How to Get a Gear Endorsement: Larry Klenc of McPherson Guitars (Episode 69)

Everything you do is an audition.

Every player wants to know how to get a gear endorsement. Few ask the better question: how do you keep one? In Episode 69 of The Career Musician, from the archives, Nomad sits down with Larry Klenc, A&R man for McPherson Guitars, to talk about what it really takes to build a symbiotic relationship with a sponsor and keep it that way.

Larry is an artist rep with purpose, and Nomad, a McPherson artist for about 15 years at the time, calls him the most professional rep he has ever dealt with. Here is what stood out.

The NAMM Show is not built for you

Larry had just come off the NAMM Show, with roughly 120,000 attendees and close to 2,000 vendors. Nomad wanted to set the record straight for every hopeful player who walks the floor looking for a deal.

NAMM is a buyer show. Retailers, from mom and pop shops to the big chains, come to place their orders for the year and finally meet face to face with the people they email all year. Larry barely ate lunch over four days. If a dealer meeting runs 15 minutes late, the whole schedule slides.

His honest answer: NAMM is the worst place to pitch yourself for an endorsement, simply because he can't give you the attention you deserve. McPherson brings endorsed artists to the booth to play guitars and talk with visitors, and if time allows, they hand out his card. He always returns a call or email from an artist, one way or the other.

Endorsements come from relationships

Nomad's own McPherson story proves it. Early in his career, in his twenties, he was on a session in Nashville with a famed producer, who offered him a guitar from the studio and told him to cut the next song with it. After the take, the producer was screaming that the guitar was perfect for him, then got company founder Matt McPherson on the phone. Two days later, a McPherson showed up at Nomad's door.

"I didn't go out to the NAMM Show, I didn't go knocking on people's doors looking for an endorsement deal. The relationship was there."

Nomad, 12:44

Larry shared another. At a trade show, an artist who had never met him asked if he could play a McPherson in another company's booth on a different floor. Larry handed over a guitar worth around $14,000 without telling him the price, because he wanted the artist to feel the instrument. Soon four McPherson players were performing in that booth four times a day for four days. The artist came back humble and grateful, not "don't you know who I am." He kept the guitar.

Nomad's advice to younger players: slow down, have patience, build the relationships. Work begets work, and gear deals follow the same rule.

An endorsement is a business deal

So what does a company need in return? Larry was blunt. These are handmade instruments. One luthier builds every body by hand. The shop runs humidifiers and heaters nonstop through a Wisconsin winter. Every guitar ships overnight. A lifetime warranty means the investment never ends.

"The worst financial investment this company can make are artist endorsements."

Larry Klenc, 23:03

He told that to a fairly large artist who kept pushing about how much value he brought. Most fans at an arena show are not looking at what guitar the artist plays, and few can afford a $12,000 to $14,000 instrument. What a company does need is honest exposure: use the product, show it on social media, tag it, talk about it.

And respect the instrument. Some guitars come back from endorsed artists in rough shape again and again, and the same builders who spent months making it are asked to fix it for free. Others, like one longtime McPherson artist Larry mentioned, send a guitar in for a setup and it looks like the day it shipped. That mutual respect is what keeps a relationship going. Make Music Your Business: an endorsement is an exchange, not a gift.

Don't keep your hand out

McPherson gives back. They have donated carbon fiber guitars to an orphanage in Peru. Larry says some people read that and see a soft touch, then get angry when the answer to their request is no. Their reaction tells him he made the right call.

Nomad's line on this is simple: you can't just keep your hand out and expect to keep getting. Bring something to the relationship. That is Humility from the ETHOS code, and it is low maintenance / no drama.

Treat everybody the same

Larry's customer service rules apply to any musician building a career. Return every call, even if all you can say is "let me check on it." Keep communication open. And treat everyone the same, no matter what they look like or how much money they seem to have.

He told the story of a young man with long hair, holes in his jeans and a beat up truck who came in to look at guitars. A shop worker called it an hour wasted. Two days later the young man came back, ordered a custom guitar and put down the deposit in cash. He drives a semi and had been saving for it.

"Treat everybody the same, no matter who they are, no matter how much money they got, what they look like, what they dress like."

Larry Klenc, 44:54

His mindset for the company fits a career, too: be the best, not the biggest. Quality first, never compromised.

The takeaway

If you want an endorsement, don't chase it on the trade show floor. Build real relationships, bring value to the brand, respect the instrument and the people who build it, and be kind to everyone. The gear deal, like the gig, goes to the person people trust. To build that reputation, start with the free Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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