Acoustic vs electric guitar sales

Aqmltd · August 2020

Does anyone have any idea on the ratio of acoustic to electric guitar sales.
Presumably, those in the retail business will know.
Just wondering.......

CMW335 · August 2020

I want to guess just for fun... 30/70

Aqmltd · August 2020

There are 28k dicussion on electrics and only 2k on acoustics on this site. Maybe the leccy boys are a bit more talkative. Unlike us introspective airy fairy acoustic sorts!

ICBM · August 2020

Thinking of the numbers in the collections of most guitarists I know, it could even be as high as 10:1 electric to acoustic, although I think 4:1 or 5:1 is probably more likely overall, since there are still a fair number of people who own an acoustic but not an electric.

munckee · August 2020

I would have thought with the singer songwriter grip on guitar music at the moment it would closer to parity in current sales.

ICBM · August 2020

Acoustic guitarists don’t seem to need to buy “all the different types” or have multiple examples of the same models though.

munckee · August 2020

That’s true. I’d offset some of that with most electric players have at least one acoustic. I’d imagine a lot of folk, classical, bluegrass players don’t also have electrics.

Just a guess though of course, 8 haven’t asked them.

I’d consider myself an electric player primarily and I have 3 electrics and my daughter one. We also have 5 acoustics between us though.

Kilgore · August 2020

ICBM said:

Acoustic guitarists don’t seem to need to buy “all the different types” or have multiple examples of the same models though.

I'm not sure about that. Have a look at the lists of guitars in the signatures of AGF members.

ICBM · August 2020

Kilgore said:

I'm not sure about that. Have a look at the lists of guitars in the signatures of AGF members.

That's true - I may not see that demographic since I primarily repair electric instruments and amps. Even so, the only really dedicated acoustic guitarist I knew, who had over half a dozen including some really high-end ones, also had over a dozen electrics even though he never played them in public! He still wanted "all the different types" to some extent - although for him that really just meant all the main types of pickups.

I can also think of several electric guitarists I know with collections of over a dozen and only one acoustic, almost because they 'think they should', rather than because they really have any interest in them.

Kilgore · August 2020

ICBM said:

Kilgore said:

I'm not sure about that. Have a look at the lists of guitars in the signatures of AGF members.

That's true - I may not see that demographic since I primarily repair electric instruments and amps. Even so, the only really dedicated acoustic guitarist I knew, who had over half a dozen including some really high-end ones, also had over a dozen electrics even though he never played them in public! He still wanted "all the different types" to some extent - although for him that really just meant all the main types of pickups.

I can also think of several electric guitarists I know with collections of over a dozen and only one acoustic, almost because they 'think they should', rather than because they really have any interest in them.

You tend to see the reverse on the AGF. A long list of acoustics and one electric because "they think they should"

I certainly wouldn't claim it's representative of most acoustic players. It has a mainly older, affluent American demographic.

The pervading philosophy appears to be "I'll probably be dead soon, so in the meantime I'll buy whatever I want"

Whitecat · August 2020

In 2015 it was 55/45 acoustic to electric, but acoustic was on an upward growth trajectory by a massive amount. I'll see if I can dig out some more recent numbers. NAMM publishes them to the public occasionally via trade mags and other news outlets.

Whitecat · August 2020

Here are some numbers from 2017 in the USA. Acoustic guitars still on the up - still approximately 55/45 in terms of $ spend but in terms of units sold the ratio is a little more favourable to acoustic - around 57/43.

earwighoney · August 2020

Whitecat said:

Here are some numbers from 2017 in the USA. Acoustic guitars still on the up - still approximately 55/45 in terms of $ spend but in terms of units sold the ratio is a little more favourable to acoustic - around 57/43.

Thanks for posting that, it's fascinating.

ICBM · August 2020

Wow. That really is surprising.

It's also potentially encouraging, since it does seem to suggest that the numbers of electric guitarists who own large collections must be very much in the minority of all players - that bodes well for the long-term market for guitars, since it's the number of players which really counts.

ToneControl · August 2020

Whitecat said:

Here are some numbers from 2017 in the USA. Acoustic guitars still on the up - still approximately 55/45 in terms of $ spend but in terms of units sold the ratio is a little more favourable to acoustic - around 57/43.

I thought I remembered something like that
Lots of people have one acoustic, and never learned to play it

Whitecat · August 2020

ICBM said:

Wow. That really is surprising.

It's also potentially encouraging, since it does seem to suggest that the numbers of electric guitarists who own large collections must be very much in the minority of all players - that bodes well for the long-term market for guitars, since it's the number of players which really counts.

I can't find any hard numbers yet but the story is that since then, electric guitar unit sales are falling but average prices are increasing...

ICBM · August 2020

Whitecat said:

I can't find any hard numbers yet but the story is that since then, electric guitar unit sales are falling but average prices are increasing...

I don't find that at all surprising when the first thing I usually think when I see an ad for a new electric guitar isn't "that's nice", but "how much?!". I admit I'm getting old and the numbers aren't as big in real terms

.

The problem for electric guitars in the future is that the market model, especially at the higher end, now seems to be based on selling the same customers ever-increasing numbers of guitars, in order to sustain total sales value. That can't go on forever.

Whitecat · August 2020

ICBM said:

Whitecat said:

I can't find any hard numbers yet but the story is that since then, electric guitar unit sales are falling but average prices are increasing...

I don't find that at all surprising when the first thing I usually think when I see an ad for a new electric guitar isn't "that's nice", but "how much?!". I admit I'm getting old and the numbers aren't as big in real terms .

The problem for electric guitars in the future is that the market model, especially at the higher end, now seems to be based on selling the same customers ever-increasing numbers of guitars, in order to sustain total sales value. That can't go on forever.

Absolutely. I imagine that most of the reasons for the very-above-inflation price increases that I have also noticed are that the people in charge of selling them have realised that they have to get the milk from the cow while they still can. It's almost certainly a bubble - the question is how big will it go before it pops?

Aqmltd · August 2020

Interesting to note the markup from the retailers. 50% for both acoustic and electrics.
Not that i grudge the markup. We need these dudes for advice, sundries and repairs etc, and a nice afternoon out.

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