Luthier (the repair kind): A good trade to go in.

[Daniel Grenier]

The Luthier I now use is really good and can fix pretty much anything. He makes guitars too, but sporadically and his main business is repairs, set ups and such. He is so busy that he has to stop taking orders, at times, just to catch up. I just brought him my 12 string for a custom compensated saddle and I am 39th in line with an expected completion date of mid January.

He has one employee right now and has enough work, he says, for 3 more. He is actively looking for more staff but there are simply none to be found anywhere, he says. Which brings me to think that a young person who`s into guitars and looking for a career in the field might be well rewarded going in this business. Oh to be 20 again !!!

[MC5C]

I think the main reason is that guitar repair doesn't pay enough. Last I looked at it, a luthier I know was offering an unpaid apprentice position for two years before transitioning to a paid position at minimum wage. I figure you'd have to have a bench rate of around $75 an hour to pay yourself a living wage after overhead and expenses, even if you had a full lineup of work to keep you busy.

[BT55]

I’ll agree with MC5C! Many years ago I apprenticed as a photographer. I worked two to three days a week for free. After six months I moved to a per diem employee the same as all of the other photographers. For the next year my work was critiqued and my education and job rate advanced. I believe that was more than a fair arrangement as I was getting an education. If you are an apprentice your future should include fair remuneration.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by MC5C

I think the main reason is that guitar repair doesn't pay enough.

I would dis-agree, I have trained quite a few apprentices who run their own businesses now.

I raised three kids, paid a mortgage bought a shop premises to run business from, have my wife working with me as well doing the store pickups, have an endless waiting list of repairs and travel overseas every year for my holidays.

All paid for vee repairing for a living.

The issue is it’s a productivity based job “service industry”, turning up to work and simply being there is not enough to bring money in.

Steve

[Skarsaune]

Originally Posted by mirwa

I would dis-agree, I have trained quite a few apprentices who run their own businesses now.

I raised three kids, paid a mortgage bought a shop premises to run business from, have my wife working with me as well doing the store pickups, have an endless waiting list of repairs and travel overseas every year for my holidays.

All paid for vee repairing for a living.

The issue is it’s a productivity based job “service industry”, turning up to work and simply being there is not enough to bring money in.

Steve

That's good to hear.

It seems like location would be important as well - there needs to be a critical mass of potential customers fairly local, at least until you are established. Was this your experience?

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by MC5C

I think the main reason is that guitar repair doesn't pay enough.

That depends. People who are good at it have several month's backlog at all times and can make quite a good living at it.

By contrast, particularly these days, making guitars for a living is much tougher.

[The Watchman]

Maybe this would be a good idea for older retired guys with woodworking skills and the time and interest in learning. Plenty of them around.

[redir]

Guitar repair definitely pays well but you just have to have the work. When I started in the 90's I really wanted to build guitars but that pays less them minimum wage especially when you are trying to break in. But the repairs payed well. It was the bread and butter but then it took me away from building too. I was doing repairs for 4 stores in the area. All those stores have since closed down. I got tired of doing it so I fell back on my college edumacation and got a day job. Now I focus on building 3-4 guitars a year but I like doing restoration work too.

But I don't know if I would ever recommend it to a young person. It's not easy to build up the reputation. Or at least go get your bachelors degree first and in the summer time do your building and repairing old guitars to learn.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by Skarsaune

That's good to hear.

It seems like location would be important as well - there needs to be a critical mass of potential customers fairly local, at least until you are established. Was this your experience?

Definetly, you cannot open a shop down the bayou of Mississippi and expect to have customers walking through the door all day long.

So location location location is important.

However having access to a good location is only part of the recipe, many people compete in good locations, so you need to stand out from the crowd, does not mean you need to compete and be negative you need to find a niche amongst the repairs that you can concentrate your skills on and stand out.

Steve

[vibrolucky]

If you are attached to a guitar shop, you'll get plenty of work, but never make any real money. If you're on your own starting out you won't get any work, because unless its a simple string change or simple job on an electric guitar nobody will drop off their prized instrument to just anybody that hangs out a shingle doing repairs.

The ones that are serious about being craftsmen study as an apprentice for about two years under someone who is really good.

I still consider myself a hack, even though I've handbuilt some great sounding instruments. Doing serious repairs are significantly more challenging than building an instrument. I know a master luthier who used to sell his instruments for $4000+ but could not make a living doing that. He does MUCH better doing repairs, and enjoys the work more because of the challenge and the variety of work.

[bnjp]

It's a hard way to make a living. It's even harder as a sideline. Someone told me when I first started that I'd come home from my real job (because nobody's a full-time repair tech) and miss time with my family because of all the guitar work stacked up. It's not hard to get enough work. It's hard to do enough of it fast enough to make enough.

That's my two cents. I've got a pressure washing business and also hang Christmas lights. Guitar repair caps out about around $35-40k per year. Not enough $ since my wife stays home.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by bnjp

Guitar repair caps out about around $35-40k per year. Not enough $ since my wife stays home.

Times that by 6.

This is a an older photo, but easily available for me to upload from home.

Multi tasking is important, doing one instrument at a time from start to finish, I could envisage being broke within a amonth.

Every instrument is getting little bits done as the day goes by, they get rotated back and forth.



Steve

[KarenB]

you'll get plenty of work, but never make any real money.

Sounds like gigging!

[redir]

That's a busy shop Steve

[dingrr]

Steve, that's a mighty fine looking shop!