I read this article last week and have discussed it with several others since. It seems to have generated quite a bit of interest - which is never a bad thing (there?s no such thing as bad publicity!). In addition, it offered a good basic overview of Alembic today, a fairly concise company history, some nice photos of Ron AND a great photo of Susan wearing a hat!
The overwhelming opinion (mine included) is that the basic attempt of the piece is to present the hand-crafting of sophisticated high-end instruments as a process associated with a soon-to-be bygone era (ie: horse & buggy) - with Alembic being chosen as the poster child for this theory because they are the pinnacle of the craft and are also associated with older musicians who appeal to an older generation.
On the surface, this theory would appear to have some validity. In today's world, the creation and appreciation of music along with the tools traditionally used to create it are not revered in the same way that they once were when Alembic began. Music has become a background soundtrack to daily life and computer technology has allowed virtually anyone to cut, paste and manipulate various sonic snippets into original compositions - no technical proficiency on any instrument required. Couple this with an economic downturn (instruments being a discretionary purchase), a slight dip in the birthrate a few years ago and the current lack of a youthful guitar hero, or popular guitar-based band and the result is inevitable.
I have seen the impact of this trend first hand at the small guitar store where I work - electric guitar sales (especially high-end instruments) to younger people are down and it's mainly the wealthier aging baby boomers who are able to fund their dream music gear purchases. Given all of that, it would be easy to agree with the basic premise of the article.
However the article doesn?t treat it as a trend - and like all trends, this one will be cyclical. Recently, sales of acoustic guitars have been increasing slightly as budding singer/songwriters are beginning to rediscover more traditional methods of expression as a backlash to the use of technology. Soon these musicians will want to collaborate with others, which will eventually mean they will need amplification and electric guitars (especially if percussion is involved) and a ?new? trend will emerge. What comes around goes around...
And, although it wasn?t mentioned directly in the article, I think it's interesting to note that while many larger instrument makers have chosen to alter either the quality of their products or their business model (or both) in response to the current trend, Alembic has not. They remain committed to their original vision and business model - build the highest quality instruments without compromise and sell them through a limited network of carefully chosen dealers who understand, appreciate and support that vision.
This vision and business model will never appeal to the masses. But fortunately, there will always be a small group of discerning individuals (?a small ravenous cult following?) for whom only the best will do. This is what keeps companies like Alembic, Ferrari, etc. in business. If you are consistently recognized as being the best at what you do, you will always have customers. If you compromise your standards in response to a trend in order to attract a broader group of customers, you risk alienating your current customers. If you compromise too much, you will lose them.
And, as the article unintentionally points out, Alembic has chosen to weather the current trend in music and musical instrument manufacturing by doing exactly what they?ve always done for over 40 years - be the best at what they do, without compromise.
As such, they will not only survive, but they will be more than ready to respond to the new challenges offered by the next generation of ravenous cult members for whom only the best will do.
