[sdiy] Getting over eBay (rant)

[Don Tillman]

   > Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 17:34:57 +0930
   > From: "Batz Goodfortune" <batzman at all-electric.com>
   > 
   > At 10:44 AM 6/12/02 -0700, Don Tillman wrote:
   > >The only non-wood acoustic guitars made in any quantity are the
   > >Ovations, and those are built that way for efficient manufacturing,
   > >for gigging ruggedness, and for resistance to temperature and
   > >humidity changes.
   > 
   > Yes I recall them saying something like that.
   > 
   > So why would anyone in their right mind jump through the hoops
   > that Ovation did if there wasn't a received resource crisis?

Because Charlie Kaman's company built helicopters, they wanted to
branch out into some consumer field, Charlie Kaman was a guitar
fanatic, his attempt to purchase Martin Guitars failed, he wanted to
build a better guitar, he was able to apply some helicopter
technology, he thought the idea of a round-backed instrument had some
promise, and he thought the best way to do that was with fiberglas.

Not because of limited wood resources.  

   > >Roland knew, as does everybody else in the business, that the
   > >price of digital memory has been dropping by roughly two orders
   > >of magnitude every decade.  That's steep, and it's been steady
   > >for at least four decades.  A sampler-based piano becomes
   > >implementable at some point, and forever dirt cheap after that.
   > 
   > But if this was the only reason, why would Roland and other's
   > also try to emulate the look and feel of a baby grand piano? Why
   > not stick to something a whole lot more convenient. Why make big,
   > heavy parlor models of digital instruments if the only reason for
   > making digital emulations of these things is because the cost of
   > doing so has become affordable?

Because there's a big market for inexpensive home piano-like devices?
Not because of limited wood resources.

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don at till.com
http://www.till.com