why no real photos of instruments on overseas website ???

[po56okie]

yes,,, I recently was on a site named Hobgoblin looking at mandolins , bouzoukis and octave mandolins and realized that every instrument had some sort of "stock photo" ...not real photos [front, back , sides...etc. Is that how they do things overseas. I think if you're going to spend some hard earned cash for an instrument they should at least have a few honest photos to help make up you're mind. thanks

[MikeEdgerton]

Have you ever been on Musicians Friend?

https://www.hobgoblin.com/local/sale...olin-sunburst/

[MikeEdgerton]

Am I missing something?

https://www.hobgoblin.com/local/sale...olin-sunburst/

[Beanzy]

From what I’ve found each shop has its own manager who sorts out photos when they get a chance. Not every instrument gets them as they’re mostly focussed on sales from the shop apart from the standard stuff. They can arrange to take some pics of instruments you’re interested in if you call and they will move stock to a shop nearer you so you can pop in to have a proper look if it’s a serious enquiry.
https://www.hobgoblin.com/local/sale...3&Category=310

[OneChordTrick]

Hobgoblin is not a site but a chain of shops and I suspect that online sales only make a small proportion of their business. Also think it’s a bit of a generalisation to pick one website from from country and generalise how things are done “overseas” but I had a lot of delayed flights today and may be a little grouchy

[Zach Wilson]

FWIW... US retailers do the same. I think it's ok. I personally don't buy from stock photos only but if others are fine with I'm ok with their decision.

[MikeZito]

I can understand not posting pictures of every new instrument that these large retailers have in stock . . . but used ones that come from independent shops - for me, photos are a must.

A tip of the hat to American Musical Supply - on some of their high-end new instruments, they actually do post photos of the instruments that are available, so that you can see and choose exactly which one you want.

[MikeEdgerton]

Used instruments yes. I don't expect a company that buys 20 Martin D-28's at a time to take a picture of every one they are selling. I'm pretty sure that most of the shops using their own pictures take the first one they get and that picture stays until something changes on the instrument or they quit selling it.

[po56okie]

yes,,, I recently was on a site named Hobgoblin looking at mandolins , bouzoukis and octave mandolins and realized that every instrument had some sort of "stock photo" ...not real photos [front, back , sides...etc. Is that how they do things overseas. I think if you're going to spend some hard earned cash for an instrument they should at least have a few honest photos to help make up you're mind. thanks

I do understand that everyone is busy and many many instruments are sold....but,,,can't they just have one or two clear real photos of each model ?? What is shown isn't really what I would consider a photo. Is it because you have to be selling instruments in the thousands of dollars for them to bother with photos??? thanks

[MikeEdgerton]

You do know that if you click on the pictures they expand quite large right?

[trevor]

All real photos at TAMCO.

[Dagger Gordon]

All real photos at TAMCO.

Good photos too, Trevor.

[Folkmusician.com]

I'm pretty sure that most of the shops using their own pictures take the first one they get and that picture stays until something changes on the instrument or they quit selling it.

This is pretty standard..

First, I fully agree that instrument dealers should provide much better images and ideally, images of each individual instrument. I have set out to do this on a few occasions, and never managed to be consistent.


Instruments are one of the single most difficult things to photograph. The gloss finishes and curves mean you are getting terrible reflections. If you manage to deal with the reflections, you have to now make sure there are no fingerprints, dust, etc... Things like flame, are difficult to capture, since it is most apparent with the instrument is moving. If you take nice hi-res photos, people scrutinize them, and some small reflection looks like a crack, etc..

It is not easy to get nice pictures without lighting, reflectors, etc.. Overhead fluorescent lights are terrible for this. Setting up for an instrument photoshoot is a major ordeal. Taking one off photos doesn't work out well unless you have a dedicated space for it. Our previous shop was a photo studio before we moved in. It was large, and we left a photo area setup. Even with this, it was difficult to keep up on pics. The new location has terrible overhead lighting, one small window, and there is no room to setup for photos, even temporarily.

Getting all of the instruments prepped and shot at the same time, is not usually realistic.

Simply getting the images sorted, edited, named, tagged, uploaded in various formats, then go and update all the selling channels (mandolin cafe listing, eBay, Reverb, Website, wherever else it is). You can easily tie up an hour per instrument, sometimes more. Your images maybe linked to all over the net. When you change them, now the images no longer show up.

Is it because you have to be selling instruments in the thousands of dollars for them to bother with photos?

Yes... I know it sounds crazy, but it isn't a good business decision even with $1000 instruments. They need to be more in the Multi-thousands to justify individual photos. For higher dollar instruments where you are not selling them often, it is doable. On lower priced instruments, it is far to labor intensive, especially, when the dealer is selling 100+ models. Not that it can't done, just that you may have to cut costs somewhere else to fund it.

Trevor is a Freak of nature!

[CES]

Try contacting them and ask if they’d send you photos of the individual instruments in which you’re interested...

For a large chain of stores or a dealer that works on volume sales primarily of lower to mid-priced instruments, as Robert points out, it’s not feasible to put up good photos of each individual instrument. Even Elderly and TMS often have disclaimers on higher volume instruments (even more expensive but common ones, like D-28s, Strats, etc) that the photos may not be of the individual instrument shipped. And, yes, if you’re buying a $3000 or more mandolin as opposed to a $350 mandolin, regardless of the store, you’ll notice a difference in service. For example, I took a trip to Nashville a few years ago, and one of my missions was to try out and likely buy a National RM-1. Went to Artisan Guitars on a Saturday (after a great morning at Carter’s and Gruhn’s), and there were people inside but the doors were locked. They were setting up for a Santa Cruz Guitars showcase. One of the owners came to the door to politely tell me I was welcome to come back to the showcase in an hour, but to move along otherwise. I explained that I’d driven over 6 hours to try out and, unless I hated them, to buy an RM-1, and the next thing I knew I was sitting “on stage” in the chair reserved for Richard Hoover, with 2 people bringing me the RM-1s to try out. And, that was only a $2200 mandolin at the time, and I am a complete nobody in the music world. And, yes, I left with a walnut RM-1 and an appreciation for their customer service.

[Seter]

I'm trying to think which retailer I've seen that just has sketches of the instruments instead of pictures, sort of like J Peterman for clothes. I suppose most catalogs were like that in days of yore.

[multidon]

Mandolin Brothers always used to have real photos, and good ones, of the actual instruments. Elderly used to, and of course the used instruments are still the actual instrument, but for at least some of the new ones there is a disclaimer that the photos may not be of the actual instrument you receive. AFAIK Sweetwater still posts real photos of new instruments. If they have 4 D-18s they post pictures of all four with serial numbers and you pick the one you like the looks of. They are unique in doing this to my knowledge.

[MikeEdgerton]

They might do it on guitars, they don't do it on the inexpensive mandolins they carry. Those are either stock from the company or taken one time.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...piphone-mm-30s

[sportsnapper]

Good photographs will always sell products - but as Robert said above, there's a cost benefit ratio to take into account. The OP cites Hobgoblin as an example - but I wouldn't expect to have an individual photo of an instrument that was being sold online, for £400 - the online operation would be picking one at random from the warehouse. The sort of instruments Trevor sells at TAMCO, I would expect a good image before travelling in person to try and perhaps buy.

I'm a professional photographer, and I can certainly understand the difficulty of taking good images of a product like a mandolin - but if you have a good formula for lighting and the proper equipment it's not too difficult. Perhaps it's the sort of things shops should outsource - do a deal with a local tog to take images x times a month of y mandolins?

I'd actually be more worried about how it sounds than how it looks.....

[Gelsenbury]

The second-hand instruments at Hobgoblin often arrive literally by someone turning up at a shop and leaving the instrument there. And sometimes they get sold again very quickly. I imagine there isn't much need to take good photos for the web site.

You could get in touch with them and ask for a picture of an instrument you'd like to see. If it happens to be in the Canterbury branch, I may be able to get a picture for you.

[trevor]

I don't renew the photos for Eastman mandolins. But they are my photos.