Hm...

It's almost a guarantee that when you step up to write a blog without any thought about what it may be about it'll turn out to be something special.

For me, there will probably be tangents, mucho tangents, and the train of thoughts might not flow together so well, but that's the price of spontaneity.

In an effort to ease you, the reader's, pain I've thought for about three seconds and will write about one topic, musical catalogs. I'll also interject random (or not so random) picture of guitars to keep you visually stimulated so maybe you won't become bored. Kim, you don't have to read this since it's about music.

Kim gets bored with my constant ramblings about music.

Now then. On with the wreck of a blog:

I should say the new MF, specifically. Last year around Christmas they sent out a big catalog for the holidays with big pictures of guitars. My problem with it was that the guitars were the same guitars they've been featuring for the last year, just with a bigger picture.

But I am not one to sit and complain to myself or just to counterparts and friends. I believe in constructive criticism and emailed them and said that while it certainly emphasized a "special" issue, it was the usual suspects we've seen forever. Why not spice it up? Even if you kept the same sized pictures and just put more guitars in it, it would have been an improvement.

Now there are those that might say that they put the usual suspects in there because the usual suspects sell, to which I ask "How will anything else sell if the potential buyer never sees it?"

I think as far as the holiday issue goes, it should be mailed out in September and be THICK. I'm not expecting over 5,000 pictures of guitars but a lot can be fit in a thick catalog in ANY field that they want to work whether it's guitars, pedals, basses, amps, accessories, etc. etc. By giving the buyer more of a selection you are upping the odds that they will find what they want or something that best suits them causing them to buy said item. You drive up your sales by offering more of a variety.

I would also emphasize (heavily) more reviews on MF's website which would mean someone would have to review a lot of guitars.

I know, I know. There are already reviews of guitars on the site. True. But they're done by faceless people out there on the Internet and you run into statements like "My best friend owns one and I played it once. I thought it sucked compared to my guitar. He should have gotten one like mine. You should get one like mine." You see stupid stuff all the time and while it is nice to see a wealth of amateur reviews, it would be not only nice but SMART to hire a person to review guitars. That's their job. Hire a team of thirty, and when you get a guitar in, set it up, let them review it, attach the review to the web page with the model and see what happens. A professional, with a face and maybe even an e-mail address would have his review up there to satisfy moms and dads, and potential buyers.

How about a buyer's guide on-line? How about, based on the reviews, you were to ask questions that get more and more specific and end up with a selection of, say, ten guitars that would probably suit the bill of your wants. Maybe something like this:

Favorite music: (clickable) classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, country, acoustic, bluegrass, finger style, etc.

Favorite body shape: Les Paul, Stratocaster, Telecaster, Explorer, Flying V, M, etc. etc.

Favorite pickup style: Humbucking, Single coil.

Favorite pickup power: Passive, active.

Favorite body wood: Maple, Alder, Mahogany, Ash, etc.

Now, obviously these questions would get very specific and would require an explanation to go along with it. Mahogany has a very warm tone to it that sounds darker when driven and is heard on such examples as Godsmack's first album, etc. as a form of guidance.

Those are a couple of my ideas for them.

The newest issue opens up with a two page spread showing a ton of guitars including 62 strat style guitars, 16 Le Pauls, 16 Telecasters, etc. etc. and I thought awesome. They're knocking out the usual suspects in one fell swoop and is going to present the audience with something a bit different.

Nope.

Actually they went the other way where they not only didn't show you anything new, but also took away the information attached to the usual suspects! And the guitar section was a mere six pages.

Booooooo.

It is a free catalog so I can't complain too much but it seems like they could do SO much better. Look at Elderly's catalog! That's how it should be!

In my idea box for MF is also a specialized issue going out every two or three months. One time it'll be nothing but guitars, the next it'll be bass, then drums, then stage stuff, then recording stuff.

Instead of trying to offer everyone a little of something and leaving them hungry for more (much more), let's binge!

C'mon MF! You can do it! The potential is there! You can have any of my ideas for free. Feel free to take them, use them and see what happens. I'm sure it'll help out sales even in these trying times.