Say It Ain't So!

Cagey

Cagey

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The Washington Post published an article today you may find interesting...

 
Why my guitar gently weeps

The slow, secret death of the six-string electric. And why you should care.
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By Geoff Edgers
June 22, 2017

The convention couldn’t sound less rock-and-roll — the National Association of Music Merchants Show. But when the doors open at the Anaheim Convention Center, people stream in to scour rows of Fenders, Les Pauls and the oddball, custom-built creations such as the 5-foot-4-inch mermaid guitar crafted of 15 kinds of wood.

Standing in the center of the biggest, six-string candy store in the United States, you can almost believe all is well within the guitar world.

Except if, like George Gruhn, you know better. The 71-year-old Nashville dealer has sold guitars to Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift. Walking through NAMM with Gruhn is like shadowing Bill Belichick at the NFL Scouting Combine. There is great love for the product and great skepticism. What others might see as a boom — the seemingly endless line of manufacturers showcasing instruments — Gruhn sees as two trains on a collision course.

“There are more makers now than ever before in the history of the instrument, but the market is not growing,” Gruhn says in a voice that flutters between a groan and a grumble. “I’m not all doomsday, but this — this is not sustainable.”
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Continue reading...
 
I wanna argue with it, but I'm afraid it would just be a reflex rather than anything coherent. But, really, isn't it the Russians who are responsible?
 
The guitar industry has been complaining since I had my shop in the music store in the 80's. Back then it was video games and keyboards taking away guitar sales. Later, it was the rise of the home computer. Now this latest take..... The truth is, the popularity of guitar waxes and wanes like the tides - people are fickle. Right now, I blame the ukulele.
 
And ukeleles come from the Ukraine, which is arguably Russian now. See? I knew it!
 
Cagey said:
And ukeleles come from the Ukraine, which is arguably Russian now. See? I knew it!
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As I've said many times before, I ALWAYS  learn something new here! Couldn't agree more......  :icon_jokercolor:
 
    I have noticed that in the past few years whenever someone finds out that I play the guitar, one of the first things they ask me is, "Do you play the ukelele or the banjo too?"  (No. I have no interest in those instruments because I already play the best one there is).  It used to be people would ask me, "Can you play Eruption, Hot for Teacher, or Stairway to Heaven?" (yes on all three).  What sad times are these...
 
To me, a ukelele just sounds like a very low-end guitar, and if you've heard one banjo tune you've heard them all. So, why bother?
 
I saw this clip on Youtube from funny and talented Music is win about it:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/rD5N1L_wt58[/youtube]
 
Wow! Gibson only sold 1000 guitars last year?? ($1.7billion / $17 million = 1000 unitzs)

 
I missed this thread before, so here is what I commented in another thread opened about it.

I think we certainly will see an adjustment occur in the industry. But it talks about sales falling back due to the lack of the guitar hero.

I think that may be a part of it, but there are other things at work.  For those of us in the 50 - 60 range or older, how many guitars can you buy?  As you get to a certain age you might buy higher ticket items such as historical reissues or whatever as you have the disposable income. Later you might start to sell them off,  but even if you don't how many 54 strats and 59 Les Paul replicas can one use or store.

Couple that with the boom in the economy for a few years prior to 2009, I think there was a lot of artificial growth in guitars, golf clubs, boutique fishing rods and so on. So I think the market is falling back to more realistic levels rather than the artificially driven growth it previously experienced. The guitar is an instrument ultimately and not a lifestyle product.

I don't think the guitar is dying, but rather the culture and people that saw the golden years of rock and roll in its broadest terms grow and bloom.  Add to that today the youngsters in broader terms have mobile phones and iPads and Facebook etc the world is simply different.

Today also if you want to build a music career a Youtube channel with ad revenue might be more feasible than having somewhere to perform. In the UK the number of places to play is far less for younger folks than when I was out playing in the 70s and 80s.

Despite all that I see better more, well-stocked music stores than there used to be, but perhaps less of them. There is more and more choice at all price brackets for guitars and a lot of them are far better quality than in the 70s and 80s.

I submit it is not the guitar dying any more than the violin is but the culture and the postwar world of the 50s-90s that saw it grow. The world is changing... who knew?
 
If Gibby only sold 1000 guitars last year I say.....good. I'm much more kind to Fender although the only factory guitars I would consider at this point would be the Chapman line, mainly as value for money. You have to take into account my shock when I went from quitting when strats and les pauls were $800 new to returning to playing and seeing that they........weren't.  I think any decline is a combination of the younger generation not being exposed really to live music anymore and the price tag of many of the guitars presently hanging in any shop. I'm working toward getting young people at least some exposure to live music. Do what I can and all, but it does feel a little like I took up blacksmithing when I decided to play again.  :laughing7:
 
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