MIMF

Randolph, that is so true all around and it's why I've been hoping to move to France for decades now.
If you are a guitar builder and you have a life partner things can get complicated when the typical expectations aren't met. Having a credible source of outside income can make all the difference.

I've seen a good number of these convos about pricing structure, business viability, and market niche on the forums over the years, but this thread is hitting on some biting reality that others missed. A good read for all involved.

I find my pricing to be polarizing; about half of the people that hear a price wonder why someone would pay that much for a _______, while the other half ask how I can make them so cheaply. My prices go up as my lead time goes up, and for now I've stopped taking custom orders until I catch up. I agree that there should be a fair amount due at the end of the build, so I don't take more than half up front even if I could really use the money.

Steven Catania used to make dulcimers, but he was commercially more successful with "catspaws", a variation on wooden spoon type instruments that he could make more quickly and sell for less money. He also offers some other simple instruments through various dealers. His dream was to own his own home based business. Sometimes you need to take a slight detour to accomplish your goal.

Clay Schaeffer wrote:Steven Catania used to make dulcimers, but he was commercially more successful with "catspaws", a variation on wooden spoon type instruments that he could make more quickly and sell for less money. He also offers some other simple instruments through various dealers. His dream was to own his own home based business. Sometimes you need to take a slight detour to accomplish your goal.

Clay, I think this a good example of different goals and outcomes folks want/need to have in their work. I say want/need because some people want to build certain things because that's what interests them, and other people need to build certain things because that's the quickest or best path to an income. Both can be authentic and legitimate pursuits of creativity and craft, but the need is different.

I've had a number of clever ideas about building some small, novel, uke-ish instruments on the side, and selling them on etsy or ebay to fund my main building interests. It didn't pencil out: what I would intend to be a "side" thing would need to be a full-time thing, considering the price-point and volume output necessary to even make it break even. If I needed that income, I would do it, but I don't. Those little exercises teach me that I'm very fortunate to have a combined household income that allows me to do my hobby on the side, at whatever level I wish to pursue, and I'm ok with that.