tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post2254784569843224576..comments2020-09-22T05:16:44.117-07:00Comments on Business & Technology Related Musings: Martin Guitars & The Price We Pay (Part 2)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-65855511288386433382012-08-18T10:37:17.910-07:002012-08-18T10:37:17.910-07:00Very good point. New models and limited editions d...Very good point. New models and limited editions do blunt the impact of the big pool of used Martin guitars floating around out there.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-67974115266158830152012-08-18T05:42:36.415-07:002012-08-18T05:42:36.415-07:00hi Mike,
The biggest competition for Martin guita...hi Mike, <br />The biggest competition for Martin guitars is " used" Martin guitars. I suspect the reason Martin struggled in the 1980's is that the strength of the second hand market exceeded the strength of the "new" market. More and more the secondary guitar market has become a large factor in the pricing of "new" guitars.<br />Why buy a "new" guitar when you can buy a perfectly good already broken in "used" guitar for much less. If you take a look at the "used" prices of the D-28 in 1980 you will find that $600-700 was the going rate for a nice clean D-28 made after 1969 so Indian Rosewood. These were plentiful, available and a good alternative to a "new" Martin D-28. In the 80's when demand for acoustic guitars was lower Martin could not in effect compete with itself. We are seeing a wave of that happening now. With the economy the way it is one can take a "new" Martin Model cut the MSRP price in half and look for a "used" guitar. The consumers read the articles and know the dealers pay half the MSRP so they have a place to start to look for a "used" Martin that the dealer can not compete with when offering a "new" one with a warantee. I believe this is the reason for the new models and not the knowledge of the Customer. It's that Martin does not want to compete with itself. This was why the Company almost folded in the 1980's. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com