“Do you build full-time?” is a frequent question amongst luthiers. Why does this seem like such an important question to some? Maybe underneath it is an idea that building full-time means you’ve really accomplished something, or are really somebody in the field of luthiery. The reality, as many of us know, is that many luthiers do not build full-time, and it has nothing to do with their mastery in the field or their personal satisfaction with their accomplishments. There can be a number of conditions at play, including personal finances, familial responsibilities, self-confidence, business acumen, location, and so on.
Many luthiers enter the field to express their art, and also to make money. I started my luthiery career at 15-years-old and I didn’t meet any other luthiers until 5 years later when I attended the Roberto Venn School of Luthiery. All the students at Roberto Venn were pretty new to luthiery, and how long anyone had been working on guitars or making anything didn’t really come up. Occasionally, I would hear conversations about plans for the future, which included: setting up home shops, working in repair shops, working for other companies, and starting a business. I’m sure building a brand and their own business was on many of the students’ minds. The field of luthiery has grown tremendously in the past 30 years or so, with many luthiers starting their own brand and business, and not simply working for big brands, for example. Each individual’s approach to making their name in the world was, and is, interesting to me. My approach as a new luthier was very practical: save money to buy tools and work with what I had - a home garage, a local music store in need of a repair tech, and a want to learn more and evolve my craft. One student in my class talked about having a wealthy family and not needing to work. His plan was to have his dad put a shop together while he was in the Roberto Venn program and rely on family money for success. I’m not sure how that plan worked out for him, but that is one option that is available to some to move toward the goal of working full-time for yourself. Aside from the obvious need to know how to navigate working in the industry, the business side of making guitars was not a part of the Roberto Venn curriculum when I attended. Like so many in trades that allow for self-employment, we need to learn these things on our own and we need to identify what our goals actually are. Is working as a luthier full-time your goal?
What does it take to run your luthiery business full-time, if that’s your goal and money is a consideration? Steady sales of instruments are super helpful, but often cannot be relied upon. Nowadays, many of us have websites and online stores, some have chosen to work with local music stores to sell their instruments, and some have a storefront. Some have a combination of these things, which I believe is probably the way to go for success.
I have experienced not having a storefront making me harder to find for potential customers, despite my efforts to get my name out there, unless someone has a recommendation to come see me. Even then, sometimes people have big hesitations about coming to my home shop. During my luthiery career of 25 years, word-of-mouth has always been how my business has grown, and I’ve always had my home shop as a touchpoint for my customers.
As much as I may have entertained the idea of having a storefront in the past, I realize(d) that having a store front creates a financially unstable situation for me where the cost of rent, utilities, and so on, of a storefront are too much to commit to when it can’t be guaranteed that I’d make enough each month to cover both my home expenses and my business expenses. It’s not as simple as a personal loan or business loan to get me launched - and believe me, getting a loan isn’t simple these days. It’s simply not worth the financial risk, in my opinion. You get some money, you throw it into your business, you get launched… and then, you’ve got to sustain the business, which relies on getting customers in the door and get them buying high-priced items regularly. It’s not as easy as it may sound. In addition, often when you rent a business space, you’re signing a lease of one or two years. One can’t just back out in a few months because it’s not working financially. Also, if you don’t want to be the one and only person who runs the storefront business, you have to consider hiring employees, which comes with many headaches, including dealing with employees, carrying worker’s compensation and unemployment insurance, and so on. Let’s not forget all the hurdles of owning a business in any particular area where you need to figure out business licenses, resale licenses, allowances of zoning, and so on. I once thought it would be cool to have my shop and a storefront combined, so I could work and have customers when it happened. However, the kind of racket we make with some of our tools and the clouds of dust can be a big issue with the town or city, neighboring businesses, and customers alike. So, when people ask me, “why don’t you just have your own storefront business?” I think to myself “do you really know what that means?” Perhaps this mentality is why so many small businesses start up with great dreams and aspirations and then fall by the wayside in financial ruin. I am in the game for sustainability of my business, my name, and my passion for luthiery.
Aside from the storefront option, we can sell our instruments via word-of-mouth or online to strangers. This could create a situation in which you are doing luthier work full-time. I had a brief period of my career where I was fired from a full-time job and decided to take the chance to do luthier work full-time at my home shop. Ultimately, I had to take on some part-time jobs to supplement my income. And it certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying that I did not succeed at this endeavor. It was in the area I grew up, so I’d been building clientele for the past 15 years or so, I was known, I was taking in repairs and building guitars (ghost building, custom building, as well as creating own designs under my own name with no buyer yet in sight), and I’m a very hard worker who is efficient at their job.
Let’s talk about the option of repair work as a kind of luthier side-gig to create a full-time luthier goal. What I’ve found over many years in repair work is that If your repair work is consistently coming in, you can expect to be buried in work and not building a thing. If you haven’t done repair before, you haven’t had the experience of working with the unpredictable nature of an instrument’s condition. This keeps you constantly occupied, often way beyond the time set aside for the repair. It is quite possible that one solution to this riddle is time management, but sometimes there’s not enough time in the day. However, a luthier could schedule dedicated time to work on repairs as well as builds, with an understanding that the shop has a financial goal to meet, and prioritizing one area or another as needed - what a dance! Even if business is slow, it’s a good idea to not take on repair jobs you don’t want to do as it can become a nightmare, and doesn’t bode well for word-of-mouth reputation. In addition, repair work is tricky because people have a lot of unrealistic expectations as to what can be done, and often expect those repairs to be super cheap. I have struggled, over the years, to charge what I’m worth and stick to it. I have caved to “it’s for a friend”, or “they’ll bring me more business later, so it’s okay”, or “I have to be cheaper than the other repair guys to get work”, and feeling uncomfortable asking a price that requires me to sell the customer on why I’m the most qualified guy to do the job.
Whatever your approach is, now or down the line, it’s a good idea to set a monetary goal or other personal goal and work at making it happen. Celebrate your successes and keep an eye on what the goal is to make sure you’re not too far off-course. Do be practical for long-term success. There is certainly no right or wrong way to get it done; that’s where our creativity comes in - “how can I do this?” I have always kept my workshop at home to keep my overhead as low as possible. There were times when I worked for myself full-time, other times where I had one or more part-time jobs or a full-time job to satisfy my financial needs. I find the situation that works the best for me right now is a part-time job that benefits me with more than money (company discounts, nice coworkers, and a chance to build my luthiery clientele). I am very grateful to be able to work part-time so I have enough time to dedicate to my luthiery work. At this time, I’m doing minimal repair work or custom builds, but am trying to focus on simply creating my designs.
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with a well-known bass maker from Colorado. He’s been making basses since the late 80’s or early 90’s and shared with me that this year will be his first year working in his shop full- time. I was astounded. I had seen his ads in guitar magazines growing up and assumed that he was wildly successful - in that he was making his art a full-time occupation. We didn’t get into the reasons why he only now made that decision. He did share that his workshop is at home and his waitlist is almost 2-years deep. I am very happy for him, and it serves as inspiration for us all. It’s so often that slow and steady wins the race. Let us all be sustainable and prosperous!
The High Desert Luthiery Invitational event is an amazing opportunity for artists to get exposure in a person-to-person setting. People can get to know the artists and put hands on their work. Artists can also take videos, pictures, video testimonials, music demos, and so on at the show to share on social media and their websites, furthering their exposure and credibility in the vast online universe. Cross-promotion between the High Desert Luthiery invitational and artists will also promote these things. Established community, knowability, and likability is what the HDLI seeks to provide.
