Crimson Guitars

bluecob

Does anyone here follow Crimson Guitars and have done over the years? If so how do you think things are presently going?

Axe_meister

I've been following them and plan to do their 3 month course when I retire (in 5 to 10 years) start a small custom guitar company.

WezV

bluecob said:

Does anyone here follow Crimson Guitars and have done over the years? If so how do you think things are presently going?

how do you think things are going?

I don't follow avidly, but its been interesting to watch them grow and I like that they seem to do some fun builds

the_jaffa

Interestingly loaded question from a new member and their first post.

crunchman

I did one a week course there in 2019.  It was mostly good, but some things could have been run better.  I know they have had staff changes with the course tutors since then, and they moved the students into the new workshop shortly after I did my course.  It may be very different now.

I have lost interest in Ben's videos and haven't watched one for months.  The last ones I watched, he had got into all kinds of wacky projects with weird finishes.  If he did a Les Paul Junior style build in detail, and showed how to get a good quality Pelham Blue finish, I'd watch it.

If @bluecob is something to do with Crimson, and fishing for information, I hope that is useful.

BillDL

I would like to like Ben Crowe's YouTube videos more, but his presentation style is a bit too "Shakespearian" for my personal taste, with all the theatrical pauses and dropping to a mysterious hushed voice accompanied by dramatic facial views.  Clearly there are a huge number of people that do like his style though.  I'm sure he won't give a toss what I think though.

I do admire his tenacity and business acumen in what it a very competitive field, and he is certainly a very accomplished luthier that has done very well in not only sustaining a business, but expanding it.  I'm with @crunchman on many of the projects that he has showcased in his videos.  The quite unique and wacky honeycomb and gouda cheese bodies go just a little beyond my conservative tastes, but they will most certainly appeal to a lot of people looking for something different.

Sassafras

Interesting vids but is all the nudity and violence really necessary?

PolarityMan

I did one of their week long courses a couple of years back and it was great. As others have pointed out in the past there's sometimes parts where you are blocked because the instructor is busy with someone else and having a mix of 3 month and 1 week students at once isn't ideal in that respect because some of the guys on the longer courses are doing much more advanced stuff so this puts a strain on the instructors time.

Having said that though, it's a minor quibble because at the end of the day I went into it having not done any woodwork since school and came out with a guitar which I actually gig with.

I watched a bunch of Ben's videos shortly before and after my course and I think his presentation style is pretty engaging when you are new to his content but it does become a bit fatiguing after a while. I do expect I'll probably return to his videos at some point after a break though. 

mrkb

Was interested when he was setting fire to stuff to get interesting finishes, haven't seen much since.

Funkfingers

PolarityMan said:

I watched a bunch of Ben's videos shortly before and after my course and I think his presentation style is pretty engaging when you are new to his content but it does become a bit fatiguing after a while. 

Ben has to strike a balance between attracting the interest of new punters, giving them the confidence to attempt to build an instrument from scratch, painlessly relieving them of the course fee and not seeming to talk down to anybody.

Providing instructional courses in guitar building implies that Crimson Guitars does not receive enough commissions to be solvent through that work alone. (They are not unique in this.)  Workshops, tools and materials cost mucho Spondulicks. The vultures of HMRC, the banks and the utility companies must be sated.

It's a tough old world. I'm sure it would be far more profitable - but less fun - to manufacture motors for military drones.

Roland

crunchman said:

If @bluecob is something to do with Crimson, and fishing for information, I hope that is useful.

According to his introduction @bluecob’s hobby is making guitars, and he’s thinking of starting a guitar making business.

DefaultM

bluecob said:

Does anyone here follow Crimson Guitars and have done over the years? If so how do you think things are presently going?

Did it hurt when you got those head tattoos?

Funkfingers

DefaultM said:

Did it hurt when you got those scalp tattoos?

FTFY

TTony

I've taken a distant interest in them for a while, sort of hoping that a guitar-making-and-related business could make a go of it in the UK.

Be interesting (and not at all relevant to anyone other than Ben & Tom!) how their revenue and profit breaks down across the guitar sales, the tool sales, the courses and the YT revenue streams.  Some of his YT livestreams get thousands - thousands - of real-time watchers which is impressive for a what he does.

I love (some of) their guitars and kick myself for not buying one at a guitar show a few years back, but don't seem to have a lot in stock, and their builds seem to follow Ben's whims for the weird and sometimes not-so-wonderful.  Their tools and supplies seems to be generally good quality and VFM, and I definitely like their finishing stains.  

@guitargeek can comment from recent first-hand experience, but it looks like they've invested a lot in the facilities there - possible debt-financed? - so fingers crossed that the cash flow continues to flow positively.  

PolarityMan

Funkfingers said:

PolarityMan said:

I watched a bunch of Ben's videos shortly before and after my course and I think his presentation style is pretty engaging when you are new to his content but it does become a bit fatiguing after a while. 

Ben has to strike a balance between attracting the interest of new punters, giving them the confidence to attempt to build an instrument from scratch, painlessly relieving them of the course fee and not seeming to talk down to anybody.

Providing instructional courses in guitar building implies that Crimson Guitars does not receive enough commissions to be solvent through that work alone. (They are not unique in this.)  Workshops, tools and materials cost mucho Spondulicks. The vultures of HMRC, the banks and the utility companies must be sated.

It's a tough old world. I'm sure it would be far more profitable - but less fun - to manufacture motors for military drones.

I think he hits that mark pretty well actually. It's not like he's Glenn Fricker who I literally cant watch of longer than about 15 mins but I think generally a lot of people with distinctive presentation style can suffer from needing a bit a break or pallette cleanser from time to time. 

FWIW Im not sure how involved Ben is in the day to day, when I was there he popped in on the last day but otherwise wasn't on site the whole time. I kinda feel like the teaching business might be more a way for him to fund him being able to hand build stuff rather than churn out loads of volume if you see what I mean. 

crunchman

I hope they have improved their logistics.  My wife ordered some tools for me as a present, and it took ages for them to arrive.  I also wanted to buy some of their fretboard oil at the Guitar Show and they didn't have any.

Winny_Pooh

Nice tools, seems like a nice guy and company too.

bluecob

Roland said:

crunchman said:

If @bluecob is something to do with Crimson, and fishing for information, I hope that is useful.

According to his introduction @bluecob’s hobby is making guitars, and he’s thinking of starting a guitar making business.

I can assure you that I am in no way connected to Crimson Guitars - in fact Ben told me to F Off recently. Also I have not said I will be "starting a Guitar Business" - in fact I will not be.

Moloch

You seem like a positive addition to the forum.

Regardless, shouldn't this really be moved to the Guitar section, @Roland?

Philly_Q

I enjoy watching their YouTube channel from time to time, and I think Ben presents it pretty well.  I don't really understand his obsession with chopping up guitar bodies and filling them with resin, LEDs, bits of foil etc, but it's interesting to watch.  I couldn't say I've ever seen a Crimson guitar I wanted to buy.