Worth the upgrade?

[HereIsJT]

Hey Diggy,

Good to see the entrepreneurial spirit alive at the end of high school! Don’t let that fade. The guys above have good points, but there’s a niche for everything and a balance between what you buy your raw goods at and what you sell the final product for, that’s profit.

You’re question is how to make more profit from kit guitars, and now I haven’t investigated it myself, but it sounds like your a dude with a bit of time and an appetite to mitigate some risk...

My thoughts on the above comments seem to say that there’s a personal preference associated with components that don’t result in profit at the end of the day right. The hardest part about kits is the pre and finishing of the body and neck... that’s where your time (and the cost of that time) goes.

Maybe it’s worth testing if there’s a niche for beautifully finished bodies and necks that people can simply bolt their own components onto. Maybe you’d get $350 for that instead of the $400 max for something loaded with upgraded parts and you’d save a bunch of money on your buying side.

Everything you do will start with a max value that you can sell it at, the market chooses that. You can choose how much you spend on buying the materials, and the rest of your profit champ.

Anyone else have a thought on that approach?

[JohnH]

I agree with everyone that it is very difficult to make money back on a kit or scratch build, even with great hardware.

Having said that, I definitely agree with HereIsJT that where there is a will there is a way, and that as long as you work backwards from the obvious constraint of maximum sale price (dictated by market) you can then try to find creative solutions to increase the difference between what you outlay and what you get back. I don't think it's going to be easy, but your age is on your side and you have the right attitude to give it a crack.

The art world suffers from a similar predicament. It has taken me ten years to start making money back on my paintings, because everyone charges the artist and no one pays. Materials, time, framing, freight, tax, etc and then no guarantee of a sale. It's really killer.

Having said that, I think McCreed actually landed on a solution (which also works for artists). Commissions are a great way to guarantee you will make money, because you don't spend anything until you get the job. You can ask for a deposit that covers materials, and then even if they fall through on the final sale you aren't out of pocket except for time, but if you sell it at a discounted rate after that you're still ahead.

The other great thing about commissions is people come to you because they like your style, as opposed to you making something great but then the sales process being at the mercy of whoever is on your local FB marketplace. It takes time to build a reputation, but that is true either way, and you'll starve less in the meantime!

The other thing artists often do is form collectives to share overheads. I have some friends who have started this amazing woodwork/printing/fabrication workshop. Basically they hired a huge shed and pooled their resources to fill it with gear they either already had, or bought cheap, or scrounged. They are all making completely different things, but they all have their own space, access to a crazy range of gear, and they share the costs so each person is paying a reasonable amount. They also hire gear out to make money back. It's a really good model if you have some friends who also want to build things