Do EBMM guitars need more publicity?

[Tokkes]

Hi guys,

since I went to pick up my EBMM Steve Morse signature, I grew tired of my collection of G****ns, although I've been a true and devoted G****n fan my entire guitar playing life (about 15 years by now). Now, I read a lot of posts on the forum and it is often repeated that a lot of stores do not have EBMM guitars in stock (let's keep the 4 strings out of the discussion for the time being). Here in Belgium it is even quite impossible to even try out an EBMM guitar in a store since practically all stores here do not have a single EBMM guitar in stock.

This raises a couple of questions to me: first, do you guys think that EBMM should put more effort in ads for EBMM guitars? Or do you think that it is fine the way it is (considering the fact that we have become part of a family of guitar players that knows by now that EBMM guitars are just truly magnificent and we do not want the family to become too large )? I have to say I don't know if lots of advertasing is done in the USA. Second, maby this low profile advertisement for EBMM guitars is a company choice since they don't want to start 'mass' production that will ultimately end in guitars of a lesser quality (as is the case with lots of other brands starting with G, F and others out there).

In the end I'm only wondering what life would have been if I would have known earlier that EBMM produced such fine guitars? Over here there is a lot of promo for EB strings, but that's about it. It just feel a little disappointed that the flood of G***** and F***** ads made me choose those instruments while there definitely is a better class of instruments for an even better price (not always, true).

Just curious,

don't hold your breath. Enlighten me, I'd like to know. I already ordered the new SM Y2D signature and I feel some itching for something with a piezo and maybe a Bongo. Indeed, it is addictive.

But I love it

Cheers, Tom.

 

[SteveB]

Tom,

While I personally would love to see more ads for Music Man guitars (heck.. my jaw would drop if I encountered a *single* ad for them..), I am sure that Big Poppa would be doing this already if he thought it made good business sense.
(He's no dummy, y'know...)

But SLO is always operating around a 3-4 month queue. I think this might be a comfortable pace for the size of the company as it exists right now.

 

[jimmyp]

You could be right - maybe they do need more publicity. I personally would not have considered an EBMM guitar had EVH not started to endorse them - once I saw big names like EVH and Luke playing them, and the fact that they looked classic yet modern, I wanted one. I ordered my EVH without ever having seen or played one just based on reviews and ads. I still own it 11 years later. More high level endorsees would be good (Sorry to be a snob, but Benji Madden would not inspire me to choose a brand of guitar, but a 16yr old would probably think differently). I think the problem is that EBMM are still considered as boutique guitars even though they are much cheaper than anything of comparable quality. The fact that you can walk into virtually any music store and try out 10 Fenders or Gibsons etc is a big plus for them as you can get a feel for the guitar, wheras with EBMM you tend to have to order and hope you get a good one (please don't all jump down my throat here and say all EBMM guitars are good - I'm sure some are better than others). In the end, EBMM from what I understand are operating around about their capacity and are probably quite happy with their level of production. At least we know when we order one, there are not 50000 per week shipping out, some of which are turkeys, as there could be with another company.

 

[phatduckk]

im super interested in this issue. there's gotta be a lot of market factors that BP's MBAs take into consideration.

when i was a buying my first guitar ever the only thing i thought of was that i wanted a red guitar. My decision was based on the fact that Slash played a ref guitar in the You Could Be Mine video. I had no idea at the time that it was a BC Rich Mockingbird ... and the fact that the Mockingbird has a "unique" shape never registered. so ... i thought "my hero has a cool red guitar and i want a red one".

i doubt first time buyers know that different guitars feel different and sound different. i think these guys are most likely to buy something that "looks like XXXX's guitar". they probably dont know about knock offs etc.

plus ... another huge issue is budget. most people i know got their first guitar from their parents. i doubt many parents are gonna throw down $900+ for their kida first axe, especially when they see a bunch of stuff at GC priced from $89 - $300.

next there's the "im saving for my first 'good' guitar" market. As far as my experience goes (how me n my friends acted etc) these people know some stuff about guitars. they know what a humbucker is vs a single coil and they know what brand makes knockoffs of what etc. but they lack experience ... they know stuff about "famous" brands and tend to stick to those, but the higher end version. Pople I know in this category want a Les Paul - not an Epiphone (might not know and the diffs in Standard vs Studio yet), a USA Strat - not a made in mexico, or a PRS - not a CE ... yada yada. But, again from my experience, a lot of these guys don't know EBMM makes guitars.

and finally there's people like us ... been playing over a decade, have owned many guitars etc ... i think with experience comes the acceptance that there's probably a lot of good guitars out there and you're willing to try something new and not dismiss a guitar based on "it looks odd" or "i dont know anyone that plays that".

i think "who plays what" has to highly influence the first 2 types of buyers i mentioned. So if a lot of people on MTV played an Axis then im sure more people would want one - or at least something that looks like one. they look different enough where "people that dont know better" wont confuse 'em for a strat (i could see people confusing a Silo for a strat).

if more people want 'em im sure stores would star to stock em ... that just how it goes; you stock what you know you can sell ... not stuff that is awesome and people would buy "if they only knew".

but ya ... dont feel lonely. I live in san francisco (not too remote of a place ) and have seen only a handful of EBMM 6 strings in stores. ive NEVER seen an Super Sport, JP, Silo, Silo Spec or Morse in a store. all ive seen are a few Axis and a handful of SUBS

i dunno ... im just rambling cuz i dont wanna work right now.

 

[Tokkes]

Tom,

While I personally would love to see more ads for Music Man guitars (heck.. my jaw would drop if I encountered a *single* ad for them..), I am sure that Big Poppa would be doing this already if he thought it made good business sense.
(He's no dummy, y'know...)

But SLO is always operating around a 3-4 month queue. I think this might be a comfortable pace for the size of the company as it exists right now.

SteveB,

you made a good point there, but what I'm really wondering about is the question where this absence of advertisements comes from? There has to be a reason for this, and I'm not talking commercially only. Have there been attempts in the past to advertise EBMM guitars? I'm just curious you know. The non-finished neck plays extremely well and I'm absolutely certain that I'm not the only guitar player out there that can feel that. The neck feels so much better, especially if you have sweaty hands like me

Maybe Jon, Big Poppa or somebody else at the factory can shine some light on this?

Cheers, Tom.

 

[blackspy]

People seem to know about them, at least in my encounters. They always think I'm hauling my trusty OLP out of the case, then they ooh and ahh for a few minutes when they realize its a ... "real Musicman guitar".

I don't know if I'd want to see more advertising. Judging from the wait times for an order they're selling what they produce, so assuming advertising would increase sales they'd either have to ramp up to a faster mode of production, or increase the wait times for everything.

I personally enjoy the slight 'elite' feeling of owning and playing these guitars. I always stand out in the crowd of Ibanez/Fender/Gibson users, which is nice. I don't think guitars like this would appeal to the people who would be lured in by big ad campaigns anyway. Those people will always want what other people have. Unless that's a Musicman guitar its not going to matter.

 

[deadringer]

Maybe I'm just being a snob here but I like the fact that using Ernie Ball / Musicman is a little bit of an exclusive club. I can tell you this, I've never seen a single EB/MM user live that was a hack on his instrument (I've never seen Benji). I'm not saying that only shredders or whatever use EB but those that choose EB usually know exactly what they want. I compare it back to when PRS was a smaller company. It was kind of like a little magic when someone used them. Like they new a secret.

In my live playing experience I get two distinct reactions about my Pet 7. The first group have no recognition of who EB is. Some guitar players have even commented, "I thought Ernie only made strings." After they hear it they're usually impressed (by the guitar, not by me).

The other group is those that have heard about but never "experienced" EB's before. I actually played a club last year ran by a guy who used to play the whole bar band circuit way back in the day. He's a classic rock guy through and through and is married to the Gibson into Marshall is good camp.

He was standing around BS'ing with us as we began our load in and was making cute little snipes about our gear the whole time. I wheeled in my MK IV half stack and he said, "you should borrow my Marshall so you don't suck" and other jabs. He found one or another jokes about all of our gear until I brought in my Pet. As I cracked open the case he came right over.

I was expecting more of the same from him but as I brought it out of it's case his attitude changed completely.

He was like, "Wow, is that an Ernie Ball? I've never even seen one before. Hey, that's a seven string! You've gotta let me try that!"

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the guys that need to know how cool EB's are do. And guessing by the wait time for my Pet, the company is doing just fine. I'm sure they could make production huge and sell ten times as much but I just get the feel that the love wouldn't be there like there is now. I say let the mojo factory do it's thing!

 

[OrangeChannel]

Chris,

After the quips....then the request to jam on your aqxe, I wouldn've put a well placed kick to his lower abdominal area....hehe....

 

[deadringer]

Chris,

After the quips....then the request to jam on your aqxe, I wouldn've put a well placed kick to his lower abdominal area....hehe....

I guess I should mention that he still hasn't tried an Ernie Ball Musicman yet. Tehe!

 

[koogie2k]

I agree with most who posted....let it be the way it is. We all belong to a "secret" society in guitar playing. I like it just the way it is. Most dudes who play my Pet just sit back and wonder why they don't have one. I usually direct them where to go to get one or at least try the other models. So, I push the product (as most of us do) and let the buyer decide.

 

[Raz]

Well I think if anyone who was actually serious about buying a guitar, and had enough sense to pick up a magazine, or do some research, then that person would definately stumble upon EBMM. So I think it's perfect the way it is. However there is some disadvantages and I can only give a Canadian's point of view on this...I wish there was more exposure to them...walking into 2 out of the 6 NEW guitar shops in Ottawa and only finding a handful of EBMM's makes things a little difficult...however I repeat, if someone was to do their homework, they'd sure enough discover them. Perhaps 15 years or so ago my opinion would be different, but now with internet and online purchasing, heck anything is possible!

 

[OrangeChannel]

Well I think if anyone who was actually serious about buying a guitar, and had enough sense to pick up a magazine, or do some research, then that person would definately stumble upon EBMM. So I think it's perfect the way it is. However there is some disadvantages and I can only give a Canadian's point of view on this...I wish there was more exposure to them...walking into 2 out of the 6 NEW guitar shops in Ottawa and only finding a handful of EBMM's makes things a little difficult...however I repeat, if someone was to do their homework, they'd sure enough discover them. Perhaps 15 years or so ago my opinion would be different, but now with internet and online purchasing, heck anything is possible!

It ain't just canada tho....that happens here as well....the only shop I knwo that has a ton of EBMM's , has had most of them for years anyhow...

 

[beej]

Well, for me the best exposure was artist endorsements. Even now, I still look to see what my favourite guys are playing, thinking "what do they know that I don't?".

The guitars I always wanted were what my idols were playing. Not logical at all, but that's what stuck in my head.

With EBMM, I came to the brand through the Steve Morse. I've had a lot of guitas in my time, and like Cud I've even built some from scratch (neck, frets and all), but I still looked at it from afar and said "I've got to have one". Since then, of course, I've come to realize that these are the guitars for me.

A double-edged sword. You don't want to have too many endorsees, but the right ones do the trick.

 

[Raz]

It ain't just canada tho....that happens here as well....the only shop I knwo that has a ton of EBMM's , has had most of them for years anyhow...

Yo OC no upper case on the C...what'supwitdat yo?

 

[OrangeChannel]

I've got some canid blood in me...I can do that...

 

[blackspy]

Distribution deals seems to contribute to some of the fact that they seem hard to find in stores some places. For example there are really only two stores in my local area. One is the bigger, dominant store. They sell EB strings and have had the occasional guitar. Mainly though, the strings. They don't cater much to musicians, they're salespeople. Now the other store is small, run by working musicians, musicians hang out there it's a great store. However, they don't sell even EB strings because they're not allowed due to the bigger store's distribution rights. They would love to carry them, the guitars and strings, but can't. I wonder how often this is part of the problem.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

blackspy, I dont know how often that is part of the problem, but I know that when I called up EB to set up my account, they said that even though there was a Guitar Center here in the same town they didn't count, and I was welcome to begin ordering strings and things Maybe the other store just needs to give EB a call?

I will say that I am suprised at the demand for EB guitars, I get emails or phone calls almost daily from people asking what we have in stock, what is on order, etc. Most people don't want to wait the 3 months, they want something ASAP to satisfy the addiction. Maybe this is why EBs aren't so prominently featured by guitarists out and about? They jump the gun and buy something else when the brand they want isnt immediately available.... just a thought....

That being said, a 3-4 month wait for having an instrument hand crafted in the USA, with the options you choose, seems like an excellent deal to me. But that's just me.

Should EB advertise more?
I don't think it matters if they do or don't, but I would say "no" - They certainly move product at a steady rate, and who wants to see these guitars as "commonplace"? Not me

 

[Raz]

I get emails or phone calls almost daily from people asking what we have in stock, what is on order, etc.

Ah matey, that's also because you're such a swell individual

I figure if I kiss enough ass I'll get the JP7 Piezo at a REALLy good price

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Ah matey, that's also because you're such a swell individual

I figure if I kiss enough ass I'll get the JP7 Piezo at a REALLy good price

I know I'm a swell guy Keep on kissing if you want, but my prices are the same

 

[Eddie Van Halen]

no, then prices would go up