Daisy Rock Guitars

Infobox Company
company_name=Daisy Rock Guitars
company_logo=
company_slogan=Providing females with whatever it takes to learn to play guitar and enjoy music…
vector_logo=
company_type=Private
genre=
foundation=2000
founder=Tish Ciravolo
location=Van Nuys, California
origins=
key_people=Tish Ciravolo, Ron Manus
area_served=Global
industry=Musical Instruments
products=Daisy Rock Guitars
revenue= $2.4 million (2005) [ [http://www.daisyrock.com/news/tish_ciravolo.htm Daisy Rock Guitars] ]
operating_income=
net_income=
num_employees=
subsid=
owner=
homepage= [http://www.daisyrock.com daisyrock.com]
footnotes=

Daisy Rock Guitars is a guitar manufacturer established in 2000 by Tish Ciravolo. The company markets guitars designed and marketed specifically for girls and women. Daisy Rock is currently co-owned and distributed by Alfred Publishing.

General Product Information

Daisy Rock guitars are designed with light-weight bodies and narrower necks. Some models also incorporate a shorter scale length, which reduces the spacing between frets. These design features are meant to make the guitars easier to play for girls and women with small bodies and hands. The colors, finishes and body shapes are also designed to appeal to girls and women. Most manufacture is done outside the United States (the location of manufacture was not readily indicated in Daisy Rock's marketing materials), with the exception of instruments in the "Rock Candy Pink Label" series, which are made in the United States.

Daisy Rock also markets hard cases and soft gig bags, guitar picks, cables, straps, pins, guitar instruction books and DVDs, and a variety of t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and other apparel with Daisy Rock logos in pinks, blues, and other colors similar to the available guitar colors.

The Daisy Rock web site contains a gallery of endorsing artists. Most are women or bands consisting primarily of women, although a few male artists are featured.

The site also features a gallery of signed guitars, which according to company sources are not sold directly but instead are usually auctioned to raise money for various charitable causes.

Most models are relatively inexpensive, with suggested retail prices ranging from $279 to $699 (widely available with discounts of 30% or more). The exception is the Rock Candy Pink Label model, with a list price of $2,999, also available discounted by approximately 30%.

Models for 2007

"Children’s Models"

Several models of solid-body electric guitar are available with unusual body shapes. While scale lengths of electric guitars are not standardized across the industry, for comparison purposes note that a popular electric guitar, the Fender Stratocaster, has a scale length of 25.5 inches, while a popular electric bass, the Fender Precision Bass, has a scale length of 34 inches, and many other manufacturers use similar scale lengths (see Scale (string instruments)). All the children's models come with gig bags.

*Daisy – electric instruments with a daisy-shaped body and leaf-shaped headstock. Available only as a short-scale six-string guitar with a 22.5-inch scale length and 22 frets, in blue and pink.
*Heartbreaker – electric instruments with a heart-shaped body and leaf-shaped headstock, available as a short-scale six-string guitar with a 22.5-inch scale length, an "artist" model six-string guitar with a 24.75-inch scale length, and a four-string bass guitar with a 30-inch scale length. All three designs have 22 frets. Available finishes, depending on model, include pink, purple, and red.
*Star – electric instruments with a star-shaped body and leaf-shaped headstock; models are similar to the instruments in the Heartbreaker series.
*Butterfly – electric instruments available in the same three designs as the Heartbreaker and Star series, but with a butterfly-shaped body and a multi-colored butterfly finish.

"Acoustic Guitars"

*Wildwood Series six-string guitars are available as an acoustic-only model with a 22.75-inch scale length and 21 frets, or as an "artist" model with a 25.5-inch scale length, 20 frets, and a piezoelectric pickup built-in, allowing the instrument to be plugged into an amplifier. The "artist" model's electronics include a built-in tuner. Finishes include pink, purple, sparkle, and a light wood color. A gig bag is included.

*Pixie Series six-string acoustic guitars are also available in acoustic-only and acoustic-electric models. Both have a 25.25-inch scale length and 20 frets. Finish options include solid pink, purple, blue, and sparkle purple finish for the acoustic-only models, and a dark purple and blue sparkle burst for the acoustic-electric models. A gig bag is included. The acoustic-only models come with reusable decorative decals for customizing the guitar's appearance. Acoustic-only models in pink, purple, and blue are also available in "starter kits" that include the guitar, instructional materials, gig bag, strap, string winder, picks, and decorative decals.

"Adult-Sized Guitars"

A variety of models are available, broken into the Rock Candy series, the Rebel Rockit series, the Tom Boy series, and the Stardust series. These are generally mid-priced guitars with the exception of the "Rock Candy Pink Label" instruments.

*Rock Candy Series – consists of several models of six-string solid-body electric guitars with a single-cutaway body, similar to the body outline of a Gibson Les Paul or Paul Reed Smith "single-cut" guitar. Instruments are constructed with a 24.75-inch scale length and 22 frets, and four-string electric bass models with a 34-inch scale length and 22 frets. These instruments differ from the dhildren's series in that they feature more expensive components, such as Grover tuners and a Tune-o-Matic bridges, and are available at a number of different price points, with a variety of pink, purple, "champagne," and sparkle finishes.

*Rock Candy Pink Label consists of a single higher-end (and corresondingly more expensive) American-made model, built by luthier John Carruthers, in a hot pink finish.

*Tom Boy Series – currently this series consists of only the six-string solid-body electric "Tom Boy Deuce" model, with a 24.75-inch scale length and 22 frets. This guitar is similar in design to several Danelectro guitars designed for playing surf rock and features a coil-tap control.

*Stardust Series – the "Retro-H" and "Retro-H Deluxe" models are six-string semi-hollow body electric guitars with Bigsby vibrato systems, 24.75-inch scale length, and 22 frets. These instruments use a design similar to Gibson hollow-body guitars designed for playing jazz and blues such as the Gibson_ES-355.

*Stardust Elite Series - Although they share the "Stardust" name, these instrument designs are quite different than the "Stardust" series; they are solid-body guitars with a symmetrical double cutaway body shape. There are several other "Elite" models including a short-scale "Elite Petite Rebel" with a 22.5-inch scale length and 22 frets and an "Elite Venus" model with elaborate floral inlays in the fretboard. A short-scale bass guitar is also available, with a 32-inch scale length and 21 frets. Finishes include pink, black, and purple and blue sparkle "burst" color schemes.

*Rebel Rockit Series - six-string solid-body electric guitars with tremolo systems and Fender Stratocaster-like dual-cutaway designs, with 25.5-inch scale length and 22 frets, tremolo systems, and pearlescent pickguards. The "Heart" model has a heart-shaped pickguard.

Artists who Endorse Daisy Rock Guitars

*Nancy Wilson from Heart
*Country-western singer Dolly Parton
*Pop-folk singer Lisa Loeb
*Former "Today" anchor Katie Couric
*Miley Cyrus, daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, and Hannah Montana superstar.
*Angel Faith, a band member of No Secrets and the sister of Aaron Carter
*Marc Kuchner, astrophysicist songwriter

[ [http://www.daisyrock.com/artists/index.php Daisy Rock Guitars artist roster] ]

Company History

A musician herself, Tish Ciravolo designed the first guitar, but according to company materials "in a sense, Ciravolo’s daughter Nicole is the true visionary behind Daisy Rock. When Nicole was a one-and-a-half years old, she drew a picture of a daisy, and her mom was inspired to draw a neck on it. She developed the design and took it to her husband, Michael Ciravolo, the president of Schecter Guitars." The first model was thus the "Daisy" guitar, and debuted in November 2000 at Seattle’s ROCKRGRL Conference. Daisy Rock was launched as a subsidiary of Schecter Guitars. The company achieved sales of over $400,000 by the end of 2002.

Alfred Publishing Becomes Co-Owner and Distributor

In 2003, Daisy Rock left Schecter Guitars, becoming its own entity. Daisy Rock also entered into a partnership agreement with Alfred Publishing, the world’s largest educational music publisher. Under this agreement, Alfred became the co-owner and distributor of Daisy Rock Guitars. Sales in 2003 grew 150%, surpassing $1 million dollars. In 2004, sales doubled again, surpassing the $2 million mark. In 2005, sales reached $2.5 million.

External links

* [http://www.daisyrock.com/ Daisy Rock Guitars]
* [http://www.myspace.com/daisyrock Daisy Rock at Myspace]
* [http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/002854.html 2006 Tish Ciravolo interview on "Modern Guitars" magazine]
* [http://www.daisyrock.com.mx/ Guitarras Daisy Rock en México]

References