The First Annual Guitar Generosity Index

We've started tracking how many guitars we send out each year as gifts -who buys them and who receives them. The results may surprise you.

We used a scale from 0 to 100 to represent the number (not the dollar value) of guitars we could clearly identify as gifts. We went back to the start of 2014 so this graph takes into account birthdays, graduation, anniversaries Christmas etc. There's a couple of days left in this Holiday season's buying binge but based on our findings so far and our experiece in past years here's what we think is solid (semi or non -scientific) evidence of who is giving and getting and who is not.

When it comes to guitars as gifts wives are astoundingly generous. Husbands not so much. There isn't a month that goes by that we don't get requests from wives to help them pick out a guitar for a special occasion. There's a  lot of very lucky husbands in this country.

Wives may be great givers but when it comes to guitars they they're not so lucky. Either there are very few married female guitarists or husbands are spending way too much time in Victoria Secrets. If you're a husband looking for a guitar for your wife we'd suggest takng a very good look (and listen) to our new Opeongo.

Parents giving guitars to their kids tend to break down into two groups. The most common being the father getting a Dreadnought for a son to stop the boy from taking his own MacKenzie & Marr guitar. The other (very surprising) parent buyer  is one who call us in November or December to buy a guitar for each of their children. That sort of call is not an everyday occurance but we never say no to supplying family with matching MacKenzie & Marr guitars.

Kids - almost always adults - picking a guitar as a gift for a parent is usually accompanied by a touching story of love and respect. We treasure those stories - perhaps because we're at the age where our own children are grown - learning to make their way in the world and developing new and wonderful ways of relating to us.

Regardless of who is the end recipient of each MacKenzie & Marr guitar we remain grateful for the purchaser's faith in our company and our instruments. To us that's a gift we treasure. We want to thank you and to wish you and your's the best of the Holiday Season.