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GHS Price Increase

Ross Raedeke

Ross Raedeke

Feb 21, 2017
102
283
#1
Has anyone recently noticed the significant price hike in GHS prices? I’ve been an avid GHS player for all of my career. I change guitar strings every week, and like to change bass strings at least every month. I used to be able to score a pack of boomers for around $20, and now they’re listed for $30 on Sweetwater. Just last month I ordered a 6 pack of acoustic guitar strings for $30, and now they’re listing for $45.

Does anyone know what the deal is? These are not small increases
 
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#5
Jon Moody said:
FYI, there was a 5% price increase to dealers that took place on the first of March.

However, we do not set the price (i.e. MAP) for what the dealer sells to the customer. They set that themselves.
Click to expand...

Ah, in that case some dealers are most likely trying to recoup some money due to the volume drop they might be starting to experience. I've noticed how a lot of the bigger ticket items are showing "out of stock" or " preorder now - more coming soon" flags.

I've seen them for $18 (and less!) on some sites. Google "GHS Bass Boomers" and check the shopping tab.
 
#6
40Hz said:
Ah, in that case the dealers are most likely trying to recoup some money due to the volume drop they might be starting to experience. I've noticed how a lot of the bigger ticket items are showing "out of stock" or " preorder now - more coming soon" flags.
Click to expand...

That's because the demand is far surpassing what any manufacturing company can do right now, due to pandemic-level staffing. I've heard from other companies that they're turning away business because they can't meet the demand.
 
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#7
Jon Moody said:
That's because the demand is far surpassing what any manufacturing company can do right now, due to pandemic-level staffing. I've heard from other companies that they're turning away business because they can't meet the demand.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't surprise me. I'm seeing stock-outs in a lot of places I never saw have those before. I don't know how it works in the music gear business, but in some industries I'm very familiar with it's between three and six months before the sales chain starts seeing the effects of a drop in manufacturing volume. So if production levels for a product dropped sometime around June, the shortages wouldn't be felt in the wholesale channels until October, and those wouldn't significantly affect quantities on retail shelves until sometime around December.

We probably won't feel the full economic impact of Covid until early this summer. Or earlier if hording starts up again.
 
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#11
I work for a global producer of auto transmission parts for OEM installation. We are totally hamstrung trying to buy steel, and we buy in thousands of tons monthly. I can well imagine that small users of specialty steels like GHS are at the end of this supply chain bullwhip as well. After strictly US-produced buying, we've literally had to go all over the world just to keep the doors open. And our COVID quarantine / absence turnover is replicated with all of our suppliers and our customers as well.

It's a difficult and rapidly increasing cost time to manufacture anything.
 
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#12
JW56789 said:
I work for a global producer of auto transmission parts for OEM installation. We are totally hamstrung trying to buy steel, and we buy in thousands of tons monthly. I can well imagine that small users of specialty steels like GHS are at the end of this supply chain bullwhip as well. After strictly US-produced buying, we've literally had to go all over the world just to keep the doors open. And our COVID quarantine / absence turnover is replicated with all of our suppliers and our customers as well.

It's a difficult and rapidly increasing cost time to manufacture anything.
Click to expand...

Stock up on both bass strings AND toilet paper?
 
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#14
Steel is a global commodity. Right now steel and scrap prices are up almost 100%. The are shortages and extended lead times on every type of steel being produced. No one is immune and both domestic and foreign steel buyers are fighting the same battle. Why are the mills so far behind and have raised prices so drastically? The pandemic, yes, but they have artificially created the shortages to some degree to drive the price up. Why? the demand is there and simply because they can. Get ready to pay more for everything as steel and freight prices are at unprecedented highs. Everyone in business is struggling to get help, so labor costs if you can get anyone to come to work are also on the rise.
 
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#15
Mr Ralph said:
Steel is a global commodity. Right now steel and scrap prices are up almost 100%. The are shortages and extended lead times on every type of steel being produced. No one is immune and both domestic and foreign steel buyers are fighting the same battle. Why are the mills so far behind and have raised prices so drastically? The pandemic, yes, but they have artificially created the shortages to some degree to drive the price up. Why? the demand is there and simply because they can. Get ready to pay more for everything as steel and freight prices are at unprecedented highs. Everyone in business is struggling to get help, so labor costs if you can get anyone to come to work are also on the rise.
Click to expand...

It also bears mentioning that in the past five years, the amount of wire mills that make the stuff specifically for the music industry has been halved. We've got a handful of wire mills that, prior to this, were already running at capacity.
 
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#18
Ross Raedeke said:
I used to be able to score a pack of boomers for around $20, and now they’re listed for $30 on Sweetwater. Just last month I ordered a 6 pack of acoustic guitar strings for $30, and now they’re listing for $45.
Click to expand...

Jon Moody said:
FYI, there was a 5% price increase to dealers that took place on the first of March.

However, we do not set the price (i.e. MAP) for what the dealer sells to the customer. They set that themselves.
Click to expand...

GHS raises their prices by 5%, then Sweetwater raises them by 50%!

All things considered, the pandemic and all, 5% increase is quite reasonable. But 50% increase by the dealer? I would shop elsewhere, if I were you... ;)
 
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#19
Shipping and Metal prices have sky rocketed. Every customer I know is telling me steel prices has gone through the roof (thank the tariffs).

It’s worth mentioning that there was a recent thread on TB about the high prices of shipping guitars.
 

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