitely get it. On one custom order, I volunteered to pay up front and the dealer was willing to give me over 45% off list price. He figured he was making a couple hundred dollars for making a few phone calls with no risk, so he was happy. And I got a great price, so I was happy.

 

-- Bob R

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Fullers gave me a reasonable price on a custom model, but what is a reasonable price? It is custom, not like others, and the price is hard to compare other than a ballpark similarity to standard models.

In the end I didn't buy the custom because I had a cost in mind and they were higher. I had negotiated prices with Fullers before and had good luck, but this time they held firm, so I am guessing the cost was reasonable, but just more than I wanted to pay.

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I do not know but would be very surprised if the RRP of a Gibson in a shop is not approx 75-100% more than the price the shop pays Gibson. I know that here in the UK Gibson will insist on a minimum spend per month otherwise they don't sell Gibsons. I understand Fender have a similar policy.

 

When I was looking for my SWD a few years ago the guy in the music shop showed me their Gibson prices book (when Rosetti were the distributers). I can't exactly remember but the shop really didn't make that much - probably about £200 on what was then a £1200 guitar. Although I did think that was quite a lot at the time for them just making a phone call and saying "can you send us a SWD?". Of course now the margins should be more because the middle man has been removed.

 

Chris

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Tim said the only Custom Shop is in Nashville......

 

It all depends on what you mean by "custom shop". In Bozeman, there is a group of three luthiers (Ren, Val, and Jason) who have a little shop off to the side with an official name that depends on the phase of the moon or something but is sometimes called the Art Shop. They don't build guitars completely "by hand" without any help from people on the production line -- the "parallel build facility, completely independent of the regular production line" model got tossed out in the early '00s -- but do just about anything short of that. Guitars that those guys work on to some extent often end up with a decal that says "Custom Shop" on them. So, if you talk about "the Custom Shop in Bozeman", most people knows what you mean.

 

-- Bob

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