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Non-Guitar Based Luthiery?
Hey everyone,
I’ve been repairing guitars for about 16 years and have been in business for the past 3 years. During my time in business, I would estimate that over 95% of all repairs I’ve done have been on guitars or bass guitars. I do however get the occasional inquiry for violins and other stringed instrument repairs, and I even get some brass instrument repair requests. I’ve turned down almost all of these since I don’t have the knowledge of these instruments, but I was thinking that perhaps it may be worth pursuing. I was curious if any of you do non-guitar instrument repairs in addition to guitar repairs? If so, how did you get started in this area and what advice would you have for someone who’s been thinking about getting into it? Thank you!
-David
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8 Replies
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This is a really good question. I know we have a few members who even run violin rental programs. @patreon_51692460 is one of them. I’ll reach out and see if he has any info. It’s also been on my mind to get some people on to talk about this subject. I will consider this a kick in the britches.
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@patreon_75544175 Gotta drag Luke Heaton into this conversation! He’s even toyed with the idea of putting together a ‘violin setups for beginners’ series. And @mike Mike Schramm might have some resources for learning how to restring bows, among other non-fretted repairs.
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good point !
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I would be very interested in a violin setup series. Since it’s tangentially related to what I myself and a lot of us are doing already, I think it would be a real benefit.
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I’ll start filming a violin basic setup. I’ll let you know what I come with.
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I primarily work on guitars, acoustic, electric as well as mandolins, banjos etc….AND, I also work on the violin family of instruments. I did study with a Master Luthier for the violin family restoration etc, but I find the clientele VERY different from guitars et al to violins.
In my experience I found violin clients knew less about their instruments, were quite demanding and were very focused on aesthetics over function. They also expect a very quick turnaround and to receive a loaner instrument while you work on their violin.
The work itself is very enjoyable, but I have stopped trying to solicit that business for those reasons. Although I am very happy to work on any fiddles or violins that come my way. And, stand up bass work is great too! Those clients seem a little less uptight than the violinists.
If you want to explore violin repair/restoration I would suggest buying some old violins of decent quality (German, French or Italian if you can) and learn on those and then sell them as you complete the repairs. A couple of good reference books are “Violin Restoration; A Manual for Violin Makers”, by Hans Weisshaar & Margaret Shipman, and any of the Henry A. Strobel books, especially, “Useful Measurements for Violin Makers”
Good luck!
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I echo this entire suggestion. I spent the first 10-ish years of lutherie at the bench in a very high-end violin “firm”. All the big named historic makers passed through the shop. The clientele owning these are a unique group of individuals often difficult to work with.
The start of the next decade, I left the big city and the firm and took over a “fiddle” shop. The fiddle clientele were much easier to work with but the working repair structure of a violin firm compared to a fiddle shop was much different. The “fiddles” were of much lesser value and it was difficult to expect someone to pay $1500+++ for a neck-reset with an instrument worth a few hundred bucks. I also wanted to focus on fretted instruments.
Today I don’t do any work on bowed-instruments. I no-longer re-hair bows either. When I started in “The Firm”, the Master didn’t like that I would need to leave the shop to attend to a fretted instrument issue. He sat me down and said I needed to choose. And I did. And since, I have made a different choice, which I am very happy with.
Today, I have enough angst with the need to build a fretted instrument every now and then that I don’t need the draw of even fitting a violin bridge to a wonky soundboard to muddle up my head.
The suggestion of getting old fiddles, the Weisshaar and Stroble books and having at it, if you feel you must, is exactly what I would suggest. The Weisshaar book is a little dated today but a wealth of useful information. Of course, the past interviews containing the tips and techniques shared by the likes of Iris Carr and Jerry Lynne that Ian has done for TLG is exceptional with very advanced modern approaches.
The only thing I would add is once you think you’ve got a fixed up fiddle, you need to get it into the hands of someone qualified to judge the work. Otherwise, I don’t see the point.
Good luck
Doc
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Nicole nailed it.
I did quite a lot of violin family repair for the first 15 years of my career. I still work on double basses regularly and occasionally take violin family work if it seems interesting, otherwise, I farm it out.
There is a lot about working on violin family instruments that I enjoy and it can make a great compliment to guitar repair. Practically, some of the most lucrative and simple violin family work is with schools or kids. It’s more about closing seams and setup. It depends on where you are and what work is available
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