Becoming a full time guitar/bass repairer and maintainer

deano

I would like to retire in about five or six years’ time from my full time IT job, after my youngest finishes university. I would like to become a guitar and bass maintainer and repairer.

I have been looking after my own modest collection of acoustic and electric guitars (and will add a bass at Christmas) for a few years now and have built up a good set of tools, and feel very comfortable…

• Fret leveling and dressing
• Nut replacement and filing
• Action adjustment
• Saddle adjustments on acoustics
• Pickup and wiring problem diagnosis and swapping

 Areas where I have no experience are…

• Acoustic bridge replacement
• Fingerboard removal and replacement
• Finish repairs
• Refinishes
• Catastrophic repairs such as headstock breaks

 I will give myself some experience of the finish repairs and refinishes over the next few years, and I have an old acoustic that I want to work on that will give me some experience of bridge removal and replacement, and I can try taking the fingerboard off and replace that as well. But I’m not going to break any headstocks to gain that little bit of skill (my son has an SG anyway so it’s only a matter of time). But general woodwork is a bit of a hobby, so I do have some skills in gluing and clamping so hopefully if one ever comes my way I will be able to work on it.

I am not looking to be a guitar builder.

Are there any other areas that the more experienced repairers and maintainers of you out there think would be useful to get some experience of over the next five or six years?

Funkfingers

deano said:
Are there any other areas that the more experienced repairers and maintainers of you out there think would be useful to get some experience of over the next five or six years?

Book-keeping, cash flow management, debt collection, boxing, survival skills, smiling through adversity, learn to like watery soup and dry bread.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/20/10-pound-a-week-recipes

guitarfishbay

Expectation management and translation of vague yet specific instructions.

sweepy

Don’t forget the ability to polish a turd 

deano

I have run my own business for the last ten years so know that side of it very well. People won't be getting their instruments back without paying, I can assure you of that!

Funkfingers

guitarfishbay said:

Expectation management and translation of vague yet specific instructions.

T'is pity that this forum only allows the awarding of one wiz.

The usual situation boils down to "make it wonderful" even though the typical customer cannot express in plain English what the faults are.

Some punters remember to say please and thank you. Many do not. This is understandable. People who do not understand how musical instruments work are unlikely to appreciate what work is involved in getting the best out of them. Similarly, people do not usually care to be told that there is only so much that can be done to rescue their low budget Argosocasters.

guitarfishbay said:

Expectation management 

This should include your own. 

Paul7926

This might not be helpful as you have experience of running a business already however.....

Is there some sort of liability insurance you can get.  I would have thought that should something accidentally happen to someones very expensive guitar whilst in your possession that would spell disaster in terms of the finances. 

 

deano

Paul7926 said:

This might not be helpful as you have experience of running a business already however.....

Is there some sort of liability insurance you can get.  I would have thought that should something accidentally happen to someones very expensive guitar whilst in your possession that would spell disaster in terms of the finances. 

 

I am sure there will be. I already carry Professional Indemnity insurance as part of my day job, and it wouldn't seem too much of a stretch to get something similar for physical items in my possession.

munckee

deano said:

Paul7926 said:

This might not be helpful as you have experience of running a business already however.....

Is there some sort of liability insurance you can get.  I would have thought that should something accidentally happen to someones very expensive guitar whilst in your possession that would spell disaster in terms of the finances. 

 

I am sure there will be. I already carry Professional Indemnity insurance as part of my day job, and it wouldn't seem too much of a stretch to get something similar for physical items in my possession.

The vast majority of liability insurance excludes property being worked on as this is seen as a business risk. 

Paul7926

munckee said:

deano said:

Paul7926 said:

This might not be helpful as you have experience of running a business already however.....

Is there some sort of liability insurance you can get.  I would have thought that should something accidentally happen to someones very expensive guitar whilst in your possession that would spell disaster in terms of the finances. 

 

I am sure there will be. I already carry Professional Indemnity insurance as part of my day job, and it wouldn't seem too much of a stretch to get something similar for physical items in my possession.

The vast majority of liability insurance excludes property being worked on as this is seen as a business risk. 

I actually meant accidental damage or something out of your control rather than just stuffing up a fix.  I don't think anyone is going to provide cheap insurance against bodging something up.  No offence @deano ; I'm not saying you would just don't think that sort of cover either exists or would be financially viable even if it did.

munckee

Oh I see. Property in your custody is something you can get in case it's nicked from your house or burns in a fire. You should still have liability insurance of course. 

Maynehead

As far as repair skills are concerned, I don't see "refretting" in that list. I would have thought this would be quite a common request.

I think not being comfortable with removing fretboards and repairing headstock breaks etc is not unreasonable for a guitar tech. These kind of jobs are relatively uncommon anyway and declining these kind of requests should not affect income or reputation too much.

rexter

There is speciality insurance for exactly this kind of thing which includes damage to instruments in your possession. Got mine through a broker, £5 million public liability, damage theft and all else. Hopefully never needed but if I have a 1950s tele in for work I don’t want to take chances! Also if you get burgled and all your customers Guitars are stolen you’re fucked without insurance. About £500 a year but mine was more expensive because my main line of work is finishing with solvent based paints and that brings extra hazards! I can dig out the details of who I got it through sometime if you’re interested.

added: it took quite a few phone calls to track down exactly the right cover and it’s definitely worth finding a broker who specialises in this kind of thing to do it for you 

GoldenEraGuitars

@deano I haven’t read the other comments so I may be repeating what has been said already.

If possible, set up something now so that you can take on a few jobs while you’re still working the IT side of things. Nothing massive.. maybe some basic setup stuff, fret work etc.

Itll help to get your name out locally and build up a customer base. It also worth buying broken guitars, fixing them and either selling them or using for practicing finish repairs on. Full on refinishing will probably require more time, space, money and equipment than anything you plan to do. Don’t be shy about finding a local finisher to take on your work if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself.

If you can do fretwork and setups I’d say you’ll have enough to keep you going nicely. But definitely get your name out locally and start building your business now before you retire from IT.

All the best with your venture