Beginning a small stage cabinet building business. Opinions on my work?

[JamesonStyles]

Hi everyone. I've been building my own cabinets ever since I took up bass guitar two years ago, and I've got my method down to enough of a science that I think I could make some money out of it.

My market would range from beginning musicians who need basic gear to start out, to working musicians who are looking for low cost gear for performance at small-medium gigs, and also for anyone looking for low-cost PA speakers for DJ, announcement, and general stage duties. Preliminary costs estimates show that I can underprice a lot of new equipment manufacturers while still taking reasonable profit.

Anyhow, seeing how you all have your own experiences with cabinets, and your own preferences for the fit and finish you like, what do you think of a cabinet like this one? I built this cabinet out of 3/4" birch ply with internal bracing, and it houses a new 15" peavey LF woofer. The sound is pure, fat, and crunchy, like a bass cab should be. I'm currently asking $200 for it. Do you guys think that's about on target, and are the aesthetics up to scratch for a budget-oriented cabinet?

Thanks for your input!

[Steve Conner]

Speaker cabinets are a good business to get into. The main reason is that they're big and heavy, so it costs a lot of money to freight them around. You can outsource the manufacture to China, but you can't outsource the shipping.

So, if you can make them near the point of sale, and have your customers collect them, then you can undercut someone who has to ship them.

$200 seems pretty good. Does that price include the woofer? A high end cabinet maker will charge more than $200 for an unloaded cabinet.

In this market segment, your main competition would be the Hartke VX series. Your cab is similar to the VX115, check out what those are selling for in your area.

[JamesonStyles]

Yes, that price includes the woofer. The main advantage I've got is that I'll market on craig's list as an alternative to buying someone else's half-blown used gear, at about the same price as they charge for it.

Thanks for the advice. I looked up the VX115, seems like they want about $250 for it, and it performs about as well as mine in all respects. And even then, who knows what they made it out of? Exterior grade ply? OSB?

This is pretty exciting! I'm economically viable! Sweet.