The Death of the Electric Guitar ("news" article)

[shinksma]

Great post, Shawn!

And I'm glad, for a multitude of reasons, that PRS survived the 2008-2009 recession or whatever it was officially categorized as.

 

[bodia]

I may see things differently than others, but these are my personal thoughts. In 2008-2009 when the economy fell off the cliff, PRS went through some really lean years. Both employees and management dug deep, we worked hard and we kept our collective noses to the grindstone and we made a strong turn-around. Right now, PRS is in the middle of our best year ever. If sales continue to track in the same direction and our backorder remains strong, we will crush all previous sales years. This was a long, hard fought battle, but we stuck together and pulled through stronger, smarter and better than we were in the past.

The business model for retail has changed drastically. Most large retailers now have a strong online presence, so while foot traffic may be down at the store level, web sales continue to rise. PRS is a good position because people feel confident buying PRS gear online because they know PRS makes a solid product and that authorized dealers will treat them fairly.

Trends change, technology changes, times change. So we know we need to continue to build the best products possible, we know we need to respond to customer changing tastes and we know we can't rest on our laurels. But we aint dead yet

Amen to this!

 

[garrett]

Right now, PRS is in the middle of our best year ever.

 

[AP515]

Right now, PRS is in the middle of our best year ever.

I'm appreciative that company employees can voice this kind of information. I've wondered if, and the article that started this thread insinuated that, PRS was having to adjust to a reduced TAM (total available market). While I'm still not certain that PRS is not just taking market share from the competitors and the TAM may still be getting smaller, I hope the TAM is at least constant if not getting larger. It seems true that the guitar playing public is getting older and the youth are moving to computerized music. But the population as a whole is also getting larger so the available number of people getting interested in all types of music should also be getting larger. "The economics of scale" seems to be helping out here. Hopefully PRS has a long and prosperous future.

 

[GuitarDrummer]

I think that a grown adult who works 40 hours per week should be able to pay their rent by themselves, feed themselves, and see the doctor. Unfortunately, there are lots of people who disagree with this, which makes things tighter.

I remember 2008, how I got down-sized, and the three-year struggle to once again join the gainfully employed. We could be headed that way again, since the regulations that were put in place to prevent another 2008 were recently removed.

 

[Timo Wendel]

I think this approach is ridiculous

 

[alantig]

The electric guitar dies a little every time I pick one up and play.

 

[Spatten]

You're kill'in me.

 

[alantig]

You're kill'in me.

That's what my guitar said when I hooked it up to a talk box.

 

[sloanthebone]

I would think this was just the opposite because of the evolution of amps alone. Years ago you could only mostly buy 100 watt monsters that weren't good for the home users. Now with all the great low watt amps and all the digitial options available, a lot more people have access to be home rock stars without the wife, husband, kids, parents, and neighbors complaining. New guitar sales may be taking a hit because of the internet (forums, eBay, reverb, Craigslist) but the used market is screaming today.

 

[Lee B.]

I would think this was just the opposite because of the evolution of amps alone. Years ago you could only mostly buy 100 watt monsters that weren't good for the home users. Now with all the great low watt amps and all the digitial options available, a lot more people have access to be home rock stars without the wife, husband, kids, parents, and neighbors complaining. New guitar sales may be taking a hit because of the internet (forums, eBay, reverb, Craigslist) but the used market is screaming today.

Even more than that, practice amps no longer suck. I get almost as nice of tones out of the Yamaha THR5 that I keep in the living room as I do out of my Egnater head and Eminence cab. Just doesn't quite do the volume cleanup thing as well as honest tubes do.

 

[bluefade]

It is a musical instrument developed by a man known as Laurence Welk who drank lots of Geritol and listened to champagne music.

What's a BUBBLE MACHINE

 

[Clashcityrocker]

I've been thinking about this Death of the electric guitar thing. It seems like a few years back almost everyone played electric guitar. That includes some that aren't really into it. Things become less special when everyone is doing it. Like the bands who had to post their songs on Myspace and Facebook, If everyone is doing it I don't have time to listen to it. Let the trendies go play Guitar Hero.