The electric guitar is anything but dead.
According to a new article from the New York Times, "young adults and teenagers, many of them female, are helping to power this guitar revival, manufacturers and retailers said, putting their own generational stamp on the instrument that rocked their parents' generation while also discovering the powers of six-string therapy."
Take Fender for instance. According to FMIC chief executive Andy Mooney, 2020 "will be the biggest year of sales volume in Fender history, record days of double-digit growth, e-commerce sales and beginner gear sales. I never would have thought we would be where we are today if you asked me back in March." The New York Times also points out that Fender's app Fender Play increased its user base from 150,000 to 930,000 between March and June.
“We’ve broken so many records,” Mooney said. “It will be the biggest year of sales volume in Fender history, record days of double-digit growth, e-commerce sales and beginner gear sales. I never would have thought we would be where we are today if you asked me back in March.”
Fender isn't the only one who's doing well during the pandemic. Martin CEO Chris Martin called 2020 the year of the "guitar boom," while Taylor co-founder Kurt Listug said Taylor "had the biggest June, in terms of orders received, that we've ever had since we've been in business."
So basically, folks are getting into guitar during the pandemic, which we already knew.
