Part 1
Everything you’re about to read is true.
Totally true.
Even the names haven’t been changed…
Back in 2009, when we began the process of pooling money to get Woodie’s Hanger made. Scott and I made a list, top of which was manufacture, marketing and of course, THE most important part of setting up a new accessories company – getting to Los Angeles (NAMM 2010) and letting the world know Woodie’s ‘invisible’ Guitar Hanger existed!
All of you know that getting a product (especially a niche product, made in the UK) to market is an expensive business. It’s particularly difficult if you’re unemployed and have a child about to enter the world. But, after much discussion and many business plans, we managed to raise funds via a few, ambitious and excellent, investors.
Once funding was secured, we finalised designs and had the tool built. We contacted PRS and had some demo guitars sent for photography. We used prototypes and made a video and once we’d double checked the tooling, we bulk-ordered a whole load of products.
This was all great, until we hung a PRS and a Les Paul, only to discover that we’d missed the fact that certain guitars had angled headstocks and the bracket wasn’t long enough.
Not to worry. We had paid for the booth at NAMM, booked a dive hotel in Anaheim, and paid for the flights for myself and Paul Templeman (a NAMM Veteran and excellent guitarist), so the remainder of our finances went on making the spacer and the block for guitars with the button on the back (Gibson SG etc.). All in all, we had stock, 500 packaged samples sent to the hotel in the US, booked St Blues Guitar Workshop to supply demo guitars in the US, correct tooling, marketing and printing… and of course, the all important slot booked at the most famous musical instrument merchant event EVER.
And to top it all, we still had £40 in the bank after taxis to and from various airports.
Oh, did I mention that we had booked the hotel? It was somewhere in the region of £1000 for the 5 nights…
Now then, by ‘book’ the hotel, I mean I had ‘booked’ the hotel. I hadn’t ‘paid’ for the hotel. Apparently, and I was unaware of this when they took the credit card details, you pay when you leave…
With what? £40?
So, on the first day of NAMM 2010, Paul and I were checked into a hotel, with zero money for food, 500 guitar hangers… and absolutely no way to pay for a hotel that I thought I had paid for!!!
Within ten minutes of our arrival, Paul and I paid for the ‘Disney Bus’, on the following Monday at 6am, to flee the hotel before check out, and hopefully long before we got arrested for non-payment of hotel fees. I’ve seen Straight Outta Compton… I was ready to run!
Fortunately, NAMM 2010 threw a few surprises our way…
More next week!