Official Luthiers Forum!

Fighting inflation doesn’t make much sense to me, inflation is expected and economy-wide and I’m not going to gripe if a company increases its prices a little to keep in line with inflation. I do the same with the rates I charge customers.

If professional luthiers are not supporting stewmac, then stewmac needs to find a new market ( hobbyists) or cease to be in business.
I find it humorous and ironic that someone who proudly proclaims to buy nearly nothing from stewmac, preferring to go directly to suppliers to lower costs, is the one who seems to be bewildered that stewmac has been migrating its business from supporting professional luthiers to hobbyists. Hobbyists are likely an attractive market because they don't have the knowledge needed to source materials and supplies directly.

Of course I also find it humorous that my spell checker keeps replacing 'luthier' with 'outlier'

Yep and we are about to do this too and have not looked at our pricing in several years. It cost us more to operate in a covid environment as well since we had to go to an appointment only model with some questions asked in advance. We also suspended the "try it before you take it home" thing we always did where we will still do this when a customer picks up but only if they ask, we don't suggest it.

I’m about to call Stewmac about my five week wait for my package…

I’ve not noticed much mention in this thread about the recent sale of Stewmac to a private equity fund. Champlain Capitol took over mid-Sept. I recall that is when the website changed and the phone stopped getting answered.

Champlain has no expertise in the guitar sector. From the website of Amherst Partners, the company that facilitated the sale:
“ Stewart-MacDonald represents a new platform investment for Champlain, which plans to leverage the marketing and operational expertise of its principals to expand Stewart-MacDonald’s iconic brands.”

Equity funds are about maximizing profit for shareholders. That’s all. I have trouble finding the generosity to accept that the recent changes are due to covid, inflation, or growing pains because of hobbyists.

The Stewmac we knew is gone. Whether it remains a viable option as a source in the future remains to be seen.

Regardless, guitars will be made, repaired and played.

Bob.


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Bob

^^^ Hear, Hear! ^^^

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

To what?

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Champlain Capitol announced the acquisition of StewMac in February 2016. Can anyone explain the difference between that acquisition and the September one referenced above? What has changed in ownership? What is going on?

Apparently there are several Champlain Capitols. It sounds like they are used to move money:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... ion-312-of

Some how it reminds me of Newhart - This is my brother Darrel, this is my other brother Darrel.....

What are you saying here Clay! Darrel

Well, I am still a "fan" of Stew Mac....


For one thing, They have one of best selections of tuning machines anywhere. I am particularly fond of their "Golden Age" repro tuner line-there is not much on the market that fills that void and they are reasonably priced for what they are.

I have ordered at least 8 times this year and have no problems with quality, shipping,etc. my purchase usually arrive 3 or 4 days after I order.

Yes, a lot of the stuff is expensive, but after I use it for a while I forget about the price and am happy to have a reliable tool.

Just my 2 cents

And I am still a fan too and thanks for this Brad. I just wrote a recommendation of SM and that I am completely satisfied with the resolution to my issues in another thread here.

We all benefit from a strong, well run StewMac.

Hi Bob, et.al.

What is going on is that I misunderstood the dating of an article that I found on the Amhearst Website.

Your dates are correct.

I received a very patient DM from a forum member who works at Stewmac. He corrected my dating, and let me know that from his perspective, the merger with Champlain has been very positive.

After dealing with some problems with the new Stewmac site, and some uncharacteristically short customer service replies, I search for information and saw (on google) a post dated September 21, 2021 announcing the merger. This was on the Amherst site. The Amherst page did not have a reference to the date of the merger, so I accepted the posted date as the merger date. I confess that I didn't dig deeper before accepting that as fact, and let my assumptions and biases add one and one and get seven.

I apologize to all and sundry. I like to believe that I know better. Apparently not.

I'll now return to my nine or ten years of reading and not posting
However, before radio silence returns, let me thank everyone who has been so generous with their knowledge over the years. I've benefitted a great deal, and am truly appreciative.

Best,
Bob

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Bob

Bob please keep posting I appreciate your posts!