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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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391402 No.391402 [Reply] [Original]

So /diy/ one of my only interests have been making things and Guitar. How does one go about becoming a luthier? (though i understand they dont do just guitars). Is it possible to make a living off of this? I suppose it would be too good to be true.

>> No.391415

it takes skill and devotion. If you spend about a decade honing your skills you'd probably be good to make a living with it. Either that or apprentice under a master for a fraction of that time

>> No.391418

>>391415
Im not sure how to even become an aprentice. How do you ask a stranger to randomly teach you how to do what he can do?

>> No.391486

There are three ways to do it. Find one who is looking for help, same as most other jobs. Find one that you can pay to teach you. Finally, randomly call one up and ask. Worst case they say they aren't looking for someone.

>> No.391501

Sorry, that I have nothing to add, but I just have to say that room is like a dream

>> No.391509

Of course it's possible from making a living. But you are still a few years away from it. If you're serious about it, find a luthier who will take you as his apprentice. Other than that, stewmac.com, a book, a guitar building forum and two good hands.

>> No.391589

A friend of my family recently started making guitars out of exotic woods, but he's been a woodworker his whole life, and even so, I don't think he supports himself full time by luthiery. FYI

>> No.391611

>>391402
yea, you won't make the kind of money you would need to support a family, much less yourself. I would never suggest quitting though; luthiery is a noble profession. Just make sure you have a primary income as well.

getting started? You may also want to try for a job at a major guitar making company on the production floor. You will probably not only learn how to deal with the woods and equipment, but the custom shops are easier to access, and you can watch over the shoulder (or across the room) on how the pros do it.

>> No.391643

>>391402

My father in law is a hobbyist luthier. It took him about 5 years of working 10-20 hours per week to make guitars of the quality he wanted. According to him, part of the problem is that proper tools are so hard to find that you end up making most of what you need.

His guitars sell for between 4k and 10k now, FYI.

Anyway, be prepared to make trash for at least a year before you understand how to do it right.

>> No.391727

I know a luthier who makes as much as 30k per commission
He's an extremely skilled individual who trained to become a luthier since 7th grade
Nigger was fucking nuts but he's doing really well

>> No.392233

>>391643
This.

Didn't have time to comment earlier, was just dropping back in to say that luthier work is specialised to say the least.

Even experienced woodworkers are going to struggle to make a decent guitar/violin/lute/whatever. Motivation and prior experience are factors in the success of the outcome but this is one of those things where you have done this, and done it frequently, to achieve quality.

>> No.393182

Thanks everyone for the help! i thought this thread would have died shortly after i made it.

>> No.393186

Mostly, you won't be building unless you do your own custom line. You'll mostly be repairing a bunch of poor schlub's guitars at a 60$/hr rate. Flat rates for setups, standard electronics work, etc.

It's hard to make a living unless you have a fairly devoted following, or live in a town that is made of money. I branched out into amp/electronics repair, as well as other guitar related woodworking.

There's no real "certification" for it, but there are schools, certainly. They are expensive, and it will be many, many years before you get your money back.

You'll hate working shops, as an experienced luthier, everyone knows better than you because they've read some Dan Erlewine book (which is a great starting point if you're into it.)