Bit of a strange one

Tannin · February 2021

Everyone knows about Sigma guitars, right?

Sigma began 50 years ago as a cheap brand owned by Martin and manufactured under contract in Japan. From memory, Tokai made most of them and they were remarkably good - possibly better than Martin really wanted. Anyway, Martin moved the manufacturing offshore, first to Korea, then Taiwan, then Indonesia - presumably chasing ever lower labour costs. Eventually they gave the game away and sold the brand to a German company, which for the last 15 years or so has sold Sigma-badged guitars all around the world. As usual with this sort of thing, the guitars are actually made in China in a factory which also makes assorted other instruments for various other brands.

Sigma mostly sells into the what you might call "the half-decent lower mid-range" or the "could-be-worse upper bottom end". Typically you see them in shops for around $300 to $800 AUD - let's say up to about 500 pounds or so but usually less.

Anyway, here is a Sigma going for the best part of $4000! https://www.acousticcentre.com.au/collections/all-steel-string-guitars/products/sigma-50th-anniversary-limited It is their 50th Anniversary model, a dreadnought in European Spruce and Cocobolo, with a mahogany neck, bone nut and saddle, and more bling than a fake duchesses.

There is no suggestion that it comes from anywhere other than the usual Chinese sausage factory. Some companies selling cheapish Chinese or Indonesian guitars under a Western brand name also make a handful of very expensive higher quality instruments in their native land (for example, PRS, Epiphone, Breedlove, many others) but not Sigma. So what's it like?

It's very tempting to wander in and see how it plays, but I'm on the wrong side of Bass Strait and Melbourne is in lockdown right now anyway. Besides, I don't really care for bling.

All this is purely out of curiosity. I can think of a dozen better-credentialed, less blinged-up guitars at this sort of price that I am more likely to buy, I'm just bemused by the notion of a $4000 Sigma (that's about £2200) and though it was worth mentioning.

DavidR · February 2021

Some people have all the paua.

TheMadMick · February 2021

Yu gotta say, it looks beautifully finished at least.

p90fool · February 2021

It might be a fantastic guitar and better than everything else in its price bracket, but you're right, it's curious from a marketing perspective.

It'll be tough sell, like a two grand anniversary Squier Strat would be.

baratandre · February 2021

The specifications on this one are insane. Cocobolo is one of the most expensive woods, specially with that figuring.
The price is not really appealing as makes it compete directly with all the Furch / Lakewoods / BSG and so many other high end manufacturers.

edit: geez it does not even come with an LR baggs, or anything

ICBM · February 2021

I'm guessing the target market is people whose first guitar was a Sigma and who are now rich. Whether there are 50 of them in the world who would be interested, I don't know.

Whitecat · February 2021

Isn’t $4k AUD worth around £500 these days?

maltingsaudio · February 2021

It’s very possibly worth the money to someone, but try selling it 2nd hand!

jellyroll · February 2021

I guess the logic is that it’s half the price of a 40 series Martin which it is imitating....

randella · February 2021

Whitecat said:

Isn’t $4k AUD worth around £500 these days?

It's gone the other way - I spent some time in Australia in the early 00's when you could get near enough AU$3 to the pound. Last time I went a year or so ago the pound was buying about AU$1.70.

I felt significantly richer the first time around

The guitar's an interesting one alright, looks-wise a D-45 in all but name. Might be a tough sell though, cheaper versions of an aspirational brand are easy enough to shift, the other way around not so much I'm guessing.

Still, they must think someone will buy them and they know a lot more about marketing guitars than I do!

Tannin · February 2021

Cheers all. Randella, my guess (and I do mean guess, I know nothing about this stuff) is that they never expected or intended to make anything on those 50 guitars, and they'll write the expense off against the marketing budget. I reckon they exist simply to make Sigma's £200 and £600 guitars shine in the reflected glory. Japanese car manufacturers used to do the same thing back in the days before they established themselves as the quality benchmark - build a limited edition rocketship with lots of bling to help them sell Colts and Coronas, I mean.

(It's around about the same price as better-credentialed instruments like a J-45, a D-18, a Messiah, or a hand-made-in-Japan Takamine, but who knows? The $4000 Sigma Blingmobile just might play beautifully. If I lived a bit closer I'd go and try it out.)

randella · February 2021

Tannin said:

Cheers all. Randella, my guess (and I do mean guess, I know nothing about this stuff) is that they never expected or intended to make anything on those 50 guitars, and they'll write the expense off against the marketing budget. I reckon they exist simply to make Sigma's £200 and £600 guitars shine in the reflected glory. Japanese car manufacturers used to do the same thing back in the days before they established themselves as the quality benchmark - build a limited edition rocketship with lots of bling to help them sell Colts and Coronas, I mean.

(It's around about the same price as better-credentialed instruments like a J-45, a D-18, a Messiah, or a hand-made-in-Japan Takamine, but who knows? The $4000 Sigma Blingmobile just might play beautifully. If I lived a bit closer I'd go and try it out.)

That's an good take on it - I reckon there's truth in that. Car companies are still doing it I guess - I don't suppose Audi make much money on an R8 but it helps shift plenty of A3s. I only realised relatively recently that Sigma are nothing to do with Martin and haven't been for a long while so I've learned something, I guess their marketing department's done their job

I'd like to try this guitar too. My favourite guitar bar none is still my father's mid-80s D-35 which I learned on, so the comparison would be interesting.

artiebear · February 2021

Sigma have most likely put this out there just because they can. If it is as well put together as the materials used, it could be a lovely guitar.

To compare the price to a Martin, it would be necessary to consider what Martin would charge for a 40 series appointed guitar using Euro spruce and Cocobolo. The upcharge on a D41/42/45 using anything other than standard series Sitka / Indian rosewood is a huge jump, while bearing in mind that standard 40 series Martins are marketed at premium prices.

I suspect that the majority these guitars will end up sold in markets closer to home.

Bork · February 2021

Tannin said:

Cheers all. Randella, my guess (and I do mean guess, I know nothing about this stuff) is that they never expected or intended to make anything on those 50 guitars, and they'll write the expense off against the marketing budget. I reckon they exist simply to make Sigma's £200 and £600 guitars shine in the reflected glory. Japanese car manufacturers used to do the same thing back in the days before they established themselves as the quality benchmark - build a limited edition rocketship with lots of bling to help them sell Colts and Coronas, I mean.

The term for it is 'halo' model. And you're correct about the Japanese but it's pretty mainstream these days - Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, McLaren, Porsche, Toyota (briefly), Nissan, Honda, Audi, Ford and (to a lesser extent) Mercedes all have halo models to make the mainstream ones more desirable, usually with plenty of references to F1 technology. VW have the ID R as well which is a halo-ish prototype of sorts. It's a marketing tool, why spend tens of millions on advertising, when you can spend just millions on a record breaking prototype and have the world's motoring press wee themselves with excitement hyping it up for you.

Tannin · March 2021

Tannin said:

It's very tempting to wander in and see how it plays, but I'm on the wrong side of Bass Strait and Melbourne is in lockdown right now anyway. Besides, I don't really care for bling.

Victoria is virus-free again, and I was passing through ... so why not? I had a couple of serious prospects to look at in the same shop, so while I was there, I begged the favour of a little tinker with the Sigma.

In short, it plays like a very nice dreadnought, bright and crisp. Nothing knock-your-socks-off great, but certainly a good, worthwhile guitar. I wouldn't pay almost $4000 for it, but if we ignore the bling and just consider it as a box that makes a noise, it's a good, well-made box, it plays well, and it makes a good, stock-standard nice dreadnought sort of noise. Put it this way: if someone gave it to you as a present, you'd be happy to own it and you'd very likely play it regularly.

bugileman · March 2021

Just buy a decent Martin for that price.

danishbacon · March 2021

Or a decent sigma too for cheaper. Plenty of decent guitars in that price range

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