Guthrie Govan Discussion

[alexkhan]

It is with much excitement and a hint of sadness that I’m leaving the Tone Merchants business to join Suhr Guitars as their marketing and sales manager, effective June 20, 2005. I feel I’ve accomplished what I’ve set out to do with Tone Merchants and I am looking forward to a new challenge in working with John and the rest of the staff at Suhr Guitars.

I recently sold the Tone Merchants business to my cousin from Korea who wanted to move his family here so his children could be educated here in the States. To do that, he needed to invest in a business in the US. So I decided to sell the business to his family and move onto the next phase of my career in this business. He’s still back in Korea and will remain there as he has his own business there but his wife and children are now settled in Orange County with the children attending private schools.

Things will stay the same at Tone Merchants with my cousin’s wife overseeing the business aspect of things like bookkeeping, as she knows nothing about the products that TM deals in. Noel Evangelista, who has been helping me part-time since last August, will now become the full-time manager of Tone Merchants and run the day-to-day operations – including purchasing, sales, and marketing. Noel has been a pro and semi-pro player for over 30 years and has great ears, enthusiasm for the finest gear in the industry, and the business know-how to run Tone Merchants probably better than I have.

Although I truly enjoyed building up the Tone Merchants business, my passion and my experience has always been on the manufacturer’s side, going back to my 10+ years working at Fender in various areas of the company’s business. After a while building up Tone Merchants to where it is today, I started longing to return to working for a manufacturer I truly believed in.

I’ve built up a great working relationship with John and Suhr Guitars during my time here and we came to see that this would be an ideal working relationship that will pool our talents and experience to offer some of the finest guitars and amps in the business. John is stretched thin working on a whole bevy of new products and we came to see that I could take on the marketing, sales, customer service, and artist relations side of Suhr Guitars. I’m very excited and honored to be working with John and look forward to many years introducing great products to the truly discriminating players and music fans.

I will have no affiliation with Tone Merchants except that I will consult my cousin’s wife on basic business matters, as she doesn’t speak English very well and is still adjusting to a new life in the United States. About the only thing that I’ll have my hands on with the TM business will be arranging the Tone Mecca clinics and concerts since I’ve developed close relationships with many artists during my time in the TM business. As time goes by, I’m sure Noel will be able to arrange the great clinics and concerts that Tone Merchants has become well known for.

I’d like to thank all of the customers and the suppliers who have made Tone Merchants a successful venture. Once again, I am totally confident that Noel will carry on the torch for what Tone Merchants stands for – the very best guitar gear, knowledgeable and friendly one-on-one service, and passion for great tone and guitar music. I’m sure I’ll still get to see and talk with many of you guys while I’m at Suhr. My family and I are also moving to Murrieta from Orange County to be close to where Suhr is located, but I’m sure I’ll visit TM every now and then to mingle with the friends I’ve made here over the years and to catch all the cool clinics and shows!

Once again, thanks for all your support over the years and I look forward to being of service again as a member of the Suhr team!
_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.

[Carlo]

wow, congratulations on your new job...sounds kickass I wish you the best of luck, but with your knowledge and expertise, I'm sure you won't need it..hehe

[M@]

Wow!

Congratulations Ed and all the best for the future.


Cheers
_________________
"My day job feeds my family, my night gig feeds my ego!"

[alexkhan]

Thanks, guys! Much appreciated. Nothing will change here, though!
_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.

[Alun]

Congrats Ed!!!!

But make sure the new owners continue the filming tradition

Alun
_________________
www.alunvaughan.com

[frankus]

Excellent news, Ed. I think Suhr recognise a commited and enthusiastic guy when they see one. If you do a fraction of the stuff for them, you've been working on for Guthrie, they'll be doing well

I've recently moved from AOL to a company with an even shorter name very busy at present, but hope to be settling in soon and return to here more frequently ;O)
_________________
Fabulous powers were revealed to me the day I held my magic Suhr(d) aloft and said "by the power of great scale!"

I have the power!

[alexkhan]

[alexkhan]

[shredrulez]

congrats, ed! knowing your marketing skills and what you've done for tone merchants and for guthrie, you're going to just kill for suhr. what a cool dream gig you got. man, i'm jealous! best wishes for your new endeavors. i'm sure you'll do really well and make suhr HUGE!