Is Collings ending production of Waterloo?

[joeappel]

Originally Posted by gr81dorn

The materials are an itty bitty fraction of the cost of a guitar, the skills and talents and time are the rest. Put them where they can be most profitable. Pretty simple business equation for Collings, frankly, despite the love of Waterloos. If you can only pump out (pick a random number) 1000 guitars a year and they could be $2500 each or $5k+ each, you're gonna put out 1000 $5k guitars. Focus your remaining staff and materials on the profitability.

Exactly right. As a company Collings' #1 job is to remain a going concern. So they have to concentrate on their core brand.

What others have said about the rental of the production facility and the part of the workforce finding new living and work situations has certainly got to be a huge challenge for the company. Many of those jobs require specialized skills and experience so it'll likely take Collings quite a while to grow their capacity back.

[AZLiberty]

Waterloo guitars arguably cannibalize sales from more profitable instruments.

So wouldn't surprise me if they dropped the line, just like Rainsong dropped their Concert Hybrid Line.

[zoopeda]

Profit margins on higher end Collings have got to be way higher. Cost of living in Austin has skyrocketed over the past ten years, according to a good friend who lives there. You just can’t keep high skilled labor at the kinds of wages you need to sell a guitar at that price. They need a Mexico factory to make that happen.

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by zoopeda

Profit margins on higher end Collings have got to be way higher. Cost of living in Austin has skyrocketed over the past ten years, according to a good friend who lives there. You just can’t keep high skilled labor at the kinds of wages you need to sell a guitar at that price. They need a Mexico factory to make that happen.

Or perhaps a small facility out in a less expensive part of Texas. Sort of a "Farm Team."

[Hoyt]

Originally Posted by AZLiberty

Waterloo guitars arguably cannibalize sales from more profitable instruments.

So wouldn't surprise me if they dropped the line, just like Rainsong dropped their Concert Hybrid Line.

My thought too. Although if Collings gets caught up and people start looking for less expensive guitars, I’d expect small runs of Waterloos, special models, etc.

Of course, we are assuming the rumor is true.

[Maryc-k]

If you could make 10 guitars at $3000 or 10 guitars at $6000 a year with the same work force what would you choose?

Business is business. Collings has bills to pay. I’d also expect their dealer network to shrink. Why supply instruments to shops that stagnate inventory? And don’t expect a small run of anything under $8k.