Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello,
My name is Brian Howard. I've played guitar since I was about 8 or so, very seriously when I was a young man. Now more or less for my own amusement/therapy. I found I was not cut out for the music industry. I have supported myself and my family over the past 30 years as a carpenter. With the last 20 plus a couple as a cabinet maker and mill-worker. The last decade or so spent running a full on custom woodworking shop for a high end residential builder. And I have some good news for Dad, I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up.........I want to build guitars. For a whole list of reasons , I find myself compelled to change my career path and even to some degree my way of life. And this is something I know I am well suited for, and ready for.

That's not to say I expect this to be easy, to the contrary, this will most likely be one of the hardest things I have ever done. While I am confident in my woodworking and finishing skills I know I will need some help with the details and technicalities as I move along. This seemed like a real good place to find those types of things. I also have some other questions not related to the construction aspect of this type endeavor.

One thing I could use some help with is the sales and marketing aspect of this. After I have built a few for myself, the 3 or so I could sell to some of my friends, then what? How does my customer find me? or more appropriately, how do I find him? A website will be mandatory these days of course, but there must be more....Right?

Thanks, Brian

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Brian,

Welcome to the OLF. Your questions are hard - it's not easy to guess for any one person what the path to success as a professional luthier would be, as it depends on a conjunction of luck and exhibited skill, all of which are hard to predict in advance. There are relatively few among us who make a successful living entirely based on building instruments. Many of us are amateurs, with day jobs that are our main calling (like me), and many who are hopeful professionals with day jobs that can't be left yet because the perceived level of support available from building does not cover the required financial bases.

By all means, dive in and build guitars. You will not be able to tell what the rout to financial success is after building a few for yourself and willing friends - you won't even know how to control the variability in the building process at that point. This isn't something that happens overnight. I'd say don't worry about that yet. Learn what you can from initial builds, learn if you truly enjoy doing it and can't live without it. The initial lessons to learn aren't about the business end, they are about the process of building. You need to demonstrate to yourself that you can deliver a consistent product before you worry about marketing that product.

There are a number of OLF'ers in reasonable range (I'm in Newark, DE). Feel free to give a shout if you have questions. Best wishes for the new year.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Welome Brian!
Start buiding now, and take a course with a competent luthier/teacher.
Don't expect any money for a while though!
Good luck

Brian: Welcome to the OLF. Guitar building is broken into two divisions... 1.Carpentry,which it sounds like you will do well at and 2.Building good sounding guitars,which most of us struggle with and continue to struggle with. Number 2 you may find more challenging,I suggest you build a few guitars and then gauge if you want to continue as a way of making a living. Not trying to rain on your parade but lots of excellant builders find it a struggle to keep things going . Good luck in your new adventure.I hope you make it.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Welcome Brian ! As an avid life long Wudwerkr as well I will be the first to admit , this aint nothin like I ever did before ! However it can be done . Take your time , build a kit maybe . Get the fever and then start from scratch . You will / may find that its a longer road to selling than one first thinks . There will be alot of but it is worth it !

That having been said , you may come out of the gate with a winner up front . Read alot here , ask questions , watch tutorial vids . You will find that this is the best source for good advice that you will ever find !

Welcome and enjoy !

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Well, you're a woodworking professional already, so you've got a lot going for you. You'll probably have to build more than 3 to get to the point where you are building high quality instruments. At first you'll build just to recoup your building costs (hopefully) and to maybe make a few bucks for more tools, jigs, etc. The only way to get good is to build a lot, and the only way to do that is to sell them for whatever they are worth, especially early on!

The best way to learn of course is to build as much as you can! Start with well established plans and save the experimentation for later.

Trev

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

Yo Brian,

Welcome and oh ya...just build the suckers. The rest will work itself out.

Blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Hey, Brian, did you see The Padma's post? Just DO it. Keep your day job for now, but start making instruments and then make more instruments. I remember a thread about two years ago titled: "How did you become a professional luthier?" Most of the respondents said they just built so many instruments that they had to start selling them to make room for more instruments that they wanted to build. It is amazing to me how many professional luthiers got started in just this way.

So...as The Padma said, just start cranking them out, and the rest will work itself out.

That includes the marketing questions you have asked. You don't need to worry about marketing just yet, but you'll be ready for that in a while. When the time comes, lots of people here can help you.

Patrick

If your instruments are good the customer will find you...........
Good luck, Mikey

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The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

How else could one progress?

Welcome!

Interesting you sat that as so many individuals think the exact opposite; that you do not want those early guitars out there because they will sully your name. Does the consumer really expect all individuals or businesses to begin as masters of their or its trade? Serious question, I have no idea.

Sir, you are in the best place in the world to learn. By your zip code you are close enough to the Martin factory. Tour for free till your feet fall off. Also there is A.S.I.A this summer at East Stroudsburg University. It is the most inspirational gathering of people willing to share their knowledge on building, repairing and selling. Bring Money-oh the wood! The event itself is dirt cheap, the food excellent and the inspiration will blow you away.
There are books on marketing your guitars.
Get to it. Its a hoot. It will be easy for you. You know how to keep your fingers already. I came to this with wood worker hacker skills. Bought a guy out and had to teach myself joiners, bandsaws...... it took a gathering at Blues Creek to get me up to speed on how to change the paper on my Jet 10/20! I am wrapping up #2 and starting #3 for my first "client"!
Good luck!

You can look at it either way, but practically speaking, it is much more financially viable to sell your work. If you have a few thousand that you don't mind "burning" to learn the craft, then go for it. In addition to learning to build guitars, you also learn about the selling methods that work for you. I don't think having a dozen guitars with a few aesthetic issues out in the world are going to sully your "brand" name. I think if you do decide to sell the early ones, you should sell them at a price commensurate with their quality, and never sell anything that won't last. In my case, I've learned that I would rather try to establish a dealer network than to work with customers directly. I'm just not interested in doing the selling myself...(beyond establishing a dealer relationship).

Trev

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

Thanks to all for the responses and encouragement. I am weighing all of your thoughts very carefully. I guess I'm not to surprised by the fact that most do not have a marketing strategy, there are allot in my current trade that do not and do fairly well. Let me say that I enter into this venture with my eyes wide open. I do not expect to be up and selling guitars in short order. I don't even expect any profits or even returns on investments for two years or so. So with that said, I do intend to keep my day job for as long as it lasts or as long as I need it, whichever comes first. I have put a few months of research into this little endeavor prior to making this step to try and be as sure as one can that this is the right move for me at this time. It seems to fit with all the needed conditions, and I'm gonna have a go at it. I am just now in the final stages of cleaning out and re-purposing some workspace. I have just insulated my main workroom and am beginning to monitor the atmosphere in there for temp and humidity before I decide if that will need improvement. I sold all my large woodworking equipment some years back, when I was at a point in life that I figured I would not need it any longer so I am now shopping for replacements. Then there is a sidebender to make along with the required templates for whichever model I decide to start with and so forth. The way I see it, I'm most likely about 3 months from beginning construction of my first. Again I would like to thank all, not just today but for all the little questions I will be having shortly.


Brian

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Well brian,

sounds like you got a plan.

Here be a little did bit to keep in mind.

It takes a 9 to 5 builder that has his chops down, and an up and running shop with all the jigs and all his ducks in order about 5 to 6 days to go from break out to in the white.

It will then take some 2 to 8 weeks to finish and set up that instrument before it is ready to go out the door. But this part is not full time every day....most of this time is waiting for things to cure or settle and open up.

I doubt with your skill level that you will have any problem being able to knock off one or two dedicated designs at that speed, within about a year of part time building. Especially being a picker.

Them numbers may be of some help in your planning and may be refuted by others ...but I think most will agree.

Just bear in mind that being able to knock off a few designs for the market (although they may be well done) is a far cry from being a luthier. That label truly takes many years and a good many builds.


good luck and just do it.


blessings

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I'm gonna have that song in my head for the rest of the day now

Welcome to the forum.

Let me first say, that I'm probably not the best one to give advice, since I'm certainly not a professional builder. However, I've been lurking on the forum long enough to know a thing or two (i.e. ... I know enough to be dangerous).

While a lot of the replies have taken the approach of honing your building skills, your original question was really oriented toward marketing and how to get exposure. In that vein, I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Guitar festivals. The three main festivals (that I'm aware of), Healdsburg, Montreal and Newport, would be a great place to meet prospective buyers, as well as other builders who can give you advice, not only on building, but also on marketing and any other aspect of becoming a full-time professional.

As mentioned before, few builders are able to parlay that knowledge and experience into a full time profession, so don't give up your day job, just yet. It seems to me that there are several things that need to fall into place to transition from amateur builder to professional builder....

1. The ability to build a good instrument
2. The ability to build a CONSISTENTLY good instrument that is reproducible
3. The ability to build efficiently and economically (not waste time or materials)
4. The ability to understand what your customers want and be able to produce it (assuming you want to build custom instruments)
5. The ability to market yourself as a builder

Good luck to you.