V-vial holders and guitars by Kesiro

#81
@Dorje The third to last sentence of your post are worlds to live by.

Ps: how’s your speakers coming along?
I'm currently debating how they'll be sold. I was set on a direct-sale model because I can't compete with 6+ figure marketing budgets, travel to Munich, Hong Kong and Vegas for electronics shows that cost a small fortune to show at, etc. Also, I plan on starting out with one speaker and not an entire line of speakers. However, I was recently contacted by a sales rep / distributor who wants to carry my speaker and have me make a line of cables under a separate business that will be sold via dealers.

Lots of pros and cons to consider, but selling via a rep and through dealers would leave me with far more time to actually work on product design and testing. Currently, direct-sale ends up with me spending more time answering questions, shipping demos, etc. than I spend actually making my products. The other way to accomplish this would be hiring employees to deal with the "front end" of the business, but it seems attractive to completely outsource this and not deal with it at all.

It would be a lot like Ensar and Taha not offering their products online, you'd have to go to a boutique to purchase at several times the current prices. I know this doesn't make it sound like an attractive choice, but the truth is the retail end of things is extremely time and energy consuming.
 

kesiro

Well-Known Member
#82
I'm currently debating how they'll be sold. I was set on a direct-sale model because I can't compete with 6+ figure marketing budgets, travel to Munich, Hong Kong and Vegas for electronics shows that cost a small fortune to show at, etc. Also, I plan on starting out with one speaker and not an entire line of speakers. However, I was recently contacted by a sales rep / distributor who wants to carry my speaker and have me make a line of cables under a separate business that will be sold via dealers.

Lots of pros and cons to consider, but selling via a rep and through dealers would leave me with far more time to actually work on product design and testing. Currently, direct-sale ends up with me spending more time answering questions, shipping demos, etc. than I spend actually making my products. The other way to accomplish this would be hiring employees to deal with the "front end" of the business, but it seems attractive to completely outsource this and not deal with it at all.

It would be a lot like Ensar and Taha not offering their products online, you'd have to go to a boutique to purchase at several times the current prices. I know this doesn't make it sound like an attractive choice, but the truth is the retail end of things is extremely time and energy consuming.
It is about figuring out the right equasion isn't it? So many things to factor. Ultimately you end up having to probaly strike the best possible compromise. You may not know, I have a liitle side business/hobby of building guitars. I am actually in the process of building one for a former member here. I am quite frequently approached by opportunities to get more exposure, which would be great in general, but...because my time to build is so limited, I have to turn them down as I cannot absorb any more orders then the occasional one at a time. It is what it is.
Would love to check out your site, or at least look at some pics of your design.
Best,
Phil
 

AZsmell

Active Member
#83
It is about figuring out the right equasion isn't it? So many things to factor. Ultimately you end up having to probaly strike the best possible compromise. You may not know, I have a liitle side business/hobby of building guitars. I am actually in the process of building one for a former member here. I am quite frequently approached by opportunities to get more exposure, which would be great in general, but...because my time to build is so limited, I have to turn them down as I cannot absorb any more orders then the occasional one at a time. It is what it is.
Would love to check out your site, or at least look at some pics of your design.
Best,
Phil
Could you build an oud (instrument) out of oud (wood)?
 

kesiro

Well-Known Member
#84
Could you build an oud (instrument) out of oud (wood)?
Supposedly regular agarwood is quite plain. Have no idea about the acoustical properties. But theoretically wood is wood and you can build an intrument out of it. Would it be stable, playable and sound good? No idea.
 

Oudamberlove

Well-Known Member
#85
It is about figuring out the right equasion isn't it? So many things to factor. Ultimately you end up having to probaly strike the best possible compromise. You may not know, I have a liitle side business/hobby of building guitars. I am actually in the process of building one for a former member here. I am quite frequently approached by opportunities to get more exposure, which would be great in general, but...because my time to build is so limited, I have to turn them down as I cannot absorb any more orders then the occasional one at a time. It is what it is.
Would love to check out your site, or at least look at some pics of your design.
Best,
Phil
@MrLuthier
Nice hobby!
I wanted to build Spanish Classicals, Romanillos blueprint to be exact. Had the Dalbergia Nigra, Moon Spruce and all, but never got around to it. I realized that I just don’t have the time. Shucks:(
 
#86
It is about figuring out the right equasion isn't it? So many things to factor. Ultimately you end up having to probaly strike the best possible compromise. You may not know, I have a liitle side business/hobby of building guitars. I am actually in the process of building one for a former member here. I am quite frequently approached by opportunities to get more exposure, which would be great in general, but...because my time to build is so limited, I have to turn them down as I cannot absorb any more orders then the occasional one at a time. It is what it is.
Would love to check out your site, or at least look at some pics of your design.
Best,
Phil
That's cool. Building instruments takes great skill, doing that + spinal surgery is amazing.

Audio started out as a small side-biz and I had no intention of doing it full time. But, I left my job at Vestas Wind Turbines and about a year later the entire engineering team was laid off. Next, I had to sue a client to get paid for consulting work and I was not happy working with many of the folks who wanted to hire me, I felt they were mostly idiots who couldn't handle both running a business or being competent in their area of expertise. As mentioned, this is getting to be a widespread problem due to the instability of corporate jobs and the barrier for entry in business being lowered due to internet and low-cost technology. Over time the Audio biz has become close to full time and with the speaker it will be full time + most likely.

I currently have 2 designs for the speaker, one a bit lower cost and intended for direct sale... when I finally have one built I will post it. :) If you are inclined to do so I'd love to see pics of your guitars. :)
 
#89
The word for this in wood (and in minerals) is 'chatoyancy' - rooted in the French for 'cat's eye', just like 'tiger's eye'.


@Kruger, you better brush up your photography skills, I think I'm slowly catching up! :D
View attachment 513

Guys, I can promise you, this photo does not do it justice. The wood kesiro used has this unusual 'hologrammic' quality, there's a certain depth to it that the photo doesn't capture (if you've seen Tiger Eye stones in person, you'll know what I mean). Super awesome!
 
#90
Wow, just came across this thread and seriously impressed so had to make my first post on Oudville. Looking for a storage solution for my growing EO collection and masha’Allah the craftsmanship from @kesiro demonstrated here not only looks amazing but is exactly what I’m after. Is there any chance an admirer from the UK could somehow order? (Appreciate the last reply on this thread was 2 years ago so it may no longer be an option!). Thanks in advance for any replies!