Help please, LUTHIER????

[harold]

I play classical guitar, and have done for years. badly

"Luthier" to a guitar player is usually taken to mean a maker of guitars and lutes. The market for lutes is, however much smaller than for guitars. (As an indicator, most of the "grade" and diploma music examining boards and colleges have a classical guitar syllabus: I'm not aware of any for the lute.)

You can buy an"OK" mass-produced guitar for about £400-500. A decent workshop-made spanish guitar would perhaps cost about £1500-2000. It's not uncommon to take a couple of days looking through the workshops in Madrid or Barcelona. For a guitar by a good english luthier prices start at about £1500 second-hand. For a custom-made guitar by eg Kevin Aram, Paul Fischer et al expect >>£3k. Greg Smallman in Australia has a 7-10 year waiting list and his current price is ~£12000 excluding tax.

Any good-sounding instrument is likely to look gorgeous, but the real difficulty as a maker is in producing the "magic" of sound and playability that the above-named do. Just think about it. On this board we've seen some magnificent, sublime creations -- lovely grain, perfect lines, wonderful finishing, perfect dovetails. Well, to a player these are taken for granted. Without that "magic", however, you won't sell. That's what your customers are paying for and that's what you can't get from a course. It does sound very Zen but that's the way it is. I remember one maker telling me that he has a steady trickle of eager young makers wanting his opinion on their latest effort. Usually they leave glum.

My best suggestion would be to get in touch with some established luthiers and have a chat. Look up the websites. Phone the Spanish Guitar Centre in London, the Bristol Spanish Guitar Centre, Stafford Guitar Centre, West Dean College.

Like any dream, if you never try you'll never realise it.

Cheers

John W

 

[Gill]

Can I remind everyone of the original request?

Can anyone shed light on courses, or dare I say it in these enlightened days "apprenticeships"? The local Careers Dept in the school is on its metaphorical ear and I wondered if anyone out there could provide a starting point that I might follow up?

This is not a question about the economic viability of being a luthier. It is a question about how to become one. Discussion of the economics of the career are off-topic. We would be doing the student a grave discourtesy if we did not accept that she has the capacity to consider all aspects of the career with regard to her personal situation. She is seeking to obtain facts about how to become a luthier and when she has those facts it will be up to her to draw her own conclusions about the financial propriety of such a career.

For all we know, she might be a lady of independent means and quite capable of financing herself. That, however, is none of our business.

Gill

 

[DaveL]

Hi John,

Welcome to the forum.

I congratulate you on making such a good first post.
I used to play bass (poorly) now I drive the sound desk for a Ceilidh band and the sound from an instrument is far more important than its looks. Looks help but a poor sounding fiddle/guitar/bass/squeeze box will be discarded much quicker than a rough looking one that sounds great. Just because we run a PA does not mean the instruments don't need to have a good sound to start with.

 

[srs]

Looking at how this thread has gone I which I had not mentioned money. I was only trying to point out that the training weather apprentice or collage based is only the start of a very long and possibly rewarding career and not to fall into the trap of spending 3 or 4 years (thought I know some people who spent up to 7 years :shock: training at Guildhall) then not being able to carry on with it for financial reasons.

So good luck to your daughters friend in there chosen path and if they can afford to do it them all the power to them :!: :!: :!: , Now if anyone could just suggest 6 winning numbers for the lottery I will start building lutes again full time :lol: .

 

[SammyQ]

WOW!!! I am scraping the chin off the chest here people! Firstly, "Thank you" to all those who contributed links or plain old-fashioned advice and experience; I've passed it all on to my daughter's school mate.

Secondly, I am taken aback by the philosophical discussion I seem to have sparked; it is all too easy to see this forum as a glorified help/gloat/howto/mickey-take set of postings, but the last two pages demonstrated the depth of motivation and values behind many of you; I, for one, am heartened and reassured by it.

I hope to Gawd that doesn't read as too prissy or dramatic, I just really am impressed and cheered up by what I read.

Sam