MI Stat: Guitar Market Breakdown

For the last few years, in our annual 50 Dealer/50 State report that is featured in the December issue, retailers have consistently told us that electric sales have been flat, but acoustics have been growing. In this month’s At a Glance, Tommy Colletti of The Music Zoo seems to back that up. He says that while he’s always been known primarily as an electric guitar shop, his increasing embrace of acoustics in the last year has proven to be a winning strategy.

When looking at just acoustic sales, it’s interesting that while conventional wisdom holds that the first guitar for many is an acoustic, E/A guitars are outselling acoustics significantly. The high ratio of E/As can be attributed to several factors. One, they are increasingly closer in price to their unplugged siblings; and two, the technology and quality of the electronic components has improved vastly in recent years. So now, even moderately priced E/As come with built in EQ and tuners. Those who come into an MI retail location for that acoustic guitar are likely easy targets for the upsell to a model you can plug in because that beginner likely has a church or coffee house gig in his or her near future.