The Business of Making Music | #15 Making Wish Lists

Get That Gear - Part Eight: Get That Endorsement

Are you a famous rockstar? Or a guitar hero? Or like me are just a legend in your spare time?

If you are in the first two categories then getting an endorsement is easy. For the full time no name musician not so much.

Early in my career I kind of resented the successful pro players who got the free gear through endorsements. I mean they could afford to buy a hundred Les Pauls and they are getting them for free? Come on!

But of course it made sense. The big time players offer exposure as their payment. They may play in front of 10,000 or even 100,000 people on a weekly basis. Or on TV. Or in videos. Or their album credits may be a real selling point for a manufacturer. However, you'd be surprised at how much you might qualify for getting free or at cost gear. Some situations that make you valuable to manufacturers...

Do you play with a mid-level artist? Someone who does festivals, concert halls, theaters regularly?
Do you play at a meg-church? One with over 5,000 weekly attenders? Are your services on TV?
Do your gear reviews get 10,000 or 50,000 or more views on youtube?
Do your cover song videos have millions of views on youtube?
Do you teach clinics or at a university?

Many of those are reasons I have acquired gear for cheap or even free. But probably the best way for me was to make a "love connection" at the NAMM Show.

What is the NAMM Show? I blogged previously on getting to the NAMM show here.

With just about every manufacturer is represented at the NAMM show in LA in the winter and Nashville or Austin in the Summer, it's an opportunity to meet and greet and make connections. However, know that they aren't there for you. They are there to make sales to buyers from stores. So remember that. Don't interfere with their business. My tacked, and it's really more of an anti-tacked, is to not have an agenda, just ask intelligent questions, be helpful, offer informed advice if asked. Make a friend. It costs them little to give you a good deal.

Get That Gear - Part Five: Avoid Impulse Buys

There are few times when I bought something I regretted. Usually when I thought I really needed something, for what ever reason, and I rushed out and picked it up.

One time I got a call from a composer I'd never worked with before and he asked if I could get the Beatles sound. I had much of the gear that would facilitate the sound of the band that is the reason I play guitar, a Les Paul, a Strat, a Rickenbacher 12-string, a Gibson acoustic, but I didn't have an Epiphone Casino. Because I wanted to make a good impression on this composer I decided that I would get a Casino that day. I called around to many stores and the only one that had one was quite a ways away. I drove out and bought it. Didn't even negotiate the price. The fee for the session was going to enough to cover the cost of the new axe.

One problem: the session got canceled. I never ended up working for the composer.

The Casino has seen very little game time. It's a little toyish feeling and it's soap bar pickups were too noisy to be much use for live use and especially session work. It looks cool though.

Another purchase was a 60's Marshall 50 watt head. Ultimately I got a good deal on this one, but at the time I actually took out a loan to buy it to help build credit. I very rarely used it as it was way over powered for any situation I might need it for and the one time I used it for a session I hooked it up to a Rocktron Juice Extractor and blew the power transformer. Doh! It was one of those things I thought I should have, not something I really needed. Still to this day hope to start doing sessions where I can bring lots of heads (as I have a few now). Some day.

My point here is that resources for most of us are limited and can't be wasted on ill-conceived or hasty purchases. Take a deep breath, count to ten and put your wallet back in your pocket. But if it meets the criterium for your next purchase pull the trigger.

In my next post I'm going to contradict everything I just said here. Haha.

Guitar Gear of the Greats

Get That Gear - Part Four: Keep Money On The Sideline

Even while your list will be your main source of gear acquisition focus you need to have the freedom to completely abandon "listmania". That freedom can come from having literal cash on the side, say in a gear account, or just know that you have some extra scratch in you checking account for some opportunities.

Here are some examples of acquisitions made just by having a little extra cash around...

1. $1100 for an unloved 70's Martin D-35 at a Guitar Center. Had to put a little into it but it is my fave acoustic right now. But it was pretty sweet right off the rack. Used it on this track...

2. $140 for a 60's Sears Silvertone 1484 with Jensen Blue Frame speakers. Brought to life in the capable hands of Bob Dixon (his favorite vintage amp) an amazing garage sale find.

3. $750 for a new matchless Clubman head from one of the original owners. He was their accountant and they bought him out by giving him a bunch of amps back in the 90's. He didn't really need to make a lot of money off of them.

4. $175 for a 1940's Fender Triple 8-string neck lap steel from the same guy. When I bought the Clubman he asked, "would you be interested in this?" I had never seen one but thought "what the heck." I've used it for some pretty cool effects in soundtracks. It's worth about ten times what I paid for it.

5. $200 for a Silverface Fender Deluxe. Used on this track...

To name but a few.

You never know when opportunity knocks but it can't knock if you don't have enough extra coin to open the door. OK, that made absolutely no sense. But hopefully you know what I mean.

I would even suggest stopping your gear purchases for a while so you can save a thousand or so dollars to keep on the sidelines giving you the ability to pull the trigger when you run into that no brainer.

Martin D-35
Fender Deluxe Reverb

Get That Gear - Part Three: Prioritize

Now that you are making a list. It's time to get realistic with that list. Or at least get real. Unless you have eight figures in your bank account replace "'59 Les Paul" with just plain old "Les Paul". Forget the Dumble Amp and maybe shoot for a Two Rock.

Your list should be in no particular order, allowing for a free flowing, stream of consciousness that will allow you to be flexible with your gear acquisition. Priorities will change often. Sometimes daily. So don't be bound by the position of where things are, let need or opportunity dictate your next purchase.

For example if you only have one amp and it's starting to die, move your amp choices to the top of the list.  The list should be a living, fluid document. If you have an audition with a funk band and you don't have that wah pedal that's number 15 on your list, move it to number one. If at the bottom of your list is a mandolin and you see a nice Gibson at a yard sale for $100, need I say more?

Needs vs. wants. Know the difference here. I have had items stay on the top of the lists so long that they were no longer desired or needed. As Garth Brooks sang "Thank God for unanswered prayers."

Here are some items from wish lists past, with commentary...

G&L S-500 - got it and sold it, too noisy
Lexicon MPX-1 - didn't get it right away, then the MPX G2 came out, got it at artist pricing (50% off), loved it and still use it.
Mesa Boogie 2:90 - never got it and kind of glad too
TC Electronics M2000 - never got it, didn't really need it once I got the Lexicon
Egnator Preamp - Never got it
Dobro - got a 1929 National Duolian that I use all the time
Taylor or Guild 12-string - got a Taylor 655 for a great price
Danelectro Baritone - Got it
Neumann KM 184 - still on my list
Gretsch Country Gentleman or similar - still on my list
ADAT Player - didn't get and glad

This is just a small sampling of prior lists, some even included smaller, more attainable items like capos, strings, recordable CD's, etc. But you can see in my ability to predict through wishing was batting 50/50. But that's OK, because most the stuff I didn't get I didn't need.

Get That Gear - Part Two: Make A List

Back when I first moved to LA I was way under-geared. I had spent the previous three years saving money for the move. Money I might need to live on if I couldn't get work. Money that wasn't spent on a bunch of guitars and amps and pedals. The gear I owned for the move fit easily in the back of my Pontiac Gran Prix and the 2000 mile drive to the West coast. It was as follows...

An early-70's Ibanez 175 copy (lawsuit model)
A 1979 Ibanez Artist 335 electric
A 1981 G&L F1001
A Yamaha Classical
An Acoustic 165 amp
And some misc. pedals

This was all I brought to compete with Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Carl Verheyen, and so many others. What was I thinking? Seriously.

I had used up all my guts and courage to move to LA, and had none left to take chances with savings or credit cards, so that list didn't change much for a long time. Disposable income didn't come easily those first few years and my savings was slowly dwindling.

Once I got married and my wife (God bless her) got a real job, I started to make wish lists. My income from students and gigs and occasional sessions began to grow slowly, and gear purchases were the easiest way to write off some of that income.

I made pretty extensive lists. Dreaming big but with some practicality thrown in for good measure. There were a lot of things on the lists that I didn't get and that's not a bad thing. But I printed up the lists and kept them in a drawer and every now and then would go back a look at lists from five or ten years prior and be amazed at how much from these lists had been acquired. And how much I didn't get and was extremely glad.

There's something about making lists, whether you are checking them often or not, that tend to be self fulfilling prophesy. Call it "visualization" if you like. If you haven't done this I suggest you start one right now.

You can use sites like Amazon or Musician's Friend to create wish lists. But better to just create a doc, date it and print it. You can make one list or separate it out into sub-lists, "pedals", "guitars", "amps". It can be specific like... "Lowden F25" or more general like... "good finger style guitar." Like.. "Carl Martin Fuzz" or like... "fuzz pedal"

Text or e-mail yourself ideas when at guitar stores or at shows of things you liked and add them to your list. Maybe put some context... "Fender Tele Baritone, saw at the Burned Out Monkeys show"

Lowden F25
Carl Martin Fuzz Pedal
Fender Tele Baritone

Get That Gear - Part One: Intro

Having the right gear can help you quit that day job and work as a full time musician. It may be guitars, amps and pedals for gigging and sessions, it may be a computer, mics and preamps for writing and recording, it may even be just an area of your home set-up and dedicated to teaching lessons. Whatever your future needs are you'll need to break out that check book/wallet/credit card and make some purchases. My prayer for you is resources, patience, intuition and general all around smarts.

In the next few posts I'm going to give you some tips to get that gear...

1. Make a list.
2. Prioritize
3. Keep money on the sideline
4. Avoid impulse buys
5. Trust your senses
6. Where?
7. Get that endorsement.

Hopefully they will help you get the gear you need to build a career.

If you don't have gear insurance...

Get it.

I don't like to hear stories about stolen or destroyed guitars. Never good, but a least you can replace it.  These guys are great...

https://www.musicproinsurance.com/default.aspx

Post your stolen gear stories in the comments to inspire insurance purchasing action.

Ebay Buying Tips

Back when Beth and I first got married we didn’t have much of anything, especially money, so we frequented yard sales and flea markets in search of furniture and other necessary stuff. I would always look for undervalued instruments. I bought an old Silvertone Twin Twelve amp for $140 years ago at one of those yard sales. I remember telling her, “If I could have one superpower it would be the ability to look at an item, know exactly what it is worth and know where to get that much for it.” I know it’s not x-ray vision or the ability to fly, but I was trying to be practical. The problem is is that everyone has that ability now since eBay was launched. Have an old pedal in your closet? Search for it at eBay and watch a similar item sell to determine it’s value. This has made it much more difficult to find good deals around the corner.

eBay benefits the seller by exposing them to millions of potential buyers. Try that at a pawn shop. And eBay benefits the buyers by allowing them to set their maximum price and possibly get it for less than that. Here are some tips for those in the second camp.

1. When searching for something like “Gibson Les Paul” sort list by “Time: newly listed” just in case someone who doesn’t know what they have has listed their item at an unusually low “Buy It Now” price. A good friend of mine listed his Matchless Hot Box (a pre-amp pedal) for a “Buy It Now” price of $200 and it sold within minutes. “I guess I should’ve listed it higher” he later told me. I guess he should’ve called me first.

2. Try misspelling the name of the item. “Marshal amp” or “Gibbon Les Paul” or “Phender Strat”. eBay is a search engine based site, you would not be referred to a typo, so create a typo.

3. Carefully read the item’s description. Look for phrases like “without speakers”, “not original”, “I am selling a photo of a ’59 Les Paul”. E-mail and ask for more pics. It costs to have more than one photo on your listing and many aren’t willing pay the extra price, but it costs them nothing to send you a jpg or two.

4. Start your eBay experience slowly. Start with smaller items like pedals. Bid only what you are comfortable paying. Use PayPal whenever possible. It’s easy to dispute in the PayPal system. Bookmark sellers that treat you right.

5. If you are having trouble finding what you want, click the “Add to Favorite Searches” link and eBay will e-mail you every time one of those items is listed. Be somewhat specific. Don’t just say “amp” or you are liable to get 1500 e-mails everyday! Fool me once...

6. If you have a good experience leave a positive feedback. If your eBay transaction is much less than smooth and you’ve tried to resolve the issue, (and have some grace as many things can go wrong; shipping issues, computer issues, PayPal issues and so forth) then it’s OK to leave a negative feedback. Feedback ratings are the oil in eBay’s machinery.

7. Bid confidently with someone who has a feedback of 100%  and a number of feedbacks as that A+ rating is worth more than gold and most sellers and buyers will make your happiness their priority in order to keep it.

8. Be cautious with bidders or sellers with a feedback score of less than 10. Click on their name and see what items they tend to sell/buy. Look at the dates. Are they all in the last month? This may be a sign of someone reregistering to distance themselves from a too negative rating under an old handle. However, if you are a gambler, and you really want a good deal, there is very little bidding competition for sellers with 80-95% ratings. But remember caveat emptor.

9. When bidding look at who else is buying. Click on the “bids” link. It will list your bidding competition. If you see buyers with hundreds of purchases (especially gear purchases) you are going up against pros. Two conclusions: You are bidding on something worthwhile and you are going to lose.

10. Bid weird amounts. The minimum next bid amount increases with the price; 50 cents to one dollar to $2.50 to $5.00 and so on. If making a late bid, at least double the minimum and add a penny, that someone may try to sneak a last second minimum bid but you will beat them by one penny. It’s been done to me and it’s very humiliating. Try maybe 11 cents or 31 cents or something unpredictable.

11. Sometimes the “Buy It Now” price is better than bidding. Look at what they are willing to give away to have the sale ended. One amp I was looking at threw in free shipping (saving $65), some used but working tubes (?$) and a five switch pedal. All worth the difference between the starting price of $1149 and the BIN price of $1299.

12. On bigger items check out eSnipe!!! It will bid for you in the last 6 seconds (!!!!) so you don’t have to baby sit the auction. And so you are not tempted to drive up the price with price testing bids. It will save you a fortune.

13. Also, again, carefully read the items description. This can be to your advantage. I recently bought a “broken” “as-is” mic pre (I used eSnipe), for less then a fourth of the cost of it’s retail, new value. It was being sold from Cleveland pawn shop. The description said, “doesn’t produce any sound” and “don’t have the ability to test any further”. I speculated that they didn’t know what they had, as mic-pres don’t produce any sound that doesn’t require amplification. I checked their other items for sale. Figurines, flutes, home stereos, but no high end sound gear. They probably didn’t know anything about mic-pres. It didn’t properly work when I received it, but even after repairing it it will cost me less than half retail! Score

I hope these tips help you get some great deals on some new for you gear. Post your eBay successes and failures below in the comment thread so everyone can learn from your... um... successes and failures!

Cool Site #6 - Gearslutz

Gearslutz - no, it's not naughty.  Unless you struggle with gear lust.

Cheap Guitar God - $99 Squire Strat

I want to pick up an Epi LP too at some point to string up high-strung and leave it that way.

Like this one - Squier® by Fender® MINITM, Black

The NAMM Show

"What is the NAMM show?"

NAMM stands for National Association of Music Merchants.  It was first held in 1901(!).  It's generally where for four days buyers from music stores and chains go to see and order merchandise for the coming year from major and minor manfuacturers.  Guitars, basses, amps, pedal, recording gear, keyboards, pianos, lighting systems, karaoke machines, everything and anything that has to do with music and music production.  Most every industry has a similar trade show.  CES is the consumer electronics trade show.  E3 is the Electronic Entertainment Expo.  There are trade shows for plumbing suppliers, clothing retailers, home builders, for just about anything.  Many are open to the public.  However, NAMM, historically has not been open to the public.*

Generally Winter NAMM is in Anaheim in January every year.  Summer NAMM is in Nashville or Austin in July.

You might ask me... "As an aspiring musician why should I go to the NAMM show?

1. See amazing new gear
2. See amazing musicians
3. Meet amazing manufacturers
4. Meet amazing musicians

I've been going now for years, at least twenty, and it's most fun the first couple of times you go and more than a little overwhelming.  I mainly go now to bond with my sons.  I've seen a lot of famous musicians over the years; Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Wonder, Bootsy Collins to name but a few.  And seen some amazing players at booths like the guy who invented the e-bow, he's got that thing down!  Amazing 10 year old shredders that will make you want to sell your gear.  Country shredders like Johnny Hiland and John Jorgenson and Jerry Donahue from the Hellecasters.  Old school jazzers.  Bass slappers.  And all sorts of unknown players like you killin' it in the booths while trying out gear.

And that's the main reason to go to the NAMM show.  The gear and those that build it.  I've seen and heard some amazing guitars, amps and pedals in Anaheim before the general public even heard about them.  And the inventors/builders, who often risk everything they own to bring their products to market, are inspiring.  I've made many "love connections" and gotten some great gear for cost or even free in return for my endorsement and/or evaluation.

"OK, Tom you sold me. How do I get a badge to get in?"

That's the tough part.  But doable.  Do you have a store that you frequent?  Do you have a store that you spend a lot of money at?  OK, let me be more blunt, is there a store who's owner is depending on you to put his kids through college.  If they are a member of NAMM they can get you a badge even if they aren't planning on going.  Ask.

Or do you know a manufacturer?  Someone who is going to have a booth there?  They can get a badge for you.  I've gotten most of my badges from this source.  Martin Guitars, Taylor Guitars, Elixir Strings, Marshall Electronics, Roland, all companies that I had some connection with through the years.  If you know someone who works for a manufacturer, ask him.

Do you know someone who works for a trade magazine?  They also have access to badges.

Every year I hear that they are going to crack down on unauthorized people getting into the show.  Use to be you could use anyone's badge to get in, but true to their promise they have been checking and matching ID to badge for the last couple of years now.  One year I was "Bruce Kulick".  I got a lot of double takes that year.

*This year, 2011, NAMM opened Sunday to the public.  Not sure what it cost but I'm sure it was insane.  I tend to go only on Thursday and Friday as is it's mildly less swarmed.


Heet Sound Plus EBow Electric Bow for Guitar with 2 Batteries Included

Johnny Hiland -
Johnny Hiland
Johnny Hiland: Chicken Pickin' Guitar

The Hellecasters -
Return of the Hellecasters
Escape from Hollywood
New Axes to Grind