Valis Guitars: High-end Chilean guitar brand seeks internationalization and launches physical store
The entrepreneurship managed to position itself and reach dozens of artists. The challenge now is to take them to the United States and Europe.
The pandemic led to confinement and confinement forced people to do more than telework, cook, and clean, in order not to fall into madness. Hence, according to several testimonials, there was a resurgence of hobbies in Chile.
That is precisely what happened to Cristóbal Emparán, a sound engineer who had his guitar hanging for several months, as he tells Entreprenerd. To get back into music, he decided to take it to his trusted luthier, Pablo Gonzalez, with whom, until that moment, they had no other relationship than that of craftsman-client.
Cristóbal, as he remembers, was coming from a bad streak of several failed work projects - he previously worked in construction, for building acoustics. And among his conversations with González, he mentioned how interesting it would be to create a guitar brand from scratch. Luckily for him, the luthier - who had been building since he was 16 - already had sketches in a notebook. "At that time, I had a model that I had devised, not even thinking about creating a brand, but something personal to admire. But from that day on we started and we are now dedicated to this. It was a process to polish it until as a team we launched the final instrument and concept," says Pablo.
In just two years, the startup managed to establish itself in the industry and sell its first stock of 50 guitars. The challenge now is to position its creations in stores in the United States and Europe, for which there are already several discussions underway. Entreprenerd.cl
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This is how Valis Guitars, a high-end electric guitar Chilean brand, was born in 2020, explosively starting to make a name for itself in the national industry. In fact, in November of the same year, they made their official launch, with a website and social media account, and in December, they made their first sale.
His first step was to secure a physical showcase for musicians to see his guitars. This was achieved, in Emparán's words, after persistently going to Tarará Music store, in Las Condes, to secure a space.
The team now consists of four people: Cristóbal and Pablo, the founders, were joined by Bastián Emparán and Hugo Villarroel, who came from the boutique effect pedals brand Darkglass, which once had a factory in Finland. As a team, they have already sold their first 50 guitars in the market, a figure they hope to quickly increase with the recent opening of their own physical store in the Crowne Plaza Gallery, a legendary guitar space in downtown Santiago.
Classic/Modern
The Chilean brand gained rapid recognition through its Valis VT model, which features a structure inspired by the legendary Fender Telecaster, but with modern integrations and top-of-the-range hardware. They have a special affection for P90 pickups.
"Our aim is to set ourselves apart from being a luthier's workshop and establish ourselves as a brand. Just as people buy a Fender or a Gibson, we hope that in the future they'll want to own a Valis. Part of the challenge is to move away from the customizable model, where each person comes with their own idea, and replace it with a 'stock' experience, where we say 'this is our proposal'. We want to excel in that," explains Cristóbal Emparán.
Today the team is split between unit 173 of the Crowne Plaza Gallery, where they also have a workshop on the second floor where they carry out the finishes; and the original workshop, where they carry out heavy construction. While they use various types of wood, their workhorses are cedar bodies and maple necks. In addition, the brand seeks to make a difference by forging direct partnerships with international suppliers, like the one they already have with the capsule manufacturer Porter Pickups.
Challenge
Along with looking for new display cases for their guitars, and understanding that the market of Chilean musicians who consume high-end instruments is not the largest in Latin America, the team asserts that they have a challenge to position their guitars in several boutique instrument stores abroad. The United States is one of the most attractive markets, although they already claim to be in advanced talks with at least two countries.
Valis also aims to participate in the upcoming NAMM, the world's largest instrument fair, which takes place in California, United States, next April. And may it serve as a springboard to reach stores in the northern hemisphere.
"Will there be new models of guitars? "We are already working on another model, in addition to having made significant progress on our bass prototype, which we will launch in 2023", they reveal.
To learn more about Valis, you can go to the physical store in unit #173 of the Crowne Plaza Gallery, or on their Instagram @valisguitars.
@entreprenerd.cl Entreprenerd visited the high-end Chilean guitar brand that was born during the pandemic and now seeks to bring its instruments to the entire world. Valis Guitars. #valisguitars #guitar #chileanentrepreneurship #telecaster #guitarist #entreprenerd @valisguitars u266c Aesthetic u2013 Tollan Kim