Move over beauty boxes. There’s a new subscription box in town. Gear Supply Company recently launched a subscription box for guitar lovers, delivering a variety of guitar strings and picks to subscribers each month.

Like a lot of subscription box companies, the concept for Gear Supply Company grew out of a need, reports Silicon Prairie news. CEO Joshua Koterba said he couldn’t find the picks and strings he wanted from his favorite local music store, so he bought products online and had them shipped. He created Gear Supply Company originally as a daily deal site, but it wasn’t financially viable, so he decided to go the subscription route instead.

“I fell in love with the subscription model,” Koterba told Silicon Prairie News. “We looked into starting our own line of products on a recurring revenue basis and found the margins were there.”

The company has a variety of plans for different types of guitars including acoustic, electric, bass and heavy. Subscribers choose their instrument or a combination of instruments and the number of sets of fresh strings and premium picks they want per month, and Gear Supply Company sends them a subscription box every month that meets their specifications. Here is a sample of their acoustic plans:

“We are guitarists. We are gear heads. We have gigged, toured, recorded, and worked in guitar shops. We are constantly on the epic quest for tone. We believe in awesome and high quality guitar goods that are well crafted and designed. We believe in good friends, integrity and great customer relationships,” says the Gear Supply Company website.  “Quality guitar goods. Great prices. Honest service.”

While still a fledgling company, a key focus of Gear Supply Company is its customer service. In fact, they boast an average support response time of less than two hours. They also promise customers high quality goods, convenience and flexibility.

Insider Take:

This is another good example of how the subscription model made a dream possible, fulfilling the specific need for a niche audience. The CEO couldn’t find what he wanted, and though a daily deal site wasn’t the answer, the subscription business model suited his needs perfectly.

You know we love innovation, and this is a creative use of the subscription model. While the product is unique, the company follows best practices for subscription companies, helping it to achieve early success. The Gear Supply Company website is easy to navigate, it illustrates what the purpose for the subscription is, and it clearly outlines its offerings and price points. There is no guessing what you get or when. They also offer a referral program, which is a great way to spread the subscription love with friends and family.

We particularly love the FAQs page which answers questions we had never even thought of like what are your brass strings made from and how often should I change my strings.” We also love that the company sets customer service expectations right up front. Assuming they meet or beat their own customer service time frame, this is a great way to deliver on a customer promise, helping with customer retention.

What’s next? Reviewing the FAQs page, it looks like Gear Supply Company is considering offering an artist’s program and perhaps other products and services down the road. It looks like they are doing a bit of testing and tweaking first, which also follows best practices. We are eager to see how this young company evolves.