Once again, it’s that special time of year to reflect on what we are most thankful for. With travel and live music continuing to open back up, we are grateful to continue the same momentum we carried during our eventful summer.
If you’ve been following our progress, you can imagine the difficulty of narrowing down the highlights that fill us with gratitude. Let’s jump right in.
The Ascender hit the stands in Rolling Stone’s November 2021 issue. It's not easy following Madonna and Maluma, but our guitar is right at home in the holiday gift guide. What's better than giving the gift of music you can take anywhere?
We had a viral moment that pushed us over 10,000 followers on Instagram. Our good friend (and very talented player) Quist took to his Instagram channel to show off how playable and fun the Ascender is, bringing in 750k+ views on his own and over 1 million hits combined on popular guitar accounts.
Our website got a revamp. As our story evolves, we’re creating a better experience for our online audience. Our BUY features individual pages for each popular guitar model, and our new pages highlight the unique Ascender lifestyle and more.
We officially have a tagline. After months of strategy with our internal team and advisory board, we narrowed down the vision of Ciari Guitars to a few words that focused on the spirit of effortless guitar travel, ultimately deciding on, “Wherever the music takes you.”
We received our fourth U.S. Patent. This further validates and protects the folding technology of our guitar—from the Ascender’s actuator (the unique system that precisely detentions the strings) to the aircraft-grade aluminum alloy mid-neck hinge.
We expanded our production facility in Nashville with an Artist Lounge. To accommodate our growth, we moved into an expanded production facility in Nashville, which now boasts an Artist Lounge so people can visit, meet our team, and try our Ascenders on site. If your travels include Nashville, or you live there, please stop by!
New year, new look—we’re redesigning our headstock and body. As we evolve our technology, we are also evolving our look, this time with industry masterminds like Joe Glaser and Grover Jackson. Stay tuned as we unveil our new body and headstock designs in 2022!
Our actuators are evolving. We’re always pushing ourselves to evolve and improve, which is why we’re so excited about our new actuator system currently being prototyped and tested. It’s strong (like the original) and super sleek, much like the throttle of an airplane – how fitting! As we grow, this will make our original Ascenders with the original actuators even more rare collector’s items.
Our product line is expanding. We’ve coined our current and original model the Ascender™ Custom, tailored for artistic and musical expression with made-to-order specs, premium options and custom colors. In contrast, we will be producing the Ascender™ Standard, our ready-to-ship mid-tier model available in select colors—debuting in the first quarter of 2022! Prototypes for our folding Acoustic and Bass guitars are up next.
We’re launching social media ads. Just in time for the holidays, we’re creating more consumer awareness of our products through a series of ads focused on our custom colors and finishes, as well as a recent stage performance with Jake Morelli walking off the stage with not one, but two Ascenders over his shoulders! If you see us on your feed, be sure to like, save, share and/or comment.
We’re always out and about. From the Guitar Lover’s Festival in San Diego to the Business Side of Music podcast, we’re showing up where “our people” are to celebrate our mutual love for music and guitar innovation. If you think there’s somewhere we should be, feel free to reach out!
Thank you for being a part of our journey as we ensure the world’s favorite instrument can go—you guessed it—wherever the music takes you.
P.S. If you’ve read this far, here’s an early treat: use coupon code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout to get the Ciari Backpack free with the purchase of an Ascender guitar—spread the word.
Onward and Upward!
Jonathan Spangler
CEO & Founder
Ciari Guitars