Not sure if this is the right forum but I bet some folks can help:
I have been doing well selling my cigar boxes, mostly at craft fairs where people hear me play, a few from the local music store and one every now and then from the local museum gift store.
The museum takes a 60/40 cut on craft items in the gift store with their cut going to museum support. That's ok because I am a friend of the museum and it's a great place. I come out alright on a top of the line CBG sold there.
The gift shop there tells me kids beg for the guitars but parents don't want to shell out for my nicer things and they think that if I had a cheaper price point item I would sell a bunch. Also later this summer they will have me doing a booth at their family day where I will present a station for kids on cigar box music and history. Might turn in to some bigger gigs also with the public visibility.
At craft fairs I do real well selling primitive can diddly bows and percussion instruments for $5 and $10 each. I don't know if I can make it worth my wild at this price for a 60/40 split not so much materials but just on the time invested.
Sorry for the long post but any one else handle a situation like this?
Replies
That's good, Thanks.
I'm with JL on this one but.......
if its a hobby and you enjoy what you do then its different kettle of fish.
just work out as a guess cost of making it. scrap wood? or bought wood.tuners strings paint etc. if these amount to $30 then you'll need to make an extra 50% to 100%.
try and do it so that it pays for your next build so you'll finish up costing you zero..
that is how I would do it.
Ok here is what I did. The museum says parents will spend $8 on a kid and they do not have much kids stuff. My high dollar arty items catch the kids eye and they think I can sell some type of can for $10. I made these in slightly more that two hours from stuff I had laying around. I spen 97 cents on the board for necks. Figures out I made $10 an hour.
Man you drink a lot of coffee :D
Looks good, seems like you could still make a few bucks and make some kids happy too.
Yeah, bunch of kids always hang in my booth at the fairs. They ask me where I learned to play and I tell them the high school band.
I've never been in that situation, exactly, but I would offer the following advice:
You time is worth $$. Suppose you were doing it as your day job trying to support yourself, what would you need to bring home to keep the roof over your head, the lights on, and food on the table?
$20, $30 per hour?
Set your take ( the 40%) at materials + time. You can probably figure out a way to assembly line (batch build) a bunch at once to get an 'acceptable' price for the museum gift store.
And an idea for your booth, Kit up a few ready to assemble instruments so you can finish building in front of the kids.
Thanks for the replies. I generally look around online and find sellers with instruments like mine and set the price accordingly. I sometimes price a little less because it seems like CBG is something unknown in this area and with the online communities like this that seems surprising.
I seem to sell more to people that want a unique gift for a musician friend than I do to musicians.
After some calculating I might make 10-20 bucks an hour doing this. I do remind people that I have a day job that keeps me fed and clothed not to mention the time and responsibility.
I'll ask the museum gift shop if they have an idea what a parent will spend on a kid and start designing a simple acoustic coffee can or cookie tin diddly bow from there.