Wow, that 2009 was a rough ride. In the Summer of 2008 I realized that the slow down that was gradual over the last 5 years or so was about to turn into a landslide, and it did!
The 'big wigs' in the financial world recovered quickly or just ran off with their millions and left the rest of us behind to clean up the mess.
How did
we survive this financial storm? Well, it started with some personal financial sacrifices, some down sizing internally here at KSB and some 'expense slashing' which left no vendor unturned.
About 15 months or so later we have hired 2 new people on a part time basis but not for the actual making of Basses. One is my assistant in the set-up room that I hired most recently and the other helps out in various areas including Strings and Polish as well. This helps free up my time to get the Basses done and out the door with less stress. Finding the right people is the hardest thing to do. Luckily, one has been a bass player all his life and understands what goes on and the other was trained as a Luthier and made a couple of instruments already. This allows me to train them 'our/my way' rather than start from scratch and play 'name that tool' game..
Well for now, prices for the Smith Basses are the same as they were for most of 2009 . The 'old stock' that was discounted has been mostly sold out with a few exceptions being Basses that were in production when I started that 'old price' campaign. With 2010 here already, I have just adjusted the 'old stock' up a bit but still less than what they would be if ordered new. I raised the prices up approximately half way between the old and new prices. I think that's fair all things being considered.
So, if you wanna discuss any of this as mentioned above, please feel free to come out and speak your mind, respectfully of course..
