EVOLVE1918

I am currently preparing a business plan with the intention of starting a small guitar making enterprise right here in Ireland, and I need your help!

As part of my market research I am trying to find out a little more about the average (or above average) guitar player. To that end I have compiled a very short survey that should take no more than 5mins to complete. I would be very grateful if any of you guitarists that can spare 5mins would mind completing the survey for me.

The survey is fully confidential and individual respondents are not tracked. Anyone who completes the survey and wishes to leave their email address at the end will be entered into a draw to win a €20 Amazon gift card.

Just click here to take the survey! (links to surveygizmo)

Any questions just ask
Thanks!

Evolve

GaryBillington

Done. Good survey - possibly the most comprehensive I've seen advertised in these forums.

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Weirdbag

done

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Imagine Ends

stepchildusmc

good survey. im always interested in startups.

EVOLVE1918

Hey thanks guys, I really appreciate it. Hopefully we'll have something exciting to show you all in the new year

patticake

i did your survey, and hope the responses are helpful. there are things, though, that are worth considering.

one of the most important things to me when choosing a guitar is neck profile, nut width and string spacing. as a finger style player, i find a narrow nut or not enough string spacing to slow down my playing or cause finger cramping.

also something worth considering is that it's handy to be able to try some guitars from any custom brand before ordering. while you can show your guitars at healdsburg, and that's a good idea, a lot of us don't make it there. i DO see custom and boutique guitars at a few localish stores, and one stupendous classical builder in california puts some of his guitars for sale as used at guitar center hollywood, not because they're used (they're not), but because it allows players to hear and try them in person. my husband and i were blown away by his guitars, which we would never have seen in person otherwise.

btw, while i would consider greener alternative materials, they'd still have to sound great.

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EVOLVE1918

Thanks for the feedback patticake. All good points and duly noted. Great sound and tone will always be the most fundamental characteristic which we look for when designing our guitars. We, along with many others I'm sure, have experimented with many different species of 'sustainable' timbers for use as tonewoods. Many don't and never will make the grade. But we have been pleasantly surprised, even blown away, by some of the results! And we hope to find guitarists out there who will be too

patticake

actually for a lot of us aging guitarists, tone has to take a second place to comfort. i've got damaged shoulders from playing dreads, as do a number of other over-40 guitarists i know. that means we're constantly searching for guitars with smaller lower bouts that are also a bit shallower but sound great. while i like the collings baby and the gibson arlo guthrie, i'm currently saving for a santa cruz guitars firefly with a custom neck that has a wider nut http://www.santacruzguitar.com/instruments/firefly/

btw, when it comes to australian guitars, i've been very impressed with most of the cole clarks i've played (we're lucky enough to live by a local dealer). the bunya used in many of the guitars sounds great!

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