Headstocks and logos

[David]

Forgive me if this issue has been discussed before, but it intrigues me. I am involved in the general field of business strategy and one of my areas of interest is branding and the importance of it.

When ever I see a guitar I instantly look to the headstock to see which brand it is. Most of the major brands are fairly distinctive. The Avalon headstock with the stylised A logo is no exception. So the question arises, why dilute the brand with other versions of the headstock and logo as found on the Americana range for example?

[Ross A]

This is an interesting point. However, take a look at Gibson and Martin. Gibson used to have a banner logo on the headstock. Martin have, and occasionally still use, the fancy CF with Martin going down the headstock. At some point most brands rebrand. I guess it's a case of how far you depart from the current.

For what it's worth, I prefer the 'new' Americana logo - it says more about where the guitars come from.

[David]

I had never spotted the CF logo on a Martin. If I had, I would probably have assumed it was some other brand as I automatically look for the standard Martin headstock and logo combination and filter out anything else. Maybe that says more about me and my thing about branding.

ps.
Just had a search and found it. I had never seen it before and have to say it would not be my choice it is rather vulgar. I much prefer the regular CFMartin logo.

For the record I also prefer the stylised A Avalon logo.