Wall Street Journal recently ran an article, in their business management section (July 6 edition, page B1), with the story of how Martin Guitar Company has dealt with the recently slow economy.

The company was determined not to lay off any of its employees, and implemented a few measures to assure it wouldn’t need to.

…given the special woodworking skills involved in guitar making, Martin wanted to avoid layoffs. The company figured it is better to find a way to keep workers occupied than face the challenge of having to train new ones after the economy recovers. The solution: Copy what many big retailers do by offering a lower-priced alternative. The dilemma was how to do that without sacrificing quality or muddying its image.

Accordingly, the company introduced The 1 Series in April of this year. The guitars lack inlay adornment, use “a type of lacquer that doesn’t require time-consuming polishing” and feature solid wood construction (no plywood). The price point is under $1000.

It’s great to see a company concerned about its employees, and turning out a quality product that people can afford and will enjoy.

Way to go Martin!

Note: The link to the online article will only be available for 7 days from today for non-subscribers.