Bluegrass business

Warrnambool Standard Business News supplement June 2003 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard  2003 Steve Gilchrist is acclaimed among his peers as one of the world's leading mandolin makers. His customers are the best bluegrass music players in the world. Eighteen months ago he stopped taking orders for his sought-after mandolins. With five years work in front of him, something had to be done. Now the backlog is back to 80 instruments - equating to about three-and-a-half years' work.
Gilchrist mandolins sell for around US$10,000 but such is the demand for his instruments they have become collectables with a resale value of up to three times that much - a status usually achieved by death. In the home of bluegrass in the deep south of the US, where kids grow up playing fiddle and mandolin instead of Nintendo, Steve Gilchrist is afforded celebrity status.
But for the boy from Warrnambool who makes his home, and his mandolins, at Woodford, success is secondary to the fulfilment of his passion for the mandolin. Coping with the business pressures of meeting the demand for his product is an annoying side-effect. "What I do is largely me, as far as what goes into the instrument", says Steve in his modest workshop. "I never wanted to become a manager - its not what I'm good at. I'm basically a hopeless romantic artist, and I'm happiest when I'm creating instruments".
Despite the enormous interest in his work, Steve has resisted the pressure to grow the operation which he manages with just one part-time assistant. Personal quality control is everything. Instead he has chosen to deal with the demand by taking control and setting the rules that will not only reduce the pressure on his small business, but allow him more time to enjoy his craft. Not only has he put a halt on new orders, he is relocating to the US, setting up a workshop in Missouri with his timber supplier. Here, Steve intends to spend part of the year, completing the French polishing on his instruments shipped from Warrnambool, and eliminating the risk of damage in transit.
His new American base, in the heartland of his core market, will also allow Steve to personally sell his own instruments to ready clientele, eliminating the need for a distributor. Now with a green card which allows him to work in the US in blocks of eight weeks at a time, Steve will be eligible for dual-residency after 5 years, an option he is considering as a long term career move.
With 99% of his market in the US and Canada, surrounded by the music and musicians who have an appreciation of bluegrass unknown in Australia, Steve says spending time in the US is not only a good business move, but vital to his inspiration. "I really enjoy the time I spend over there because I spend it with my colleagues and musicians who inspire me to do what I do. Having some sort of close relationship with that is really important. Warrnambool is not really the string band capital of the world. It has a lot of benefits, but that is not one of them. If I want to mix with musicians, I have to go. Music is the key." A permanent move, he assures, is not on the agenda. "This is where my family is. It's a matter of striking a balance between that and my life here."
Steve was little more than a toddler when his interest in mandolins was sparked by an old instrument of his brother's. At 11 Steve was learning guitar, but had switched to mandolin by the time he was a teenager. At 18, using the technical skills learned from building his own surfboards, he fashioned his first rudimentary mandolin. Although he concedes it took 50 mandolins before he was producing "useful musical instruments" Steve had kindled what has become a lifelong burning passion to perfect the ultimate mandolin. A self-confessed art school drop-out, Steve has now been crafting his superior instruments for 25 years, but continues his quest for perfection. "It's a constant state of refinement. You get to where you think you want to go and you find there's somewhere else to go", he says. "It's a continual process of experience, of refining. In each instrument is the potential to achieve its full potential, and I am motivated to make every one reach that potential."