It’s great to start a new year, and I look forward to all the products we plan to introduce in 2023. We have an ambitious slate of refreshed and reinvented guitar models, as well as new product launches, planned for the year. A few of these have been in development for years, and we’re pretty excited to unveil them. You’ll learn about some of these in this and coming issues of Wood&Steel.
It’s great to start a new year, and I look forward to all the products we plan to introduce in 2023. We have an ambitious slate of refreshed and reinvented guitar models, as well as new product launches, planned for the year. A few of these have been in development for years, and we’re pretty excited to unveil them. You’ll learn about some of these in this and coming issues of Wood&Steel.
On a personal note, it’s been two years since Bob, Andy and I sold the company to an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) we established. In retrospect, I couldn’t be happier with our decision. It’s enabled Bob and me to continue working and contributing to the company, while gaining a more flexible work schedule, which enables us to spend more time on personal interests and projects. We’re focused on sharing our nearly 50 years of experience with Andy and the team, while still being able to head up projects that we’re uniquely suited to lead. It’s the perfect balance.
Guitar sales have remained strong…but the guitar business is never easy, for retailers or manufacturers.
To our knowledge, we’re the first company to create an ESOP that includes its Mexican maquiladora employees as plan participants that has received approval by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. This takes nothing away from our domestic employees, and we’re happy that it provides an ownership stake for our Mexican employees as well. We have a similar plan in place for our employees in Europe and South America.
The last three years have been crazy, and it’s nice to have them behind us. The company grew quite a bit due to all the demand for guitars, which was challenging to respond to, and then followed by the equally if not more challenging stage of landing at a predictable and sustainable level of business. Guitar sales have remained strong, particularly for those music stores with well-managed inventory. But the guitar business is never easy, for retailers or manufacturers. That said, this past year saw our second-highest year of sales, just a tick behind 2021. Pretty remarkable, and we’re very grateful. We look forward to continuing the positive trend with another good year of serving customers in 2023 and beyond.
