Consumer Trend

[Californiaman]

So I spoke with a retail guitar store owner today here on the central coast of Cali.

His remark regarding guitar purchaces by consumers over the last five years indicates a strong preference for accoustic guitars over electric.

This intrigued me, so I called two other shops this afternoon and they too have had a rise in accoustic guitar purchases over the last five years.

Interesting.

Wonder if it holds true where you live?

[Riffster]

The 3 pedals and one cab I have bought here locally all 4 guys said they were going acoustic, or mainly acoustic and these were all gigging musicians.

[cody78]

In my hometown here in the UK, I think a lot more people have become interested in acoustic music. Back when I was a teenager around 15 years ago, a lot of Metal, Rock & Blues bands used to play on the local scene. There used to be a regular 'mosh' night at one of the clubs, which in recent years now has unplugged sessions! Cowboy's From Hell acoustic anyone?!!

 

Maybe it's a global thing...people going back to acoustic?! Having said that, music moves in waves and styles seem to go in a cycle... remember after 'O' Brother Where Art Thou' came out in 2000, lots of people were getting back into roots music (yes, even here in England!). Oh, and then there was the whole beggining of MTV unplugged before that, etc...

 

I always thought it was funny Neil Young did an Unplugged, when he played solo acoustic gigs back in the 60's and most of the tunes he played for the MTV performance had been recorded on acoustic guitar in the first place.

[rct]

Definitely true here. The GC Keyboard room is a ghost town, the recording section is almost a ghost town. The bass department keeps getting smaller. The Drum room is it's own space, so it doesn't change much. The guitar wall is just predictable, and ours isn't very good. Halfa dozen Les Pauls, halfa dozen strats, halfa dozen Teles, 900 Epiphones.

 

The Acoustic Saloon has spilled even further out into the store. Oddly, less Martins/Taylors/Gibsons than ever. I don't know how many sub 300 dollar Epiphones, Fenders, and Yamahas you can possibly sell, but they seem to think a lot of them. Reminds me very much of Mars right before they went under.

 

rct

[L8_4thesh0w]

As far as the cheap stuff goes, I think a lot of parents are smarter now, opting out of buying the complete electric rigs.

 

Three of my kids wanted to learn...they each got $100 Johnsons(which surprisingly play quite well) and a year and a half later, only one of them plays...occasionally.

He now has the harmonica bug so he just got the cased set of 7 for his birthday.

The oldest also has a P-Bass and Frontman amp, and an SX100 he got somewhere, and he never plays any of them.

The bad thing for the other two is, he's the only "lefty" in the bunch.

They were/are all in band and chorus, and the school choral department has been invited to Carnegie Hall twice, so I have no problem encouraging their musical development.

I think they get discouraged when they find it takes work and school loads them up so heavily these days that it's hard to stay with it.

 

My nearest GC is well stocked with all ranges of electrics and amps and effects. I was looking for a Hound Dog and they had one new one and two used.

The Dobro was in a tiny corner with a sign that said "Bluegrass Instruments" and the others off in a small consignment room.

75-80% or more of the customers that day were looking at electrics and they had some SWEET stuff!

It likely has everything to do with being in "Music City" because a lot of the smaller stores also seem to be handling about 75% electric to 25% acoustic.

 

I think it all boils down to economics and "the bottom line" these days. Most retailers won't stock it if they can't sell it.

It may be the market is trending that way here as well, just not so very noticeably as yet.

[IanHenry]

As Cody mentioned, here in the U.K there is a big resurgence in acoustic music, brought on largely by young musicians like Ed Sheeran. I think it's a positive move away from overproduced mime artists.

 

Ian

[saturn]

For years around here, it's been getting more and more rare for bars to book full bands. But more restaurants and bars are booking solo and small acoustic acts. I'm sure that has a lot to do with instrument sales.

[L8_4thesh0w]

It's the sound man's fault!

[Doug the Old Geezer]

One of the reasons I went acoustic over electric 10 years ago, was I wasn't set up for all the gear that you need to make good electric guitar sound, no room for amp, pedal, cords, etc.

[Californiaman]

Every time I go to buy an acoustic guitar, I end up spending the money on some other type of gear—an amp, a pedal, a new electric.

Playing my ES-175 gets me by when I just want to play acoustic, but it would be nice to have a good J-45. Cherry red, my favorite flavor.