Would You Subscribe to a Steel Guitar Magazine ?

[John Fabian]

As a past advertiser in the last 2 efforts (NOT Tom's great magazine) I would say that Carter Steel Guitars would probably still support another such venture with advertising purchased up front with $$$ instead of product. We would probably do this in spite of losing about $1000 in advertising paid for and not delivered.

Because the publishers were players as well as publishers, they foolishly allowed some advertisers to pay with product that costs the advertiser less than 1/2 of the amount of advertising they purchased. Unfortunately, the printers. supply vendors, and contractors didn't want to take steel guitars as payment for their work. The cash flow suffered. Eventually the end was seen and the projects abandoned leaving subscribers and advertisers adrift and miffed.

[Ben Rubright]

I leaped to say yes but then I remembered, I never subscribed to Basil's mag....so I went and did it. What's next?

[Jim Cohen]

adrift and miffed.

Hey! Those are my two brothers!

[Dave Mudgett]

I agree with Joey - one should pay attention to the obvious history - and think an e-zine is the way to go. Even a great and much-loved mag like No Depression couldn't cut it, in a much larger market. Modern e-desktop publishing is straightforward, cuts out the serious overhead, and can be done with quality and at a scale most anybody could deal with.

The problem with a print magazine is that this market is small, there's a lot of overhead, and it's slow and time-intensive. This would have to start small as a labor of love, and maybe it could build after confidence is restored. I think unless someone is willing to initially take this on for volunteer donations, it ain't gonna happen. It has to be about steel guitar first, and commercial interests second.

I do think a PSG e-zine would add something significant to the plate. The forum is great, but I still think an organized mag with articles from well-known people is an orthogonal set of interests. I know some of you want a glossy mag, but I don't see why a PDF that you could print out on any quality paper you want wouldn't do the same thing.

BTW - I read my old copies of Steel Guitarist routinely. I think Tom did a great job with this, and am amazed how little things seem to have changed in almost 30 years - witness the recent thread on this exact subject.

My opinions, of course.

[John McClung]

Bradshaw was always disappointed that only a fraction of CUSTOMERS he had on his active mailing list would subscribe to Steel Guitarist Magazine. They'd buy this and that and guitars and amps, but for some weird reason, even back then when information was extremely hard to come by (the internet has really made the world easily and instantly available, it's so easy to forget what life was life pre-Web!), they'd simply balk to pay for a great publication like his.

I suspect a new zine would find that same situation today, only more so.

A web zine is the best way to communicate these days.

I do have a subscription to a PDF-only magazine, and I'm happy to pay for it, it's just as informational (it's on InDesign, a page layout app from Adobe) as a pulp version would be, and no trees killed!

[Edward Meisse]

Such things always seem to put a huge emphasis on Pedal Guitars. So I always feel left out.

[Tony Glassman]

Personally, although I can see that an online magazine is more practical (although I agree with MD - what's wrong with the Forum?), I've always had an inexplicable need for actual hard-copy - I expect it's the collector in me!

I agree.......but it might be most prudent to start with an on-line subscription format. This would keep costs down until you were sure that your subscriber base would (or even could) support hard copy publishing costs .

[Dave Mudgett]

Such things always seem to put a huge emphasis on Pedal Guitars. So I always feel left out.

I think anyone heading down this road would have to decide right away whether they wanted to cover pedal guitars, non-pedal guitars, or both.

My own sense is that with an e-zine, it would be better to separate the two. Since the overhead in e-format is relatively small, it wouldn't be that hard to separate and market them separately (perhaps with a significant discount for subscription to both), or just do one or the other.

To me, the problem with mixing is that - for many - the interests are fairly orthogonal (there I go using that word again, but I think it fits). Someone who is a die-hard pedal steel player doesn't necessarily want to mess around with articles about dobros or Weissenborns, and may feel the mag is seriously diluted with their presence. And vice-versa for non-pedal only players. Even the forum is largely separated into pedal steel and non-pedal steel. Sure, some are into both, but I think most focus more on one or the other.

We live in a society with a general "be all things to all people" mentality. But I don't think that works in specialty areas like this. Look at the successful businesses in the steel guitar area. They know their market well and cater specifically to it. Peavey separates their pedal steel amps from everything else they do and niche market to it. Even the largest of the current steel guitar builders - Carter - specifically targets pedal steel guitars. So do most of the smaller ones, and most people making non-pedal guitars do the same. Successful accessory makers like Bill Stroud, Keith Hilton, and others zero in on a special need, and do it better than anybody. I really think this niche-marketing approach is a model of success. Most guitar players now buy their guitars from multi-national conglomerates, with the vast majority of them being built overseas. The situation for steel guitars - especially pedal steel - is exactly reversed. In fact, relative to guitars, it is much more affordable to buy a pedal steel now than it was 30-40 years ago - American-made doesn't have to be at the expense of affordability. I call that "SUCCESS", but I'm not measuring in billions of dollars.

I don't understand the need for a glossy mag. I really think it's business-suicidal to go that route in such a specialty market like this. The world has moved on.

My opinions, again.

[Ben Jones]

One interview and one article a month, on a separate page of this forum, with banner ads sold to manufacturers, string makers, seat makers, etc to cover any extra expense (and possibly even profit to help support the main forum). Page would have a "print" button which would render the text into an easily printable format...so it could be read on the terlit (you really shouldnt do that anyway...not good for you). Writers taken by submission or voluteered by pros/manufacturers, mothly columns, interviews, maybe something for beginners, a small peice of tab from a well known song explained by the pro that played it?. Start it small and see if it can be grown. If it flops hard, no one gets burned.

[Brint Hannay]

Dave Mudgett wrote:

I don't understand the need for a glossy mag. I really think it's business-suicidal to go that route in such a specialty market like this. The world has moved on.(emphasis mine)

Alas, yes. Until three years ago I swore I would live out my life without ever getting a computer. Now I don't pass a day without probably an hour minimum in front of the thing. And it can only increase, as it gradually becomes impossible to carry on any aspect of life without staring at an electronic screen and/or dancing fingers on ever-tinier buttons.

I read my copies of Steel Guitarist from time to time, also, and am such a dinosaur that I enjoy that more than I would enjoy bringing up the exact same content on my computer screen. I even enjoy it more than I would enjoy reading the same on printed-out paper put in a binder. There's something about its being an actual entity in the real, physical world, not virtual "information" or an ad hoc facsimile. (Distinguishing between "real" and "virtual"--how quaint, how yesterday!)

Sorry for the rant. The truth of what Dave said made me feel sad. Just another nostalgic geezer...

[Jim Cohen]

...so it could be read on the terlit (you really shouldnt do that anyway...not good for you).

Gee, I musta missed that research report...

Writers taken by submission...

There's got to be an easier way to get writers...
.

[Robbie Bossert]

FORGET IIT! We have all the information we could possibly want right here on the forum. Why read an interview with a steel guitar legend just to find out what strings he was using on some recording he did in 1975 when you can post the question here and, more often than not; have the player himself answer you directly? What's the point? Just another opinion.

RoBo

[Ben Jones]

...so it could be read on the terlit (you really shouldnt do that anyway...not good for you).

Gee, I musta missed that research report...

Writers taken by submission...

There's got to be an easier way to get writers...
.

Jim with your great sense of humor, you would make an excellent writer yourself...and we wouldnt even have to club you into submission.

as for terlit research...its not good to sit on the pot for longer than is necessary, unless your fond of 'roids (and who isnt?)..but i digress...severely...

Rob, some of the legends in our little world dont like to come on here and yap like we all do and might be more forthcoming with info in an interview format..I for one am very interested in ANYTHING they would care to share.

[b0b]

For the record, I have no interest in extending the Steel Guitar Forum in that direction. It's already too complicated for a lot of people, and the bookkeeping that goes with it is also complicated. I don't want to have to keep track of things like e-zine subscriptions and banner advertising sales, let alone the additional site maintenance that would be required. The extra income isn't worth the extra effort to me.

If someone else wants to do it on their own site, I might subscribe. But let's end this talk of adding an e-zine to the Steel Guitar Forum. That's just not going to happen.

[Steve Norman]

Would it be better to try and sell articles to pre-existing guitar magazines? It might be good for the steel guitar world as a whole; New audience and all. plus educating guitarists is always a good thing.

Wasnt there a regular steel article in a guitar mag a few years back?

[Joey Ace]

I knew b0b was going to say that! He's wise.
This Forum is great at what it does, I wouldn't want to see it diluted.

If someone started an eZine, or even a print issue, I would purchase it, on a per issue basis.

I wouldn't subscribe, as that is too risky.

Unfortunately, subscriptions are needed by the startup venture, unless someone with deeeep pockets is footing the bills.

I should qualify my above remark. The cost would have to be reasonable. Over $20 an issue isn't. That's what the last failed Steel mag was by the time it got to Canada.

[Dave Mudgett]

Steve - yes, both GP and GW at one time had some articles on steel guitar. If someone wants to try to sell articles on steel guitar to GP/GW/VG or whatever, that's great. But as a guitar player who has read one or another of these over a nearly 40-year period, I think these would have to be aimed strongly at 6-stringers, not steel guitar players.

So I don't think the guitar rags have anything to do with this discussion. What I hear people asking for is something in-depth about steel guitar - or probably more accurately, pedal steel.

To think this is some easy add-on to the forum is to completely underestimate the difficulty to make a serious PSG-zine work. This forum works great right now. Again - why try to be all things to all people? It's a bad idea to try to be the Micro$oft or Wal-Mart of steel guitar. All IMHO, of course.

[Joey Ace]

If you want to see an excellent eZine, check out
Premier Guitar. It's for Standard Guitar, and a mostly younger demographic.

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Default.aspx?

I'm amazed they offer it for FREE.

There must be a lot of advertising revenue in that world.

[Ben Jones]

no problem, it was just an idea. I can totally understand not wanting to muck up the forum or pile more work onto an already heavy load.

Guess we'll just have to find "a way to survive" in a world without steel guitar magazines.

edit: pretty sure most online zines require no subscription fee. Money is generated thru ad banners and sales...least thats my admittedly limited notion of how they work. I dunno. I certainly wouldnt want to do the work required to start one up and maintain it.

[Jim Cohen]

Maybe we could get subscribers and advertisers by submission? Then the whole endeavor would line up quite nicely, don't you think Ben?

[Ben Jones]

Maybe we could get subscribers and advertisers by submission? Then the whole endeavor would line up quite nicely, don't you think Ben?

best three out of four falls in a cage match.

Geez. was my expression that incorrect? articles are not selected by submission? Its not like I said doubly instead of dolby or something ...tho i admit I dont have the excellent command of the english language that some of my fellow forumites seem to...ahem.

[Jim Cohen]

Yah, 'articles are submitted for review' but I don't think that their 'writers are taken by submission'! If they were, they'd have a good case for a lawsuit! LOL. Oh well, let's face it, when it comes to the English language, neither of us is worth a Hankey.

[Ron Sodos]

I sure wish somebody would do it. How bout Bobbe Seymour?

[chris ivey]

an e-zine is not as enjoyable as a good old 'bathroom magazine' !!

[Steve English]

I agree with Chris....the laptop can get a little warm on the knees.