Starting out

[Sitka]

I want to try to eventually start a part time career in lutherie (I am hopeful that it goes into full time in the future.). I would like to start out by doing set-ups, but would like to start on my own instrumants before working on other people's stuff. So here is my question: What do I do after I have finished setting up all of my personal instruments? I have a small income so I only have a few.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Micah

[Rick Turner]

If you are really serious about this, I recommend biting the bullet and going to the Roberto Venn Lutherie School in Phoenix, AZ. More than half my crew are RV grads, and at this point I'm not considering hiring anyone else who hasn't gone through RV or some equivalent program...the preparation of the students there is that good. There are RV grads at practically every major and boutique maker's shop in the US and a lot overseas as well. You get the basics there and very intensively. You come out really ready for an apprenticeship...which most people are nowhere near ready for without such training and discipline. Learning lutherie should be seen as a real life choice, just like deciding to be a lawyer or doctor, and I think it takes an equivalent amount of brain power and study to get really good. Of course the dough isn't as good!

[delsbrother]

I've actually looked into this. At this point in my life I don't think it make sense for me (maybe after I retire!). But obviously it works for a lot of people. Using their rough figures:

RV tuition = $9450
Materials = $1500
Tools = $400
Guitars for repair class = $300

Total (with fees, taxes, etc.) $12000

Housing in PHX from R-V = $550/mo for 6 months = $3300

Rounding up that's about $16000.

The curriculum is 880 hours, so you're paying them $18/hr to learn lutherie and spending 5-6 months of your life in Phoenix, Plus you have to do stuff like eat, drink, and put gas in the truck, but you'd have to do that anyway...

I dunno. How much does the average entry-level guitar shop apprentice get paid? How hard is it to get placed?

[Rick Turner]

Yes, it costs some dough. So does learning any profession that requires a high degree of skill; so does just going to college where it takes four years just to get a piece of fake sheepskin. As an employer, I see that financial commitment on the part of prospective workers here as an indication of how serious the people are about lutherie as a profession. That's a biggie for someone like me who has had dozens of employees come and go over the years. My RV grads are as a group the best employees I've ever hired, and they stay with me for a long time.

If you're just going to self-teach and do this part time working for yourself, none of what I'm saying will matter much, though it will take you a lot longer to get proficient than might otherwise be the case. But there is nothing, and I mean nothing like working in the front lines of retail instrument repair to really hone your skills, and there's no way you'd get good at that on your own in less than six or seven years, and then you'd probably screw up a bunch of instruments along the way. I think that one needs to apprentice under someone good, and I now know enough about hiring to know that I don't want an apprentice who hasn't received training already. I'm not here to teach lutherie or woodshop 101 to someone who isn't paying me to teach them. Trainee employees cost money for an employer, they don't make money for quite some time.

[brunello97]

Well put, Rick. One can probably replace 'lutherie' in your post with a lot of professions and it would still be experience and wisdom well stated.

Mick

[thistle3585]

I have a friend who does repair that has offered to teach me basic setup and fretwork. He says he'd love to have someone come in and do refrets for him so he can focus on his larger projects.

You might contact a local repair guy and see if he'd let you work as an apprentice. I wish I had the time to take my friend up on his offer.

[otterly2k]

Micah - aside from the course of study and apprenticeship suggestions already put forward (both of them very good suggestions), you might also look for repair project. Look at flea markets and garage sales and see if you can find cheap old junkers... then use them to practice set up and repair skills. Or just take them apart and put them back together. Do not expect to sell them, so don't spend more than you can afford to spend ... like you would buying a book. In a way, it is a textbook.

[Michael Lewis]

Not everyone learns the same way. If you have the self starting genes in your personality you may well be able to learn what you need to know from the internet and some books. Knowledge is but part of what you need to do this, you also need skills, and for that aspect you need practice, practice, practice. Otterly's suggestion of yard sale specials is a good one, Practice on them as if they were pre-war Martins(very valuable) and try to leave no tracks, get them playing well, and looking good. Start paying attention to the details like the fret ends, the slots in the nut, and , oh just everything.

Rick's suggestion of attending a school is right on for most folks. It really helps to have a mentor show you how to do things, how to think, how to avoid pit falls, how to get to the end of a project with the results you need. I would have liked to attend a school to learn this work but the only lutherie schools around at the time were for violin. So I did it the hard way, by getting in over my head and recovering. Some times there is no recovery and you have to start over with new materials.