Port Fairy

[Bob Connor]

Had a great weekend at the Festival. Lots of compliments about the instruments from Joe Public and the other builders at the exhibition.

Got no direct sales at the weekend but I wouldn't be surprised if I get a phone call or two about the Ziricote this week. (I know I said I was keeping it but....)

There were quite a few of the blokes from Maton there (being a sponsor of the festival) and they were blown away with the Ziricote. Suppose they would be after being fed a staple diet of Queensland Maple. Also found out what Maton use for a finish - Mirotone Satin finish.

Very surprisingly to Dave and I, most of the interest was in the two O model guitars , followed by the 12 string. So Hesh can rejoice - it looks like the Dreadnought is dead.

Two of the instruments were played at the Australian Made concert by Alan O'Connell and Tony O'Neill on Saturday night. Tony did an unbelievable version of The Swedish Jig and I think I'll get an order from him for (guess what) an O model in the not too distant future.

The instruments from all of the other builders were stunning and they were all a great bunch of people so we came away with heaps of new ideas and lots of new friends.

We topped off the weekend with a trip to Murray Kidman's place on the way home to have a look at some absolutely stunning Blackwood Billets.

Apologies for the pics - it was really hard against the light background of the tent for someone with my photographic ability.



Jack Spira's guitars are an really inspirational. The workmanship in them is sublime. And they sound bloody great too.



Ray Black is a Geelong based builder of Mandolins who also does Banjos with Pat Doole. His F models are punchy bluegrass canons



Doug and Dale Eaton made the trip from Brisbane. Doug builds guitars, citterns, bouzoukis, weiss's



Ian Noyce from Ballarat is one of the most respected and experienced luthiers in the country who builds everything, as you can see.



The boys from Atelier Puglisi.






Scott Wise came across the Nullarbor for the show.





Harp Maker Brandon Lassels.



Joe Gallacher and Ray Black. The Dread in the foreground is one of Joes.



Bob

[Kim]

Great post Bob and it sounds like you and Dave made quite an impression. Congrats to the debutantes of McGuitars, I am sure this has laid the foundation for bigger and better things for you guys. If Joe public has any taste, your phone will soon ring with success.

One thing I have heard repeated from folks who display there wares at shows is that sales from them can take a while to start but can continue on for a surprising amount of time. For instance don't be too surprised if the phone rings in 2010 with someone who played your guitar at the 2008 show on the other end wanting to know how much deposit he/she has to put down to get you to start work.

Guitars are like that, a certain makers instrument can haunt someone for years until they surrender and just buy one, sometimes this can take a while if their stubborn.

Well done mate.

Cheers

Kim

[Dave White]

Bob/Dave,

Looks like you had a great time and did yourselves proud. It's a fabulous way to meet players/potential buyers and network with other makers - it also gives you good feedback and benchmarking of where you are against your peers/competitors.

Kim is right - I don't think much business goes on at these things. It's all about getting your name and instruments out there for people to see hear and play. People buy at certain lifetime moments and when funds arrive that they can use and years later you get a phone call out of the blue " Loved those guitars at Port Fairy in 2008 and I've just had a tax refund . . ."

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Bob,

Thanks or the pics. Sure looks like there where some beautiful instruments on show at Port Fairy. I bet yours where up with the best of them.

Having worked in music retail for many years i have seen all the Martin's, Matons Taylors etc but IMO there is nothing that beats a hand made quality instrument made with love. Hope your phone runs hot!!!

Cheers

Alan

[Dennis Leahy]

Congratulations on a great show. I think Kim said it well, and what you have done is the flirting that ultimately ends in courtship. Success was getting all of the instruments finished and set up, transported safely to the show, setting up properly, attracting attention and having the goods to hold their attention, infecting players with your enthusiasm, and beginning the romance that has begun in the players minds.

Financial success (sales) will follow.

Dennis

[sebastiaan56]

Hi Bob,

And a great time was had by all.... Congratulations. Ive done a number of shows in the food industry and we seldom sold snything at the show. It was always about brand building. But if youve made an impression something will come of it.

There were a couple of brodcasts of the festival on the radio, I hope you got to take some of the music in as well. BMFF this weekend,

Sebastiaan

[Bob Connor]

Thanks guys.

We handed out around 250 business cards over the weekend which I reckon is terrific. Targeted marketing at it's best.

We had one bloke who didn't wasn't a player who considered buying that Ziricote O as an Objet D'art because he like the wood so much

The reaction to the pricing was interesting too. Our instruments are $3000.
You could see jaws drop on the part timers while the people who were serious players generally thought they were very reasonably priced.

There were also a number of young kids around 14-16 who were very gifted guitarists that sat down for a play. Mind blowing stuff to see these youngsters with serious chops.

Sebastiaan - I did sneak off for a couple of concerts. Jake Shimabakuro
was awsome. If anyone hasn't seen him play, type his name into Youtube and search for While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Kasey Chambers was great too. Looks like she was playing a 12 fret 0 or 00 sort of guitar.

The Ploughboys were brilliant as well but I'm biased because they're mates of mine. Allan and Tony who played our guitars at the concert are part of them as well as Damien Howard who is part of the Shane, Marcia family.

The only negative for the weekend was the mercury hit 40 degrees on Sunday down there and it was still quite humid in the tent so the actions on everyones instruments lifted a little.

Bob

[James Mc]

Hiya Bob
Thanks for the update in the festival, great post.

I've done my time at engineering trade shows and have never taken an order at one yet. But what tends to happen is that over the next year you pick up orders from people who have seen your products, gone off and had a think about it then decided to follow up. On ya for making the effort, I'm sure it will pay off in the future.

Great news about the Dreads I know a few people who went the dread when upgrading to a big money guitar and now wish they could exchange them for something in the OO size range.

[Allen]

That's pretty interesting stuff about the shows. I have to admit that I'm in that crowd that just goes to any type of trade show to have a look, and test the waters so to speak.

Are your instruments priced similar to other makers at the show Bob? Would you say that most at the show built to a similar standards, and did you have to pay more for a builder that had developed their brand?

[Bob Connor]

Most were in the 3-4k range.

Most of the guitars were very traditional in their binding/purfling/rosette schemes. But all beautifully built and sounded great. Jack's instruments just ooze class.

One bloke who played our guitars owned 4 Martins - all 00 and 000's and he thought our instruments were very reasonably priced.

Another bloke had a guitar on order from a builder (who wasn't at the show) and charges quite a bit more than us. He was quite disappointed when he found out what we charged as he really liked our O models.

I have a feeling if you priced them much under this people would be asking why and I know that there are some makers who are commanding higher prices.

I hope Jack sees this and jumps in as he'll have more knowledge of what else is going on around the country

Bob

[Craig]

G'day Bob,
Thanks for all those interesting pics. Like the rest of the guys mention , I'm sure you will receive feedback by way of sales at a later date. The important thing is that you now have your name on the map ,so to speak. It must have been quite an experience having your own instruments displayed for the public to view and judge for the first time . I'm wrapped that feedback was positive for you guys ( as it should be ! ), and can see a bright future for you both. Onya guys !

The only negative for the weekend was the mercury hit 40 degrees on Sunday down there and it was still quite humid in the tent so the actions on everyones instruments lifted a little.

Bob

Here's yet another classic example where an easily adjustable neck joint would come into it's own. Would have been more than very very handy in this situation. Speaking of which : ,,,, better get back to the workshop


Cheers, Craig

[jackspira]

Hi Bob, thanks for the compliments! Not sure I can live up to them....
It was great to meet you and see the guitars. They're all lovely, but liked the sounds from the two small ones particularly, very nice. I'm not surprised you got offers for the little one with the pretty wood ( is it Ziricote? I forgot) it sounded really warm and played in, for such a small one. At least I think it did, through all the noise! Are you off to Canberra with them next week?
Jack

[Hesh1956]

Great show Bob my friend!!!!

All shows suffer from attendees that are just attending for something to do and not really prospects for what we do. So I would not worry about the folks who dropped their jaw at your pricing - anyone who is really in the market for a high-end guitar, such as you make, would expect pricing similar to yours.

Since this was your first show did you learn anything about shows that you would do differently, less of, more of, entirely different - next time?

[Richard]

Looks like it went really well for you.

I think that beacause Port Fairy is predominantly a music performance festival, there would have been very few attendees (if any) going with the intention to drop a few grand on a guitar. I'd have no doubts that in the near future those that liked what they saw will be back.

Really interesting to hear that Maton uses Mirotone. Not surprised though because they make great lacquers.

[Dave Anderson]

It looks like a great time for you guys Bob. Congrats on a great show.
Thanks for sharing all the pics !

[Bob Connor]

Jack - were not going to Canberra this year. Next year we hope to be there so the next one will probably be Maldon.

The small guitars did come up well. We've got another couple that are almost completed so I'm keen to see how they turn out.

Hesh - The next time we won't take any stinkin' Dreadnoughts.

Seriously, when Dave and I started building these 5 x O models we really thought there would be little interest in such a small body guitar and we'd probably be unable to sell them. But we personally like the small body as they are a very personal type of instrument, easy to get close to, comfortable to play and quite frankly we were surprised at the sound. So we're going to work with them a lot more.

The shows here are very laid back. The only problem really, as Jack alluded to, was that the tent was very noisy. Quite close to one of the concert venues. And no quiet room that was always available.

I think next year if we find any serious buyers we would arrange for them
to be able to play the instruments back at our accomodation so they could hear the instrument.

Here's a grainy pic of Alan O'Connell and Tony O'Neill playing a couple of the instruments at the Australian Made Concert



Bob

[gratay]

It looks like some quality aussie instruments on show yet again..
I'm sure you'll all generate some business from it..
excellent stuff and and thanks for the photos bob.