Building Guitars For Money Should Be Easy.

"The last thing the world needed was another guitar company." -Jim Deurloo Heritage Guitars People are always telling me what guitars I should build. I mean they come out of the wood work to tell me all the neat stuff I should do. Given this enthusiasm for my work you would think I could focus on these limitless orders and never have to worry about money ever again. Oh yeah, 9 times out of 10 the thing my adoring fans tell me I should make are shaped like dicks! Maybe I need a new class of adoring fans? The fact is that custom made musical instruments are not like cheese burgers, cupcakes or craft beers. The market is loaded with luxury versions of these otherwise mundane edibles but the price point allows for a little experimenting. People aren’t always willing to toss around several thousand dollars of discretionary income on an electric guitar, even a super cool one. There is no shortage of people who will say something is cool but there isn’t always a long line of people waiting to buy it.

We endeavor to stay on the traditional side even when it comes to our own designs. We are not popular enough to stray too far from the beaten path. Maybe this is wrong, maybe we should seize this moment where no one knows what to expect from us and do something revolutionary? Of course, the guitar industry isn’t exactly filled with customers that appreciate innovation. Not with their wallets anyway. The small amount of market research we have done indicates that at this stage of the game potential customers come our way because 1. We are willing to work on projects other builders are unwilling to do and... 2. they trust we can build to the level of quality we say we can. This is a really great position to be in, if you ask me.

We would love to make nothing but our Challenger models over and over again and, who knows, one day maybe that is all we will have time for. For now, the lion’s share of our business comes from building one off custom guitars. I enjoy working one on one with customers and bringing dreams to life. My customers are my friends, even if I have never met them in person. They see the YouTube videos and something resonates with them. It’s like we are kindred spirits. The money they have to spend isn’t trivial to my customers and I can relate. I have a mortgage and bills too.