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Old 07-24-2010, 01:13 PM
Jaygits Jaygits is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 39
Default more CA points

thanks Tony and Larry and others .... I'm really enjoying the discussion.

a couple of points that will no doubt spark more discussion.

Good enough for most guitar players is a pretty good place to get to for most manufacturers. Getting there kind of has to happen first before you can afford to make guitars for more discriminating players, the Larry's of the world if you will. Unfortunately for CA in Lafayette, La., we were never really able to get to step 2, and in fact, even after reaching step 1 (with Cargo), the next problem became too many orders and not enough supply. So, there's no right or wrong here to my mind.

Another point about the product development stage ..... you do want to make the best guitar you can make. You also want to make the best guitar you can make at a target price point where it will have a chance of selling. Yes, chance, because you really don't know how successful you will be until the market tells you. And, on the way to all of this, you need somebody when you are all saying, "is it soup yet?" to say, "it's SOUP." After 100's and 100's of product development meetings I can tell you that is where real leaders are critical. Imagine sitting in rooms where there is much gnashing of teeth and passionate argument, and well, just plain argument. In the end, you have to get out of the stream, make a decision and head down the road. When and where you do that often tells the tale as to how many satisfied end-users you will hit. If you do hit a home run (like Cargo), and if you can sell enough of them to keep the lights on, then and only then are you afforded the luxury of making that guitar even better.

Thanks again.

Jay
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